Garden 2016

Spring 2016 and Beyond

 We may not have had the best of starts to the year for gardening but Spring is definitely on it's way so time to get back in the garden and tame a bit more.  Some friends visited recently and told us a lovely story about smeone he had known who always left a bit at the bottom of his garen for God to do with as he wished - I like the concept and intend to adopt that for our garden, largely because it means I might finish the taks a decade earlier that trying to do it all...........so here goes for this year's journey through the garden seasons

Taken in mid-April as the growth begins to become evident.  Weeding at this point has to be done carefully as it's not always easy to work out what are weeds and what are plants I want to keep.

If you have been reading the Sitting Room page you will recall that I mentioned my potting table and the discovery that the top was an old piece of Elm.  M has rejuvenated the potting table with a plywood top and a weatherproof coating of black paint - drying out on the patio here.

The grass (may be a lawn one day) looks quite good having had an early Spring feed.

The area under the Apple tree is coming on although lots of that green is comprised of 'wild carrot' so have to get to grips with that one of these days.  It's quite pretty but going a bit too 'wild' for my liking.

The vegetable patch has survived the winter quite well, we emptied the compost bin onto it in late winter so hopefully it will be ready for Spring Planting soon.

You may just be able to see the bird feeder on the archway - clearly it's well hidden from the little birds as it is still full - probably needs emptied now and we try again next winter - or maybe there is enough food for them in the garden as it is!

M has installed a time switch for the fountain on the pond - lots of frog spawn in the pond but not sure they have survived the recent frosts.  Oh and we have a fish (or two?) a friend needed to empty a pond and asked us to take the fish which we were happy to do but not sure if the Heron has had them already as recent sightings only reveal one goldfish.

It occurred to me last weekend that we might be able to get rid of some of the concrete from the entrance to the garden and use it as rubble in the Courtyard.  It is coming up quite easily and appears to have been concrete poured on top of cinders originally.

From this .....................

................To this - not quite finished, ran out of energy and light over the Bank Holiday weekend................more to do!

Looks quite good even if I say so myself

Rockery and pond from the entrance to the Garden view.

The Honesty is flowering under the stabilising wires of the telegraph pole.  Aqueliga and Hollyhocks also starting to grow.  Bluebells (and Whitebells) have been a goo show, now beginning to die back.

The Chosyia is looking quite good this year having been cut back hard last autumn.

Tulips, Wallflowers and Forget-me-Not under the Lilac Tree.

The flowerbed under the wall between our garden and our neighbours is maturing quite nicely now.

I have moved the rose that used to be in the Courtyard to the edge of that bed in the hope that it 'likes' the spot and I can put it into the end of that bed in the late autumn as it's new home!  the pile of bricks are as a result of a sort-out at the weekend so that hald and blown bricks could form part of the Rubble in the yard.

June 2016: Views of the Garden

 

July 2016 - Views of the Garden 

 July has been an interesting month in the Uk from a weather perspective and of course we had agreed to open our garden for the local church roof restoration fund so some significant effort was required to get it 'into shape' for visitors.  On the day the weather was beautiful and of course the garden did look good in the sunshine!

It was rewarding to discover that our efforts in combination with 14 other garden owners and church teas has raised almost £1,200 for the church roof restoration fund.