Labour Day weekend is the traditional time that kiwis take to their gardens and start to knock them into shape. It’s time to plant out your vegetable plants and start to think about your flower beds for the summer. With the onset of some good weather it was time for us to dig out the garden tools and machinery and get cracking too.
Although I know I’ll be suffering tomorrow I was really looking forward to getting stuck in. After another week of disproportionate amounts of executive activity it was going to be a delight to start to have some fun outdoors.
One of the downsides of having so much work on right now is that those small errands I would squeeze in during the week have to wait for the weekend. This morning I came home from town with a true Domestic Executive vehicle. There was 80kg of chicken food, two bags of compost, a lawnmower, three bags of food shopping, a filing cabinet and other miscellaneous stationery for the office. A true reflection of my life.
Today’s big challenge was to start the bank clearing, lawn mowing and weeding in the potager. It was through gritted teeth I pushed and pulled the small lawnmower over the steep banks where MT had strimmed. I just kept thinking, Oh boy this is going to hurt later.
The trusty strimmer has been serviced ready for a hard season of keeping the long grass and weeds down. I have to admit that I was pleased to be mowing the lawn with the ride on mower than hacking through the undergrowth. All together more civilised and so much more fun to chase the bassets across the grass. I did however have to do my bit eventually with the push mower and edging sheers to reach those parts that the ride on just can’t handle.
So far buttercups are about the worst thing we’ve had to contend with. We are keeping a hawk eye out for the dreaded thistles as we don’t want a repeat of the thistle harvest we had last year. When we’ve finished beating down the grass we’re going to seed with a wildflower seed mix in the hope it will create a wildflower meadow which won’t need too much maintenance.
MT was in his element. Back on the land. Contrary to vicious rumours my dear husband has developed a love of work on the land. Ok, maybe not a love but deep satisfaction I do wonder though how much it is really a case of the boy and his gardening toys.
It was indeed a lovely day to be outdoors but it’s a rush against time to get as much as we can done. Labour Day (Monday, 26th October) is going to be another washout. Perfect day for me to fill up my filing cabinet.
In the meantime, there is plenty of weeding to be done and seeds to plant. Once again I’m a little late in starting with the planting but I’m sure we’ll catch up somewhere along the way. That’s if I can get out of bed tomorrow. Oh the aches are going to hurt!