In 4 days time Betty's garden is going to be over run by about 37 children average age 5 years old.
Should she
a) accept whatever happens, after all she did offer to have the party at her house (foolish woman!)
b) dig up her prized plants and hide them in pots until the danger has passed
or
c) put barbed wire around the borders and have the shotgun ready?
Tuesday 4 May 2010
Thursday 22 April 2010
Pay day!
One day a week Betty helps out at a small garden centre. She doesn't get paid but does it because she loves plants and loves talking to people about them.
But the manager there is not a plant person - not even a person person and Betty feels rather undervalued.
But there is one person who appreciates her - the other staff member she works with. And yesterday he showed Betty some plants he had put aside for her. Ok, so they were a bit dead looking and were being written off. But with a touch of tlc they should be back to life and will look fabulous next year.
Hurrah for free plants!
But the manager there is not a plant person - not even a person person and Betty feels rather undervalued.
But there is one person who appreciates her - the other staff member she works with. And yesterday he showed Betty some plants he had put aside for her. Ok, so they were a bit dead looking and were being written off. But with a touch of tlc they should be back to life and will look fabulous next year.
Hurrah for free plants!
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Free Plants
What's better than plants? Free plants of course. Reluctantly Betty went to work yesterday. She was very tired after staying up late (10pm) to listen to the little Mushroom perform in a singing concert.
What at fantastic night. She is such the proud mother now. Little Mushroom is not fazed at all by it all - just a bit tired.
So at work - which isn't really work - just helping out with a bit of gardening in a big garden. Anyway, the work was in the herbaceous border - Betty's favourite place. The plan was to remove some clumps that had got too big. And what was going to happen to the clumps that were too big?
Nothing!! Free to a good home. So Betty took a bag full of.......well she's not sure. There was definitely perennial sunflowers and probably some Aconitum and some other stuff that she thinks is Achillea but not the usual one. And she took some poppies although the chances of them surviving are nil.
Good stuff! Home they came, they were planted and the hosepipe dragged round. And it didn't reach!
What idiot decided to put the outside tap at the furthest point from the garden?? So watering can out and plants drowned. Fingers crossed. Betty is happy.
And very angry because the job she didn't want, she didn't get. Ok, but they never told her they didn't want her. Never again will she shop there. All their talk of customer service and they didn't think that she might be a customer and their attitude to her reflects badly on them.
What at fantastic night. She is such the proud mother now. Little Mushroom is not fazed at all by it all - just a bit tired.
So at work - which isn't really work - just helping out with a bit of gardening in a big garden. Anyway, the work was in the herbaceous border - Betty's favourite place. The plan was to remove some clumps that had got too big. And what was going to happen to the clumps that were too big?
Nothing!! Free to a good home. So Betty took a bag full of.......well she's not sure. There was definitely perennial sunflowers and probably some Aconitum and some other stuff that she thinks is Achillea but not the usual one. And she took some poppies although the chances of them surviving are nil.
Good stuff! Home they came, they were planted and the hosepipe dragged round. And it didn't reach!
What idiot decided to put the outside tap at the furthest point from the garden?? So watering can out and plants drowned. Fingers crossed. Betty is happy.
And very angry because the job she didn't want, she didn't get. Ok, but they never told her they didn't want her. Never again will she shop there. All their talk of customer service and they didn't think that she might be a customer and their attitude to her reflects badly on them.
Friday 16 April 2010
A Diversion into frustration
Apart from looking at her new garden and wishing it was bigger, Betty does little else with her time. The Little Mushroom is at school now and while this frees up more time for shopping and socialising, something is missing.
In an attempt to plug the gap, Betty applied for a job. Bit of a stretch to see how she manage to actually do the job and the school run and avoid the required weekend work. But it had been a long time since she had a job, so Betty thought she would apply and see what happened.
She got an interview. Great! A little bit of preparation and she was relaxed and ready. She knew she probably wouldn't be able to take the job but there was the hope that they would offer her something that might fit into her busy schedule.
That was 13 days ago and Betty hasn't heard anything. So she is sulking. And annoyed and frustrated. Ok, so she wasn't what they were looking for but it is rude not to say so.
The interview seemed to go well. Nothing too tricky. She was a bit unprepared and wouldn't have been too surprised if they had said "Sorry, you're not our type."
But instead they said - the next stage would be an interview with the chief, would that be ok?
Betty thought no but said yes.
Then they took her phone numbers - land and mobile - and said they were interviewing other people and would be in touch.
At least that's what Betty remembers being said. But she certainly left with the impression that she would hear from them again.
Now she has a dilemma. She doesn't really want the job so she can't chase it. And to chase it would appear desperate anyway. So she sits and looks at her boring garden and tries to remember exactly what the nice man said.
In an attempt to plug the gap, Betty applied for a job. Bit of a stretch to see how she manage to actually do the job and the school run and avoid the required weekend work. But it had been a long time since she had a job, so Betty thought she would apply and see what happened.
She got an interview. Great! A little bit of preparation and she was relaxed and ready. She knew she probably wouldn't be able to take the job but there was the hope that they would offer her something that might fit into her busy schedule.
That was 13 days ago and Betty hasn't heard anything. So she is sulking. And annoyed and frustrated. Ok, so she wasn't what they were looking for but it is rude not to say so.
The interview seemed to go well. Nothing too tricky. She was a bit unprepared and wouldn't have been too surprised if they had said "Sorry, you're not our type."
