Two buds appearing above the water

Eventually the buds will open and this will be the result. They add a touch of exotic colour to the pond which is essentially made up of shades of green at this time of year.

Water lily

At the bottom of the garden we have a large Eucalyptus tree. I think it is going to have to go because it will soon be too large for the garden and it seems to be absorbing all the moisture from the soil. Many of the plants nearby are suffering including my ferns. I was baffled to see that one fern was suffering more than the others. It was lying completely flat.

Then I discovered the reason why.

Cozzie takes a nap

She opened one eye when I complained, then yawned and went back to sleep.

This cat is being kept under observation. She sleeps for hours and hours.

Georgie fast asleep

Sometimes she wakes up.

Georgie wakes up

Then you realise why she controls the household.

Georgie becoming aware she is being observed

She is a Demon cat with hypnotic powers. Beware!

Extract from official report: “When questioned the photographer had no recollection of this episode and declined to co-operate with our enquires. Only these photographs remain as evidence. The cat in question has gone back to sleep”.

One day the builders were here for about eight hours doing various noisy things. Finally they fitted the bath panels to the side of the bath and boarded all the floor in preparation for the new floor covering.

This involved a lot of sawing and banging. Then they went home. I had a quick look to check everything was ok.

All neatly boarded up

The Digger came home from work and went upstairs to look for himself.

“There’s a cat in the bathroom” he said. ……There was a short pause…… “I think it’s under the floor”.

Indeed it was. We could hear a faint, peeved “miaow” from under the bath.

Luckily the builder lives locally so we called him back. Part of the the floor boarding was ripped up and the bath panel dismantled.  Various holes were uncovered. The builder went home (again).

The holes

Two hours later the cat emerged from one of the holes.

As I type this I am re-living the whole experience and grinding my teeth.

As for Georgie the cat – she says that after 8 hours under a noisy floor she needs a nap .

Georgie - free at last

Rosa 'Ghislaine de Feligonde'

Plus an explanation as to why the pond always needs to be refilled on a regular basis.

The Pond in October

Can you see him? My cat Halki prefers the mature flavours of pond water.

Halki aged 14 on the left and Cozzie aged 12. I think they have a chance at a gold medal.

Halki and Cozzie

Running with the cat theme….aren’t I clever! Thank you to The Curious Cat who has recently tagged me.  I hope she won’t mind if I don’t pass it on as I tend to opt out of tagging but I did do the first part.

Rules:

1. Collect the book that you have most handy
2. Turn to page 161
3. Find the 5th complete sentence
4. Cite the sentence on your blog
5. Pass it on to five other bloggers

The book I am reading at the moment is ‘The Demon And The City’ by Liz Williams.

The fifth sentence is:
“The assassin went down on the deck, skidding on the slippery planks and bounced up again like a ball”

Now wouldn’t you like to know what happened next!

Halki on guard

Recently I looked out of the conservatory window and saw a strange black and white cat in the garden. I made the mistake of stepping outside to chase him away. Unknown to me Halki was staring at the intruder from behind a bush. I had foolishly interrupted the strict rituals which take place when two strange cats meet.

There is the staring, the low growling and then the standing sideways while fluffing up in order to look bigger. This is usually followed by more growling, slowly sitting down, breaking eye contact – and the intruder slipping away, no harm done. Unless stupid cat owner comes out and frightens the intruder so that he runs….then Halki is honour bound to go into attack mode…All Hell Breaks Loose!

The two cats wrestle each other and ricochet all over the garden, knocking over stupid cat owner’s plants and pots. There is lots of shouting (me) and much snarling (cats) but eventually the intruder is vanquished. Both Halki and I are left feeling rather jittery and on edge. The pots are put back in place. Peace reigns.

Next day  I am hanging out the washing when I look at the pond. There were surely 7 pots of Agaves/Succulents standing around the edge. Now there are only 6. I think back to the cat fight – cats had definitely bounced around near the pond.

I will have to do some fishing!

Fishing in the pond

Hmmm…..can Agaves hold their breathe under water for 24hrs?

Diving Agave rises to the surface

Apparently they can, as this one seems fine. I don’t know what the frogs thought about their prickly visitor. Thank heavens it didn’t fall in spines first otherwise the pond liner would have lots of little punctures in it.

Order is restored, though the  plain green Agave at the back is still  looking rather damp.

Pond with pots

Small allotment before tidy up

I need tools before I start work and find my first splash of colour. We photographers are so innovative.  I also have some packets of seeds to sow.  Yes the hoe is a funny shape but it is very easy to use and prevents back strain. My camera is to hand should anything exciting happen – or not!

Garden tools, including camera

I need to weed and prune in the perennial herb bed. Note the gap in the fence and the flattened earth – Mr Badger is visiting again.  Back left is Sage (Salvia officinalis) which needs a heavy prune to keep it neat and to stop the plant getting too woody. Back right are the pale green leaves of Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum). Front right is the buried pot which stops the Mint escaping and creating havoc and next to it are the ordinary Chives (Allium schoenoprasum). Front left is Winter Savory (Satureja montana) which also needs a trim. I think I have lost my French Tarragon (Artemesia dracunculus) and Oregano (Origanum vulgare ‘Compactum’) both of which lie under the Badger’s path.

Herb bed with Badger trail

I am not good at overwintering salad leaves and get very mixed results. The seeds for these were sown in August and the plants put under the cloche shown in the first picture. The Lettuce did really well.

