Rakish angles

Raking the pathThere are days flying by and no postings.   I have been rather preoccupied with house renovations this week. But I try to get outdoors each morning for some warming exercise.  And what could be more invigorating than raking leaves?

It’s a deliciously positive task. Except for the volume of leaves I have to remove. You start out enthusiastically on a small bit of verge, and before you know it you realise you have to keep going all the way down or it would look odd.

Doing Alice’s path was much easier – except for all the prickly chestnut burrs. But now the area is clear and the grass can happily sulk over the cold winter ahead.raking alice's path

I have also been in a part of the forest I rarely visit. This was to broadcast the honesty seeds that Andrew returned to me last week.  Or was it the week before? Time flies.  I can’t wait to buy one of his famous honesty wreaths to add to our Christmas cheer.  Mind you, I wouldn’t put it up just yet. The house is a building site.

pennisetum bank winterOther news? I have added lots of extra soil to the shade garden and the Pennisetum bank. Not sure if it will do much good; but it feels right to be adding to this rather dry and gasping part of the garden.  The Pennisetums look quite sprightly in their winter garb. I won’t be cutting back the grasses until Spring.

And when the weather was too poor – and believe me with over three inches of rain on Sunday and a driving storm with gusts of 85km per hour I did seek refuge in my potting shed.extra soil on shade garden

There I had a lovely morning potting up the seedlings that will hopefully last all winter in this slightly better protected environment.  I have a list somewhere on my cluttered desk.

Long pause there. I found it.   Ragged Robin, Monadia Bee’s Favourite, Echinacea Pink Parasol,   Nigella Moody Blues, Hollyhock Icicle,   Erysium Blood Red and some Sweet Rocket.  Not a large variety of any one plant; but I do seem to have a lot of Angelica Vicar’s Mead which came up well from my fresh sowings in October. Or was it September? Feels like aeons ago when we were sweltering in the heat and watering like mad. potting up

I have also cleared the cutting garden area beside the potting shed. This will hopefully be where the newly positioned potting shed will go.   But not until the new year.