Yesterday, before my lower back kicked the bucket, I…
Fertilised all the citrus trees, as it was time to do so
Fertilised all the orchids, because I hadn’t done it for a while
Fertilised the gardenias, whose leaves were yellowing
Fertilised the repotted and divided French tarragon and mint to give them a boost
Fertilised the lemon grass with high-nitrogen food
Fertilised the Asian eggplant yet again
Put out slow-release fertiliser pellets around the potted begonias
Then I repotted the succulents worth saving and, as many of the other succulents were showing some signs of autumn growth, I fertilised them with a liquid succulent fertiliser, too.
And as I stood up after moving the last succulent pot, my rotten lousy lower back said to me “time for a spasm, a real good one, old boy”. It’s still sore. Didn’t sleep all that brilliantly, either. My back said things like “you’ve been in that position for at least 10 minutes, Jamie, here’s a mini spaz to turn you over”. Gee, thanks lower back, I can only rely on you to let me down.
Yesterday, before my lower back kicked the bucket, if I did everything on my 'to do' list (which is, admittedly, very unlikely) I could have also…
Trimmed the large murraya near the pergola
Trimmed the murraya hedge near the shed
Trimmed the last of the climbing fig on the garage wall (you know, the bit with the wasp nests)
Repotted the native orchids into nicer & bigger pots
Replanted the potted oregano in the ground, near the sage
Fixed the bashed-up-by-wind scented pelargoniums
Sprayed the asthma weed under the kitchen and bathroom windows
Trimmed my neighbour Michael’s rampant grapevine
Fed the cardamom and ginger plants
Got rid of the baby curry leaf trees at the base of the potted tree
Harvested some limes, then squeeze/freeze the juice
Trimmed the dead bits off the underside of the nardoo
Dolomited the compost bin and checked how it’s going
Potted up seeds of mesclun lettuce
Is my back telling me that my garden is too high-maintenance? I think so. I’m going to have to rethink my garden so it’s easier to look after. Now, there’s a whole new world ahead of me. No, my lower-back, you’re definitely not a pal – at best you're a limiting factor who cannot be ignored.
6 comments:
Reading yr list is making me tired already...
That's quite a list! That's such a shame about your back, your garden is looking great, very inspiring. Mine currently consists only of a magnolia little gem.
Thank you for your comment about Watson, we are very excited. We showed him the picture and I think it's gone to his head a little !!
I feel for you, about your lower back. My other half had suffered the exact same curse with his back a few weeks ago. He had twinged it doing something in the garden the day before and then next day, had bent over to pick something up in his shed and that was it - he was out for the count for the rest of the day! Back spasms every 5 - 10mins until he managed to get into bed and remained there for the rest of the afternoon. At one stage he had tried to get up and was stuck, it was too painful to stand but he couldn't lie back down either! ( not too crash hot for a "spritely" 38yr old :P)
As for the plants - a gardeners work is never done is it! (Though your list is quite extensive) It makes me feel a tad slack around my backyard :P
In Perth, it's been too hot to do anything! We are having a heatwave and my poor plants aren't coping very well! The only plants that are excelling, are my kangaroo paw. They had a splendid showing round Christmas time! Hmmm, it's a public holiday here tomorrow, maybe I will re-evaluate my "to-do-list" :)
Ouch! Hope it feels a bit better soon. Are you getting physio for the underlying cause?
That's a daunting list, perhaps your back is trying to tell you something, like NO MORE LISTS please. Do you think that we gardening fools would be happy if we actually accomplished everything on our lists? Nah, we would start a new one...
That is a lot to do in the garden! Hope the back heals up soon so you can get it all done (and feel tonnes better)
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