Now I am beginning to question my own credibility. If I went to the trouble to write a list and put everything in order of importance and urgency, then why am I just picking the easy things to do? So far I should have made turnip soup – which I haven’t… yet. I have completed number 2 by finishing off the new bed and it looks great. So now I should be working on the pea bed and the onion bed. My asparagus should still be tired old beds in desperate need of attention, instead of the lavishly rich beds they are today. And so what do I do next… I mow. I didn’t let the fact that it is number 14 on the list bother me. I just got out my mower and to heck with the list. The grass was long, it was making the place look messy, it needed to be cut. So cut it was.
Now you may or may not have realised, but I have quite a large garden, and I also work with the theory that if I mow it then it is my territory and it will be gardened on. Maybe not today – but in the future, so by mowing I lay my claim. I used to make sneaky land grabs by mowing just one extra strip each time, hoping it wouldn’t be noticed until it is too late. These days my land grabs are quite brazen and I just openly mow large swaths and then tell Hubby the Un-Gardener to prepare himself as there will be digging to do.
So it takes quite some time to mow my garden and I have to refill the petrol tank at least once. While mowing my vast garden I get some thinking time – a lot of thinking time. I was admiring how good it was all beginning to look as I had tamed a large section and I began to wonder what it would look like from above. It would surely look impressive. You can kind of see it from Google Earth but it is quite fuzzy. Then I remembered seeing something on the internet where a Lego man was sent into space with a camera on a homemade rocket. I don’t want to go into space – I just want to go high enough to get a view of my garden.
I could strap a camera to a kite. Not my new camera as it is still too new for such an adventure. The old camera would do, except that it may be too heavy and might prevent the kite from flying. My phone makes movies and is quite light – if I take the protective case off it (phones in my care have a hard life because I’m clumsy and tend to drop them a lot.) But taking the case off may not be so wise, being as I want to send it high in the sky. Hubby the Un-Gardener pointed out that my phone is also quite new and worth considerably more than my camera.
My mind wandered about for the rest of the mow considering how to get a great overhead photo of my garden. I could climb on the office roof and take a photo from there – but will it be high enough to fit it all in and give me the vision I am looking for. Maybe I need to hire a helicopter… who do I know with a helicopter?
Come again soon – I need to get back to the list.
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Eh, I have a list too, but nothing is numbered. I always consider myself ahead of the game and on task if the things I accomplish are even ON the list…because sometimes, I get sidetracked. 😀
Shocked at how green your grass is in fall!
Hi Jenn. I am trying really hard not to get sidetracked as I am a natural procrastinator. This list is helping, although it has huge potential to induce feelings of guilt!
Our grass is pretty much always green as we live in what was once a swamp and so the soil and moisture levels are great. Although some times the moisture levels are so good that we can see them on the surface!
Cheers Sarah : o )
There is always more to do than time. Especially when you get four days three days of non-stop rain like we did. Thankfully we got my tiller through to break up the ground where the moisture could soak in and not just run off.
I have been taking pictures of all the various flowers, trees and vegetables around my home and I plan to do a series of posts documenting the various plants. I am curious how many different ones we have. I am estimating 60 or more. I hope you will look for them soon.
Hi Joe. I’m hoping to get ahead of the spring season by putting in a lot of groundwork now. But it is quite difficult staying motivated when it is cold outside.
The weather is always doing what you don’t want it to do – I have to watch myself or I spend the whole time moaning about the weather!
It sounds like a great idea with the photo thing of all your plants. I guess there are some we just take for granted because we see them all the time. I’ll bet you have many more than 60.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I began diagramming my beds this morning and took some pictures of some tiger lilies that just started to bloom. I hope to add the first installment next thursday. I hope you will look for it.
I love how you just wrote out your thoughts! Also with the way that grass grows, I believe mowing should not have been #14. Not sure how you should get that picture, but don’t break a camera or a phone, and please don’t hurt yourself climbing on a building. I think we are getting the picture from what you are posting, and it looks great! Also be sure to take a break now and again to refuel yourself with all that work.
Hi Lucinda.
I think mowing should be every fourth number on the list as the grass doesn’t seem to want to stop growing!
I could get Hubby the Un-Gardener to go up on the roof for me, but he’s a point and shoot kind of photographer and so I’m not sure I’d get the right picture. Although he is excited about coming up with some kind of flying photo taking device so I may hand that project over to him and see what he comes up with.