But instead they said - the next stage would be an interview with the chief, would that be ok?
Betty thought no but said yes.
Then they took her phone numbers - land and mobile - and said they were interviewing other people and would be in touch.
At least that's what Betty remembers being said. But she certainly left with the impression that she would hear from them again.
Now she has a dilemma. She doesn't really want the job so she can't chase it. And to chase it would appear desperate anyway. So she sits and looks at her boring garden and tries to remember exactly what the nice man said.
Thursday 15 April 2010
List 1 - part a - shrubs I have
Having made her list of lists, Betty starting writing the first one. It was a list of all the shrubs that she already had in the garden.
The garden was only about 3 years old. So the previous owners were responsible for the existing plants. Not a bad collection she thought, if a little boring.
Spiraea 'GoldFlame' - nice shrub but why did they have to plant so many
Philadelphus coronarius 'Aureus' - lovely
Euonymus 'Silver Queen' - ok to fill space and to give evergreen interested. Needs controlling as is it taking over it's space.
Viburnum tinus - excellent shrub but infested with Viburnum beetle, so may have to go.
Mahonia 'Winter Sun' - great structural shrub.
Choisya 'Sundance' - not sure about this. And there are at least 2 of them.
Elaeagnus 'Maculata' - good for evergreen backdrop, but bit boring.
Salix 'Contorta' - interesting but ultimately will get too big.
Rosemary - ok
Pyracantha - being trained as wall shrubs. Can probably live with them
Photinia 'Red Robin' - nice but there's two of them, one has to go.
Hydrangea microphylla 'Rose Pink' - let's see what it does.
Pieris 'Mountain Fire' - wrong, wrong, wrong, needs acid soil.
Cistus 'Jessabel' - mmmm nice shrub but the soil is a bit heavy for it.
Escallonia 'Apple Blossom'
That's a lot of big shrubs for a small garden, thought Betty. And I haven't considered the ones I brought. Needs a good clear out. But could Betty ruthlessly cull the shrubs she didn't need or would she try to save them all?
The garden was only about 3 years old. So the previous owners were responsible for the existing plants. Not a bad collection she thought, if a little boring.
Spiraea 'GoldFlame' - nice shrub but why did they have to plant so many
Philadelphus coronarius 'Aureus' - lovely
Euonymus 'Silver Queen' - ok to fill space and to give evergreen interested. Needs controlling as is it taking over it's space.
Viburnum tinus - excellent shrub but infested with Viburnum beetle, so may have to go.
Mahonia 'Winter Sun' - great structural shrub.
Choisya 'Sundance' - not sure about this. And there are at least 2 of them.
Elaeagnus 'Maculata' - good for evergreen backdrop, but bit boring.
Salix 'Contorta' - interesting but ultimately will get too big.
Rosemary - ok
Pyracantha - being trained as wall shrubs. Can probably live with them
Photinia 'Red Robin' - nice but there's two of them, one has to go.
Hydrangea microphylla 'Rose Pink' - let's see what it does.
Pieris 'Mountain Fire' - wrong, wrong, wrong, needs acid soil.
Cistus 'Jessabel' - mmmm nice shrub but the soil is a bit heavy for it.
Escallonia 'Apple Blossom'
That's a lot of big shrubs for a small garden, thought Betty. And I haven't considered the ones I brought. Needs a good clear out. But could Betty ruthlessly cull the shrubs she didn't need or would she try to save them all?
Wednesday 14 April 2010
Introducing Betty's Garden
When Betty saw her new garden she stopped smiling. The house....well, the house was lovely, especially the kitchen which was huge. But the garden - where was the rest of it, thought Betty.
There was grass at the back of the house and grass at the side of the house. And a small border in the furthest corner. The most interesting feature was the child's play house. Painted pink with curtains at the windows, it dominated the view from the windows.
But it was the best house (and garden) available. So they bought it, and Betty spent three months ignoring the garden. After all it was wet and cold and windy, and Betty definitely didn't do cold weather gardening.
But now it's spring and officially gardening season, so Betty has ventured into the garden and had a look around.
Small and boring, were her initial thoughts. But then some of the best gardens were small and definitely not boring. She just couldn't think of any right now.
And the daffodils had appeared. Lots and lots and lots of them. So cheerful and sunny. Perhaps this garden had potential after all. It just needed careful planning and patience. Betty could do the first but lacked the later.
Lists were what Betty did best. She listed the lists she needed to make - the plants in the garden, the plants she had brought with her, the plants she needed to by and so on and so on.
That was enough work for now. Time for coffee and biscuits.
There was grass at the back of the house and grass at the side of the house. And a small border in the furthest corner. The most interesting feature was the child's play house. Painted pink with curtains at the windows, it dominated the view from the windows.
But it was the best house (and garden) available. So they bought it, and Betty spent three months ignoring the garden. After all it was wet and cold and windy, and Betty definitely didn't do cold weather gardening.
But now it's spring and officially gardening season, so Betty has ventured into the garden and had a look around.
Small and boring, were her initial thoughts. But then some of the best gardens were small and definitely not boring. She just couldn't think of any right now.
And the daffodils had appeared. Lots and lots and lots of them. So cheerful and sunny. Perhaps this garden had potential after all. It just needed careful planning and patience. Betty could do the first but lacked the later.
Lists were what Betty did best. She listed the lists she needed to make - the plants in the garden, the plants she had brought with her, the plants she needed to by and so on and so on.
That was enough work for now. Time for coffee and biscuits.
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