This week I got held up sorting out the big flower border in the back garden. I got started on Monday and I still haven’t finished. It was meant to take a day. But it didn’t thanks to the two big grasses, Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’. I planted them 3 years ago and they took up way too much space. They had to go.

I was going to work on the front garden this week. But that never happened. I was going to sort out the two big raised beds in the back garden. But that didn’t happen either. A lot of things that were meant to happen didn’t.

Agapanthus, fatsia japonica and flax are some of the hardest plants I’ve had to dig up, but Calamagrostis is THE hardest. The worst. It has a huge deep root ball with lots of thin tangled-up fibrous roots. Each grass took half a day to dig up. Half a day of hacking and levering and making pitifully slow process. Most of the work comprised of cutting each root with the corner of my spade. The roots had grown into the cracks between the slabs of concrete that the garden is built on, which added another layer of complexity.

Each grass left a big hole, which I filled in with old potting mix and compost. Then I planted lily bulbs into one of the filled in holes.

I’m trying not to get overwhelmed by the enormity of getting my garden ready for growing cut flowers. If I think about all the things I have to do I start to panic. So I don’t.

The secret to me not ending up in a panic is simple. I don’t write any lists. None. Every day I set myself one achievable task. One. While I do this task I always end up doing a whole bunch of other things.

Take this morning. Sunday. I went out to the greenhouse with a view of tidying up all the pots and trays around the door. The pots were full of miniature daffodils and snowflakes. I hosed down the trays and put them away. I emptied the pots and planted the bulbs around the front of the rose garden. While I was there I weeded the rose garden and added more driftwood to the retaining wall. Then I planted out two Matricarias I had sitting in a tub of water by the greenhouse, and mulched them. Finally I filled up the big holes left by the Calamagrostis grasses.

I do all my planning while I’m gardening. That’s what works for me. I always feel Calm and purposeful when I’m gardening.

Most days I’m in the greenhouse sowing seeds and potting on seedlings. I’ve started planting out the hardy annuals once I’ve hardened them off. This involves moving the seedlings from the greenhouse to the mini-greenhouse, where they live for a week or so.

There are a few flowers growing in the garden. Not many. I’ve been playing around with some of them. Experimenting with different ways to display them. I love using flower frogs. I’ve got a big collection, which i’ve picked up at op shops. Flower frogs are a metal version of those plastic hair brushes without handles from the 70s and 80s. Maybe you can still get them.

I made some progress with the design of this year’s autumn greeting card. I’ll keep sketching, but I’m pretty sure my final design will be honesty seed-heads in a vase. The vase, which I love, was a gift from my son’s girlfriend.

I listen to a lot of podcasts when I’m in the greenhouse or drawing. Some of them are about growing cut flowers and some of them are about politics. Sometimes I listen to an audio book. I feel very lucky to live where I do. In a beautiful place. In a democratic country.