Thanks for your concern. We actually had a bit of a break last weekend to refuel ourselves, which is why I am way behind on all my comments. We had a lovely time, but it is always good to come home again.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I tend to look upon my gardening lists as aide-memoires rather than a definitive itinerary. Invariably I’ll start a job on the list only to be sidetracked into another job which wasn’t on the list but still needed doing 🙂
So, in your case, mowing the grass was number 14 on your aide-memoire NOT number 14 on the itinerary and, as it is essential that grass be kept nice and short around vegetable beds, you haven’t actually jumped 13 other more pressing points, you’ve merely carried out routine grounds maintenance and NOW you can start another job 😀
Hi there. I like your reasoning. Mind you, I could justify my way out of a paper bag if I had to. Which is why I am taking this list thing very seriously this time round. However I think the grass will need mowing a couple more times before I get to number 14 at the rate it’s growing at the moment!
Cheers Sarah : o )
I always do the easy stuff first to give a sense of accomplishment and make it easier to move on to the next thing. It seems to work.
Hi Heidi. I am torn between the easy and the important. I often find myself procrastinating about the important for so long that it becomes urgent or even worse – too late!
I am trying really hard to stick to my list this time. It seems to be helping.
It is good to see you are much improved. I hope you continue to get better so you are soon back to where you were.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Sarah it sounds as if your mowing time was very beneficial to you and to your garden because it gave you time to think and plan and all those really important things. Your garden looks great, I love the raised garden beds, easier for you to harvest your veggies without having to talk across the cultivated ground, it looks as if you could reach over and pick from either side.
Hi Jean. The thinking time that comes with mowing is alway welcome, although I have a lot to mow and am considering wearing a pedometer next time just to see how far I go when I mow.
Thank you for your kind words.
The widest beds I have are 2 metres and so reaching into the middle isn’t a problem, and as time goes on and the soil is worked each year it is getting fluffier and easier to weed and to use.
Having said that – I have raised beds because I need them – this land used to be a swamp and so it can get really waterlogged from time to time – especially in the winter.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Props to you for making a list! Perhaps if I did so I would at least be consciously “forgetting” to do the less desirable tasks…
Hi There. The list is being helpful this time round because I am actually checking it to see what to do. Normally I just write it all down – put it somewhere and forget about it. Then wonder why I am behind on everything! Although I do find it a bit of a struggle to do the important stuff first and not just skip down the list to the easy stuff.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Lists are made to be ignored. The mere act of writing the list is cathartic enough to cleanse your need of looking at it too closely ;). Love those raised beds and as soon as we can stop procrastinating enough to get our sorry middle aged derierres out into our new fully enclosed veggie garden (that is 3/4 enclosed at the moment and still hasn’t had the gate put on…) we can really get stuck in for our spring planting. That would also require us to build the garden beds ;). I love your way of claiming (or reclaiming) your land. Earl does that every morning…he heads out and “claims” the deck posts, the corners of the house and the gates…just so’s the feral cats know who is the boss around here! Your mowing is akin to Earls “marking” ;). Don’t hurt yourself too much falling off the roof by the way. You photographically inclined folk tend to be a bit crazy about a good image…Steve has been heading out into the frozen tundras at night time in the vague hope of capturing the Aurora Australis. He should just stop going to the facebook page set up to illustrate the gorgeous images that the southerners (Hobartians) are taking and be done with it but he sits outside, scaring the natives with his hoboescent Russian Babushka look and his thermos of hot coffee waiting for “that shot” ;). Maybe he can join you on the roof. At least one of you should get something you can post before you both have to go off to the emergency department 😉
Hi Fran.
A friend and follower showed me a site on the internet that has a remote controlled flying thing that actually has a camera attached for only $77. Although I’m not sure what currency – probably USD. The internet has a solution to any thought you may have. Hubby the Un-Gardener thinks I should get one so I could take monthly photos from above of my garden. I think he just wants to play with it. I’m not so sure…. I haven’t checked out the view from the roof yet – it could save me $77 in someones money.
I hope Steve gets a the photo he is looking for and if he does, then I hope you post it on your blog – I’ll bet it is amazing.
Don’t beat yourself up too much about your garden – we have a good couple of months before we need our dirt piles ready for action – and it is cold outside and warm by the fire. There is heaps of time!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Steve is out in 0C and just phoned to tell me that he thinks he might just have caught something…a cold most probably ;). I think I needed your posts to give me a bit of a shove out of my comfort zone. We were taught that autumn and winter were the best times to get out into the garden in our Southern Hemisphere. We chose to ignore that because it was cold. I have leeks, parsley, silverbeet and some lettuce that need planting out. I have lots of deciduous nut trees that need planting out so that they get a head start in spring and they will be ready to handle the summer heat. We have a whole lot of work that needs to be done and thanks to you being willing to get out there in the cold (it HAS to be colder there than here… you are a brave woman!), you have given us the impetus to do the same :). Cheers for that 🙂