working too much

It seems to me whenever im at work its sunny. When im not its raining. Most of May has been washed out with torrential rain, high winds, with only brief breaks of warm sunshine. The spring bulbs were weeks late before breaking the ground. Who knows with the weather? Last year my problem was dry heat killing plants by drying the soil.
This year i'm worried about the wet ground rotting the plants. If you care you worry, if you worry you try to check daily.
All the stress of work family and stuff dissapears when i get outside. I can go into my own little gardeners world. Soaking up new growth, insect damage, working out whats growing well, why things are looking ropey. For every beautiful flower growing i might find six that are floundering? Is it the soil? The weather? the site?
I am a worrier, at night i dont count sheep, I memorise whats growing, what jobs need doing. I love the physical side of gardening. Digging, planting, cutting the grass, trimming shrubs, weeding. Being outside is cool.
I find it symbiotic working with the garden on the hillside. Seeing what works etc.I am learning as i go along. Books, magasines, blogger's, and google! They are bearers of secrets when they disclose what works and what doesnt.
I have worked six days in a row, two to go.
I would love to spend more time gardening, but as it stands i have fleeting moments to go outside and soak in the vibes.
Thats what makes it more special when flowers bring colour and beauty to the world. We need to savour each moment, communing with nature, then dream of new planting ideas, new plants, and flowers.

forget me nots 

summer pansy's 

snapdragon flower spike 

trailing fuschia flower buds 

Early morning blu sky and unknown mad yellow flowered tree

A garden in Rochester, Kent

Here is my sisters funky watercolour plan of her new garden space in her new house in Kent.My missions is to populate the space with easy to care plants that need minimal green fingers.

It is a south facing garden, with a small patch of grass which she is trying to renovate with grass seeds.It has three concrete areas, the house is to the bottom right.It looks L shaped to me.

There is a yellow fence to the left border, a wooden fence and gate to the top edge, and a fence to the right of the grass.

I already have a rough plan.I will draw one for her, then acquire the plants etc and when it is done I will post my handiwork on here.

I use basic mapping for my garden to try and remember what is planted where and when.The blog is useful but as Amy Stewart says you cant categorise links.I have made over six hundred and fifty posts!There is much information there but finding out where it is...

More posts about Jawsys new garden to follow in due course.

Springtime energises

the gardener in us all.
I have posted fifteen whats growing today pics after my early shift.I cut the grass, trimmed the border edges, weeded a bit. A big thank you to two keen eyed bloggers who thought my mystery weed was a horsetail. (Lilly Marlene at http://plotblog-lilymarlene.blogspot.com/ and Sandy at http://theizelcottage.blogspot.com/ ).
It has been pulled up, oops i read the advise after the act. I have never seen it in nearly two years, and until i looked it up i had never heard of it! Watch this space to see if the spores have spread.
I have had a two year battle with bindweed, it is allowed on the hedge at the front and the wild corner between the long borders middle point. I just rip it out knowing it will waste valuable resources regrowing. Ditto Dandelion weeds get pulled out, as babys if i can find them.
The hillside is so windy all manner of weeds get blown in. Today as i cut the grass i found little brown mushrooms (see pics) because as you know it has rained for weeks. It was dry today, sunny in patches but god was it windy!
All the hatches were battened down last time the winds howled over the hillside. Nothing is loose. I even tied my foxgloves up today to help support them.
I only put fifteen pics on today but took loads more. I want to get up tomorrow before work and have a plant count for the amount of species i have growing in the garden.
I work as a RN in the hospital so im working for days in a row now. I had to get out today, and feel the wind burning my cheeks and the sun warm my skin. I dont know when i will be able to get out again.
I loved every minute of the three hours i was able to spend outside. All the day to day stress and worries evaporate as i mowed the grass, clipped, weeded, and photographed.
So much is growing now, in my garden and in other peoples which i look at going to and from work. Buds, new leafs, birds singing, and its like a preamble to summer. The whole of nature is busy getting ready for a long summer party. Putting glad rags on, and starting to toe tap to the music.
Do other people get excited in springtime as plants grow, and flowers develop? The expectation makes the gardeners pulse speed up and blood flow. As you cut, weed, plant, sow you become connected to the earth, and feel the changing of the seasons gradually. A symbiosis between you and nature..
I did say i had poetic soul, and i deeply feel the energy now of springtime.

Last pic, end of gardening day 

Dusk falling 

up to house view 

Kitchen window border 

Foxgloves with spires soaring.. 

Sunflowers not eaten by slugs/snails yet... 

front window border 

Aubretia in second blooming 

square border end of may 

Our house and white birch tree 

White F1 Petunias (they do smell but only evening/night time) 

First orange rose bud of 2006,its nearly summer!! 

sunshine 

A mushroom in profile 

Mushrooms growing in the grass (said in earlier post i bet they will grow) 

Sunrise 05.25am 

Flowerfairy night light 

Hedge, my long meadow grass, and fir tree (Neighbours have trimmed it back so badly on their side.He has taken a foot off.Oh my gawd!!!!Its about eight feet high at our end of the hedge) 

Gladiolus rising from the soil 

Hebe Pascal, tan green leaf tips glowing in evening sun