Follow the Conversion of the Old Shop: 2019-12-29

Not quite the Forth Bridge but it sometimes feels like it ..................... Re-pointing Walls Continued...

If you have been following this blog for the last few years you will remember that we have had the front of the house professionally re-pointed but decided that we could re-point the walls in the Courtyard, and now moving on into the garden, and in so doing keep the cost down! We have made reasonable progress but other things keep conspiring against us like the weather and life in general - not enough time to do everything. Still this documents our progress in 2019...........

We did the walls either side of this corner last summer as it was 'leaning rather worryingly so needed more than re-pointing. It's now been rebuilt and looks like this

Re-pointing brick is even more fiddly that the stone walls but it does look a lot better when it's done. This is the brick oven that is the feature of our sitting room so it does need to be maintained.

The back elevation of the 'oven, has a loft where we store wood etc. However, although the bottom of the wall is re-pointed the section above the wooden strip is also 'leaning' so will need some professional attention next year so it doesn't collapse into our neighbours yard!

Prepped ready for re-pointing and now it looks like this:

Spring 2019

I don't know where this year has disappeared to and now I find myself catching up of admin over the Christmas and New Year break so updating the blog on New Year's Day - Happy New Year!

We planted a Japanese Cherry Tree, a gift last autumn, and it survived the winter even managing to provide some blossom in the Spring. Hopefully it will thrive and produce even more next Spring!

In Spring this year we continued to transform the big beds under the Apple Tree. Based on an idea from Chatsworth House (well worth a visit) when we went to the RHS Garden Show, where they have old tree trunks and anchor chains in the gardens which looks spectacular - not something we can achieve in our garden but we adapted the idea.

June 2019
Having put the structure in place I had some help from a gardener to turn these into more manageable herbaceous borders - it will take a few years but the first set of planting produced a reasonable result in June 2019. The plan is to get the roses to tumble over the ropes between the posts and to supplement that with annuals such as sweet pea.

July 2019

We participated in the Open Garden again raising funds for a new roof for Shrivenham Church and although these are not photos from the actual day it was in July.

August 2019

I have decide I really love Dahlias and was really pleased that my efforts to lift the tubers and store them over winter paid off as these are the blooms from 2019. It will be interesting to see how they fare in 2020 as I could not get them out of the pots at the end of the summer so they are stored under the yew trees to - hopefully - keep them frost free ready for Summer blooms in 2020.

These flower were the size of a small plate and absolutely beautiful.

I do have other flowers too!

Echinacea

Hemerocallis - Day Lillies

Monarda (foreground) and Lychnis Coronaria behind it

Alcea Rosea - Holyhock

Cosmos (pink) and Rudbeckia (yellow)

With the odd triffid of a vegetable - Yellow Courgette in this instance!!

The Agapanthus has now matured and clearly likes the sunny spot it's in so I am suitably rewarded with wonderful blooms!

Just to complete the gardening experience a few photos of the Courtyard pots and baskets over this year

Wisteria on the left, Honeysuckle in the middle and a Clematis climbing the electricity pole.

31st December 2019

Its' not that often that I spend the morning in the garden on the last day of the year. However, 2019 proved to be one of those years that ended with a mild New Year's Eve so I took the opportunity to do a bit more cutting back - the Clematis Montana that will cover this frame in the late Spring next year.........................

Moving the contents of the food compost bin into the main compost bins so the worms can do their job!

Tools all washed and cleaned ready for Spring!

So despite the starkness of the garden at this time of year there are splashes of colour - pity you can't smell these photos as the Mahonia has a wonderful fragrance and a pretty yellow flower.