Did a lot more stuff

Well since that post I've been out in the garden every day that I'm at home, for 3-4 hours. So I've got a lot done.

I haven't posted about it, as you've spotted by now. I'm very anxious about my tendency to give up and wander off after a few months, and I feel self-concsious about making any kind of assertion about the garden.

I've been thinking about this a lot. Part of the problem, as well as my being basically a lazy sack of the proverbial, is that the garden just isn't planted or planned to major on summer, or indeed on flowers and colour in general. So even if I work very hard at it, as things stand now, there's never very much to show for it other than a relative absence of weeds and mess. When we first began the garden this wasn't so. I've been looking back at old photos. The snag is that the maturity and seclusion of each of the separate areas that I so much wanted, has come about through shrubs and small trees getting far bigger, and they've shaded out and no doubt gobbled the ground's goodness from the borders in front of them.

Clearly this needs to be addressed. It's all very well saying that I don't garden to please others etc etc but I do want to be able to say, "Would you like to see the garden?" and know that there's something or other in it that will blow their socks off, ideally without recourse to flower-pouches and ornamental wishing-wells. In March the front garden does that - an 8 foot high camellia on one side, a clematis alpina that nearly strangles you as you try to reach the front door, and loads of hellebores, pulmonaria, miniature daffodils -and the whole thing isn't more than 8 feet from pavement to house. It does go a bit quiet the rest of the year, apart from the climbing roses, but I think that's OK.

So I'm going to be doing some pretty savage pruning this year, and beefing up the compost and grit in the clayier of the beds, and we'll see what I can manage. I'm fed up with working my bottom off to look after a tasteful and refined shrubbery.

Bring on the gladioli!

Did stuff

Went out into the garden. Cleared up dog mess (oh you get to read ever such exciting things, you lucky followers), tidied cat litter tray (see?),picked up some more apples, cut back a choisya (I know, totally wrong time of year, might lose one lot of blossom but it had to be done) and a holly, then swept a path.

Now my back's tired. I've been doing several hours of housework a day for the last couple of weeks but this doesn't seem to have helped get me fit for gardening, even though it feels rather similar. Interesting. I'm pretty sure I'll get more done tomorrow.

I should take the camera out. Can't promise I'll post any pics but for my own records at least.
Birdsong was rather lovely this afternoon.

Struggling a bit

Hello again. I'm struggling a bit with the garden lately - which makes me sound as though I'm elderly or frail, but what I mean is I'm finding it hard to get on with it. No excuse. I'll be blogging about it more here soon though.

In the meantime you could read about my adventure on Ben Nevis here if you fancy:

http://thehillsarefaraway.blogspot.com/2011/12/first-winter-climb.html

Right: a garden post will follow here soon! Happy Christmas.

Latest progress

Here's how a few bits of the garden are looking just now. These pictures were taken well into the evening with little light left so they do look a bit dingy - sorry. I won't have time to post for a few days now and things change so quickly just now that I wanted a record today.

First the front. The left is working pretty well (needs weeding obviously, but balance of plants is how I like it):



The right has a few gaps caused by failures. I think I'll get another acanthus to go near the wall, to match the one on the left. I'm pleased that foxgloves have reappeared here though.



Here's the pond. Still haven't fixed the leek (ie above this level - it's not dropping all the time). I've risked moving a couple of pots out.



This bed is now too shaded by the hedge which must be drastically cut back. Pippa is coming out of a place she shouldn't have been in... Nice bluebells though!



I love this - it's a japanese painted fern. Obviously it's just getting started for the year:



One of my least favourite jobs is tidying the greenhouse. I put it off so long that I have sown most of my seeds in the conservatory, but this does make some sense as it's so much warmer. Anyway, I did tackle the greenhouse eventually:



I've just finished weeding the fruit cage:



I've planted onion sets, and also a courgette which thanks to the lack of rain is growing away slug-free so far, in the veg garden but there's not much to see there yet. So here's a view back from the apple trees:



And back again, taken from just outside the greenhouse:

More pics

Hello all,
Nice to see your comments again. I have onions and courgettes in the veg garden now (I'm gambling on the weather re the courgette).

Rob, the tree is an olive. I think we've basically lost it, sadly. I'm not sure why - too cold over the winter maybe. Also perhaps olives don't like heavy clay but that's my excuse over rather a lot... and one of them was in a pot so that hardly applies. :( I'll give it another month or so though. Then I'm thinking I might just put a clematis up it - with maybe something to shade the base. It's a nice shape. But we had originally planned to get anoher fruit tree for there - if I can find a small damson, I'd love one. Not sure whether they do them. I miss damsons.

Sorry not to get round many other blogs just yet - I do intend to, only as you can imagine I'm busy trying to chase my tail.

A couple of pretties:

How things look at the moment

Hello,
I haven't posted here for a long time so here are some pictures of the garden at the moment. I'm out in it most days and enjoying it very much.

Note: Please do click on the pictures to see much better versions, which come up straight away.

This is taken from a window in my study. The apple tree (blossoming) in the middle of the picture is about two thirds back in the garden: the little bit of fence just to the right is before you get to the vegetable garden.



The first bit of garden you come to - the patio and the pond:



Where you came from - conservatory, and the herb bed - looks a bit bare because it's just been weeded but will fill out very soon:



Two views of the square garden which you come to next - the weeding here isn't finished yet...





Then you get to this bit, in pretty much the centre of the garden:



This is just to the left. The chicken wire and trillis on its side are where I'm trying to keep Pippa off some new plants, and from scrambling over a low fence. They'll be gone soon! She doesn't live in the kennel, by the way - it was left by the people before us.



At the back is the vegetable garden. Most of the veg is still in the greenhouse (which I'm not showing because it's a mess - I'm not showing the fruit cage either!) It's funny how much the camera shrinks things: these beds are each 12 feet by 4:



And then back:

Snow report

I took these pictures nearly an hour ago and already there is noticeably more... (You can click on each of them to see them much better.)