A gardener's best friend and the alien dog

This weekend I've spent weeding the vegie garden, replanting some beds with seeds in the cool of the late afternoons, weeding and watering, watering and more watering. And still more watering. I've been collecting water in the shower and in the kitchen sink, like a Nanna. The temperature hasn't been too bad (hot) outside, but as you know, there's not been a drop of rain and the sun is just, well, really hot and burny when it's out!

Night time mulching will mean I finish Section 2

I was just sitting back enjoying a glass, or three, of wine after dinner and reviewing an idea on paper to divide my garden into sections so I could  work on each section in rotation. The idea is I systematically get around to each garden bed in what spare time I have. It's a bit, well, un-spontaneous, but it might mean that I don't 'forget' about some plants, and force myself to keep on top of certain areas.....

Anyways, I was just reviewing this new idea, when I realised I had worked on Section 1, and nearly finished Section 2, and if I just headed outside NOW...... Yes! In the dark!  I could also finish Section 2 before the end of the weekend.... So wine in one hand and torch in the other I head outside to lightly mulch around all the baby self seeded cosmos and under the recently planted Tamarillo tree that are in the new, arbitrary Section 2 of the Bountiful Backyard.

I was just congratulating self on how clever I was; this night time gardening caper really has its advantages with no sunburn and pleasant temperature gardening. What I wasn't planning on was coming face to face with the first (and massive) cane toad of the season!!! No doubt attracted by my diligent watering today. Luckily Kairos hadn't seen it and I managed to capture it via a bucket on the top, plastic bag underneath, dull its senses in the fridge before a proper freezer death method! All the while I am holding my torch in my mouth. It really was quite the night time gardening experience! <insert shudder here>

I go back to mulching, and re-congratulating self at such a good idea as working at night without the sun. (Surely there won't be another cane toad, so it's back to business.) The torch is getting heavy in my mouth (I need hands free to be mulching), when I have a sudden brainwave. I have a head lamp torch thingy somewhere inside.... A wonderful find in my camping gear a few weekends ago. A 200 lumen (or something) headlamp.

A large spider caught in the dizzy heights of the headlamp.

Wow! It's bright. It makes hands free mulching a breeze. A head torch - it's the best garden invention ever!! It's a gardener's best friend! I look up. A rather large spider crawls up a web just above my head. It seems there are a few more creatures out at night than I'd planned on. They're also a bit harder to spot in the dark. Nevertheless, I strategically bend over and continue mulching and avoid my new arachnid friend.  Insects buzz at my head. It appears it's not just me that thinks a massive bright light on my forehead is a great idea.

Special K as the alien dog.

What was I thinking with this night time gig? Or, what was the wine thinking? Either way, the moonlight glow on this idea is beginning to wear off. Special K is loving the night time jaunt, however.   Normally I'm asking him to lie down on his mat at this time. Instead, we're both outside chasing possums along the fence line (or so he thinks that's what I'm outside for). What's not to love? He makes me giggle, my trusty garden side kick. It appears my 200 lumen headlamp has turned him into the red-eyed alien dog. He doesn't seem to mind though, and if I'm prepared for the night time creature festival in the future, then perhaps this night time gardening idea is not totally silly. No, really.... it's not....