Computer before surgery

Lack of computer means my desk is a mess as this is the holding area for to-do tasks. There are reminders, seeds and plants to be added to my spreadsheet and accounts to do. I hardly dare mention the new Rice Cooker which is out of the picture on the left (sitting there until I find a place for it in the kitchen).

Messy desk

As if that was not enough of a distraction the Web Designer and J are still fixing up their new house.There is lots of decorating and building work to do so. I have been painting  walls which I find quite soothing but I think my talent for multi tasking is fading as I get older. I am like my cats – easily distracted when something catches my eye and only able to focus on one thing at a time. Apart from the decorating there is further temptation – the blank canvas that is WD and J’s garden.

Garden at the new house

A lawn! I haven’t had one of those for years in my own garden. In the borders we have discovered a pink Paeony, a Rose, a variegated Iris and a Grass and Bamboo, all unidentified of course. I have to remember not to look at the garden while I am painting – I might have to go outside to investigate. That would not do.

Time to relax and stare at the garden.

Easygardener has an espresso in the garden

Time to relax and admire the the tiny flower growing in this pot.

Arthropodium candidum 'Purpureum'

Time to ……aaarrgh……!

Synchronised nibbling

Caterpillars of the Large Cabbage White Butterfly on the Cress plant I am saving for seed.

It has a lot fewer leaves than it started off with.

Perhaps I should have stayed indoors!

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.

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.

Now to my choices. I thought of inviting people from the blogging community but that was way too difficult. There were too many people that I couldn’t leave off the list so that idea went out of the window (lol). I had another rethink and came up with the following.

Monty Don

Monty Don – Having stepped down from presenting Gardener’s World on the BBC due to illness he has now become President of the Soil Association which promotes organic gardening. I particularly wanted to hear about those 80 gardens Around the World he visited  for BBC Television. I love that bag!

Christopher Lloyd

Christopher Lloyd – His love of colour and his planting at Great Dixter was very inspiring. He also sounds an entertaining character so should be the life and soul of the party!

Lawrence D. Hills

Lawrence D. Hills – He did so much to establish organic gardening in the UK. He founded The Henry Doubleday Research Association in 1954, now renamed Garden Organic. Here he is with the Comfrey plants he loved so much, showing how they could be used to feed both the soil and plants.

Carol Klein

Carol Klein – She is bound to keep the conversation rolling as she is so enthusiastic about gardening and has created her own wonderful garden at Glebe Cottage in Devon.

Beth Chatto

Beth Chatto – I first visited her garden in Essex many years ago and loved it. I also enjoy her books as she writes so well. A wonderful gardener and my final guest.

My virtual caterers will take care of the food. I’ll just  sit back and enjoy the experience.

One Robin

“I’m one year old today!
One year old today!
I’ve got the key of the door!
Never been one year old before!
And everyone says I can do what I like!
So shout Hip-hip-hooray!
I’m a jolly good bloggerrrr,
One year old today!”

[Apologies to Reggie Byng, "A Damsel in Distress" by P.G. Wodehouse (1919)]

One year ago I started this blog. I wondered if anyone would read it. I wondered if anyone would comment.

Thank heavens some of you did – or I never would have kept going (lol)

A Desert Island Plant Challenge
“There are no restrictions to growing conditions. Any plant will grow. Food plants are already available”.

Which three plants would you take with you to the desert island?

Well when I first thought about this I found it impossible to come up with only 3 plants. My head was whirling. Where to start? That one..no this one. Luckily I decided on three groupings which helped me focus and stopped my head exploding. Phew!

1. A plant for fragrance.
2. A plant that has va..va..voom.
3. A plant from my favourite genus .

So here we go:

Plant 1: For fragrance this plant takes some beating. It is Epiphyllum oxypetalum (Queen of the Night). The flowers open slowly during the evening and are finished by the following morning. They smell absolutely wonderful and the perfume, though strong, is not overwhelming or sickly.

Of course I will have to sit up all night by the desert island camp fire to see the flowers but I’m sure a few of you will be there to keep me company. I think I’d better take a torch.

Epiphyllum oxypetalum (Queen of the Night)

Plant 2: I love Ipomoea ‘Heavenly Blue’. The flowers are large and a pure sky blue. They are showy, dazzling and  peacockish. For me  they have that special something, that va..va..voom! If this picture looks familiar it’s because it is one of my rotating blog headers.

I’m sure the island will have a tree they can scramble over. I will erect my tent next to that tree, before I light my camp fire.

Ipomoea 'Heavenly Blue'

Plant3: Finally an example from my favourite genus -  Geranium. I’ve loved them for years and have never lost interest.  Some plants come and go but these stay with me for ever. They are so varied yet always beautiful. Geranium ‘Ann Folkard’ has that lovely magenta with a dark eye combination that I find especially attractive. She would always remind me of my garden at home.

Geranium 'Ann Folkard'

Mmmmm….I can see myself now sitting outside my tent, next to the camp fire, admiring my plants, hopefully with a cold glass of white wine in my hand. Shirl didn’t mention if there would be any wine to go with the food plants. I hope so. I wouldn’t want to depend on growing my own grapes. Too long to wait (lol).

Could you come up with 3 plants to take to this desert island? Go to Shirl’s blog to see which bloggers have taken up the challenge.

[ Hibernating gardener - A person who rushes down the garden to feed the birds and water the greenhouse. This individual glances at the garden but always hurries back indoors saying "Way too cold to do anything outside".

The same person often stares blankly out of the window at the garden. At this time there is little brain activity, though occasionally it flickers into life, but only  for the time it takes to make a cup of coffee/hot chocolate/tea ]

Idyllic! – you would think so wouldn’t you, but as always the outside world intrudes.

Apparently now is the time to do decorating. Now that the roof has been re-tiled the old excuse of water leaks is no longer deemed valid. The bedrooms must be given a complete makeover. The Digger and I do not do this very often – preferring to makeover a garden border instead.

We are doing the WebDesigner’s old bedroom. The cupboards and drawers are still full of his things. Apparently the house in which he lives has no spare storage space. He also suggests I do not decorate his old room in a “wacky colour”. Personally I think the purple walls in our downstairs toilet are very attractive.

Why not, he says, turn the bedroom into a games room? There is already a TV, a games console and a GIGANTIC RED BEANBAG. The beanbag is indeed huge (nearly 5  feet tall/150cm) and a very, very bright red.  This monstrosity was sent to him as a freebie to review on his website. Of course there is no room for it in his house.

Not enough room to swing a red bean bag

I can put it off no longer. The room is emptied as much as possible, the tools are assembled and I am ready to go.

Decorating tools at the ready

I just need a small paint brush so I pop into the garage. Oh look,  some bulbs I got in a sale and forgot to plant. Mmmmm…well they will have to be dealt with immediately. I’ll have to put them in pots as the ground is frozen. Poor things. I’ll have to put off the  decorating till tomorrow.

Forgotten bulbs

P.S. I’m painting the walls red. There will be too much red. The bean bag  will have to go!

My potting area in the garage

Our garage has contained a car only once. Shortly afterwards the garden stuff and large amounts of junk filled up the available space. Of course I differentiate  between my indispensable gardening items and the Digger’s rubbish which mostly fills up the other end. You can see why the car doesn’t get a look in.

The 'junk' end of the garage