dry at the root

I have potted the gigantic amaryllis bulb in a mixture of John Innes number 3 and horticultural grit, as advised by our friendly local bulb merchant, and squeezed it on to the kitchen window sill behind the taps.  There it sits, a huge pistachio green orb with the merest hint of a leaf tip emerging from the top, while I wonder nervously how I am supposed to tell when it needs watering.  It is the largest amaryllis bulb I have ever seen, fully five inches in diameter, and ended up needing a seven inch pot.  I used terracotta, because that was what I had and it looks nicer than plastic, and being porous the clay allows additional air to the roots which I thought it might appreciate, and what with the size of the pot and the quantity of grit I needed both hands to lift it.  Now the surface of the potting mix looks dry, but I am worried that it must still be damp underneath when the bulb has not yet had time to put out new roots.  Tipping the pot sideways with one hand to test the weight told me nothing except that it was very heavy.

Out in the garden I went on planting the Geranium 'Rozanne' I picked up weeks ago from the Chatto gardens.  I grumbled to a friend the other day that the grass was still growing, the soil being so wet, and she picked me up and said the soil was not wet at all, and in fact she is right.  We have not had any proper rainfall for weeks, and the grass must be growing on the strength of nothing but dew and the odd shower.  When I tried to dig a hole in the further rose bed for the first geranium, which was only growing in a one litre pot, I ended up stabbing viciously at the solid clay with the point of my trowel as if I were trying to murder somebody with an extremely blunt knife, and the lumps of soil that eventually came out of the hole were too hard to crumble with my fingers and I had to resort to bashing them with the trowel.

The morning's gardening was cut short because we had to go and help put up the stage.  The music society has found a new volunteer who has offered to help with the stage and who turns out to understand the system of clips that hold the sections together and have the general air of someone who is used to putting things together so that they stay up.  He is a diamond and I have told the Chairman to clasp him closely to her bosom.  Now I have seen how naturally he has taken to the stage I would have no qualms about the two of us putting it up without the Systems Administrator's help.

I thought I would have time to plant the other geranium before heading back out for the actual concert, but it rained, even though according to the Met Office we were experiencing bright sunshine with a five per cent chance of rain.  The concert was excellent, though, with a piano trio who played Joseph Haydn, Smetana, and Schubert.  I never knowingly heard the Smetana before, though I couldn't swear it hadn't been on Radio 3 at some point.  When I got home I looked it up on the Presto Classical website, and discovered that I had a choice of thirty-nine recordings.