Tidying and pottering

I've been spending a little time today doing some tidying in the garden and greenhouse, sorting the plant pots neatly by size and planting what I can while the weather is still reasonably mild. The one thing I hate about tidying in the garden is disturbing the creatures that live there. Lift a pot and out scurries dozens of frantic little woodlice - I feel so guilty for disrupting their peace. I think of them carrying on with their lives, doing whatever it is that woodlice do, until I happen along and create chaos in their world. That's why I very rarely tidy up in the garden.

As I reached for a plant, from the side of my eyes I saw this fella in the pot next to it - he made me jump! I didn't produce the same effect in him - he didn't budge while I went for my camera and took his photograph. He was probably sleeping off his Sunday dinner of slugs.

This is one instance where I should be more careful - tidying away the seed packets. I'd left this lot stuffed in a plant pot on the floor of the potting shed and the mice have made some pretty cut-out patterns! Thankfully, they didn't feast on the seeds - they must have only wanted the paper for their nest.

After tidying up, I had a little wander round the garden and took a photograph of this beautiful sedum. It's Sedum spectabile and it's the first year I've grown it. I have it in a container where it cascades over the top. It's so pretty with its tiny starlike flowers. I hope it survives the Winter.

I don't know how I've never noticed this before. It's the main stem of a white Jasmine I have growing over one of the metal arches. While examining the plant constantly throughout the Summer for signs of flower buds, I missed the lovely pattern on its stem. I only noticed it when looking at the nasturtiums growing nearby. I don't know why it hasn't flowered yet as it's about three years old - never mind, at least it has a beautiful stem. :)

Here it is a bit closer. And if you look carefully, you'll see a white hair - one of Benji's. :O)

My tidying up in the garden is finished for this year, so any creatures that want to settle down here will be quite safe to do so.

Frogs and........ haiku.

My seed trays come in very handy for making a comfortable resting place. When he left, there was a small frog-shaped indentation in the soil. :)

Speaking of frogs..... here's a beautiful haiku by Japanese haiku master, Basho:

old pond........
a frog leaps in

water's sound

(Basho ~ a long time ago)

Only a few words but it creates a scene vividly. So I wrote my own haiku about a frog......

a sudden movement
hops across my patio
a lovely fat frog
(Lesley ~ March 2005)

The syallabic count for haiku is fairly structured and I know mine doesn't quite fit perfectly but it's so enjoyable thinking up these 'picture poems' without worrying about strict form.

Here's one I wrote about one of my favourite creatures, the snail......

moving forward
by faith, one step at a time
quite fast for a snail
(Lesley ~ March 2005)

Near where I live there's a big old house surrounded by rusty iron railings. It's particularly pretty in early Spring when the grounds are covered in drifts of aconites.......

drifts of ochre
Spring's firstborn jewel
the Aconite
(Lesley ~ March 2005)

That year I was clearing a neglected garden for somone when I encountered a tiny flower thriving amongst the overgrown grass.......

amidst the debris
old rusty cans and brambles
one golden crocus
(Lesley ~ March 2005)

We had heavy falls of snow that March, hence this tanka about the little crocus........

it's lost now
in games of hide and seek
under the snow
syllables gone awry
brain numbed with the cold
turn a blind eye
(Lesley ~ March 2005)

(Haiku: Japanese short poetry of 17 syllables with the syllabic pattern of 5-7-5
Tanka: Japanese verse form of 31 syllables ~ five lines with a syllabic pattern 5-7-5-7-7)

I haven't kept any of my writing either before or after these, so I must have thought they were quite acceptable..... despite the undisciplined structure. :)

One of my favourite drawings by our daughter

Oh no! I've just evicted a whole family!

Last June I was building a rock garden when I had a nasty accident, resulting in a crushed and broken finger..... it was horrible, there was blood and stuff hanging out my finger and..... ahem, yes well anyway, the job was abandoned and I couldn't even think about working with rocks in the garden for months. Hubby did his best to finish it for me and I was glad to let him take over the work but, I never did tell him until today, that I hadn't been entirely happy with it. (I know, I'm horrible!)

So, today the sun was shining, and I thought it was the perfect day to start dismantling the rocks, because I had plans on building it in another part of the garden. I really wish I hadn't. No, I didn't have another crush injury...... it was far worse than that! I discovered a family of frogs, all cosily huddled together where they must have been all Winter until I disturbed them. There was a great big fat one, the daddy I suppose, two medium sized ones and a very young one. I'd already torn down their shelter so much that I didn't think I could build it up safely enough for them again. What to do?! I decided to transport them to a safe part of the garden. I wasn't too happy at having to lift big daddy..... thank goodness he was sleepy with it being Winter! I put them in a cardboard box and put the box down at the bottom of the garden where there's an area we leave neglected, especially for sheltering creatures. There are lots of leaves and tree branches.....hopefully, the ideal place for a family of frogs. Opening the lid of the box, I pushed it under some branches and left them alone. I know they wont be very happy with being disturbed and I hope, by now, they will have got settled down again.

Having gardened as long as I have, I thought I was a sensible gardener but I learned today never to do major landscape jobs in the garden during the Winter in case the residents get disturbed from their hibernation. From now on I will leave well alone and jobs like this can wait till Spring.

Here's a froggy link. :)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/09/wildlife.conservation