Lettuce 'Bronze Arrowhead'

But the Chicory – they made no effort at all. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Chicory 'Grumolo Bionda'

I dug up the some of the remaining Beetroot  ‘Chioggia’  from last year. They did surprisingly well over the winter considering they had no protection and temperatures fell to -11C (12F).

Beetroot 'Chioggia'

I spread the compost around and sowed some seeds:

• Climbing Pea ‘Stenu’ which will climb up a cane and netting support.
• Dwarf Snap Pea ‘Zuccola’ with some small branches and twigs pushed into the soil for support.
• Beetroot ‘Chioggia’
• Radishes  ‘French Breakfat 3′ and a trial yellow radish from Marshalls Seeds (free with an order)
• Parsley ‘Lisette’
• Leaf Beet ‘Bright Lights’

I felt quite pleased with myself when I had finished.

Small allotment after seed sowing (1)

Small allotment after seed sowing (2)

The cold winter seems to have improved the Rhubarb which is growing very strongly. I think the winter hibernation has done it some good.

Rhubarb

In an effort to make the post a tad more interesting I thought I’d feature a faithful pet amongst the vegetables.  That didn’t go so well. She ran back into the garden and up the Eucalyptus tree. Now I have a colour combination infinitely more boring than brown and green.

Cozzie

Agave americana 'Variegata'

Clever gardener has devised a fleece and bubble wrap tepee protection so that the Agave can stay out over the winter. She wraps it carefully in November 2007 and it survives without a scratch. The winter was very mild so Clever gardener is annoyed. What a lot of work and it wasn’t even a cold winter! What will next year bring?

Procrastinating gardener spends November and December 2008 wondering whether to wrap her Agave. She wonders…and wonders….till the first heavy frost catches her unprepared. She rushes out, brushes off the frost, lets her Agave dry off then wraps it up securely. Better late than never she says to herself.

Agave wrapped up in December 2008

Stupid, Incompetent, Lazy gardener unwraps her Agave in March 2009. Aarrrggghhhh….much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Agave looking unwell

Sad gardener apologises to Agave and sniffles pathetically into a tissue.

Optimistic gardener remembers all she has learned from years of watching ER. She gets her saw and her new Felco secateurs. She dispenses with the scrubs and hand washing but does wear gloves. Georgie the cat can’t bear to watch.

Agave after surgery

Resigned gardener has done her best but she is no Dr Neela Rasgotra. Hopefully she has learned an important lesson about second guessing the weather and putting things off. Such smug thoughts do not help  Agave who is feeling ugly and unwanted.

Creative gardener remembers the Plastic surgery in Grey’s Anatomy! There must be some procedures she can use to good effect. She decides on transplants after a quick Botoxing of the surface area.

Agave after plastic surgery

Easygardener knew that there was a valid excuse for watching too many hospital dramas on  TV and feels vindicated.

I’ve embarked on my garden border spring clean. This involves a general tidy up, renewing plant labels if they have faded and digging up and moving plants that I squeezed into unsuitable spaces last year. Oh, and finding plants that I forgot I’d planted. Exciting times! The sun was shining and the bees were buzzing so I felt glad to be getting my hands dirty.

Bumble Bee on a Crocus

I find there is something deeply satisfying about removing weeds. I also took the opportunity to move pots containing Narcissi and Tulips from their winter storage spot to where they can get more sun. This little raised bed holds my Ginko biloba tree which I am attempting to prune heavily so that I can keep it in the garden. There are also Primulas, Crocus and Allium schubertii. The lower part of Ginko trunk is ringed with plastic netting to stop the cats shredding it and to support the self set Ipomoeas (Morning Glory) which will appear later on.

Tidy borders

Here is one of the trunk shredding cats (Georgie) walking alongside the Hellebore border. My Canna Lily on the left is still covered by straw and the protective structure I rigged up last year.

Hellebore border and Georgie

…….and here’s a close up of the synchronised swimming!

Hellebores do synchronised swimming

Floating them in water is the best way to fully appreciate the flowers. I do it only once each year then I leave the rest of the flowers to hang their heads as usual.

Which way should I jump? Start gardening or hibernate for a bit longer. Perhaps I should weigh up the evidence.

I can see that the  snow and frost have disappeared and day time temperatures are up to 12 degrees Celsius (53F). Night time temperatures are well above freezing. Root vegetables are no longer frozen into the ground. I no longer wear gloves every day and I have forgotten about the need to buy warm, waterproof boots. More flowers are appearing in the garden. Look, I have my first  Crocus. The  evidence for gardening is most convincing at this point.

Crocus sieberi ssp. sublimis 'Tricolor'

Crocus chrysanthus 'Zwanenburg bronze'

On the other hand there are still signs that the weather is not as stable as it could be. I’m still wearing a scarf outside and my coat is firmly zipped up. The sun rarely shines and I still have the heating on indoors. The garden is damp and brown looking. My tender plants are still lodged in the greenhouse. The cats refuse to stay outside for long and are never far away from the house radiators and warm chairs. They sometimes show surprising signs of intelligence (see below). Perhaps I should follow their lead and stay inside, and forget gardening for now.

Halki playing Scrabble

I know I should follow the evidence and not my instincts. I should not sow seeds too early as I have done in previous years. I should not be overly optimistic.

Cold frame

I should probably have listened to the cat.