Presents for the garden

Today I went shopping and I bought... (when I was a child I knew a game that began like that, and each person added something to the list. It was more fun than it sounds, if you made up disgusting or silly or rude things). Anyway, I bought what you can see on the table. A chicken planter, a dog hanging basket, two wire cups and saucers, and some plants (odd things, why did I buy those?). I think they're all rather sweet - particularly the dog! I wasn't a great one for novelty things in the garden until a few days ago. Very reluctantly I'd taken some rubbish to the tip, and as I drew up there I saw the staff carrying some metal items from the general household (landfill) section over to the metal recycling skip. I pounced immediately, and became the proud possessor of four metal frogs, just over 2 feet high, each playing a musical instrument. It helps if you know that my husband plays in several bands. And now they are all arranged round our pond, with stones on their feet until we sort out a better arrangement:

Just in case you can't see them, here they are again:

I think they're great! Something to look at if there's not much in flower just around there. So I treated myself to a few more fun things. Here are some more snaps of the garden over the last week. First here we are having the first barbecue for a while (you can see the chiminea lit too)

The smallest apple tree and the bluebells:

Tulips and friends:

And the oval bed about a week ago:

I have a friend coming for lunch and to see the garden on Tuesday so I'm using that as a focus to get it looking as good as it can at the moment. If we have some sunshine just before then, I'll take some pictures and put them here - otherwise I'll wait until we do, it seems to make all the difference. But at the moment I'm happy with it. Today I planted some late summer bubs and corms (I've never grown gladioli before) and the first of the summer containers. Lots of things to look forward to!

So exciting!

I must write this post now, and get these pictures from yesterday up, because last night it rained properly for the first time in weeks and I'm going to want to take dozens more. I don't suppose they'll look all that different to anyone else but never mind.

So, this is how the garden looks overall - or did until last night.

This is the house from the front:



This is the first bit of the back garden:







This is in the next bit of garden. I'm going to do lots of pruning here this year to let more light in and make more space. The hypericum to the left has already been done; the spirea will be next. But just now I'm enjoying it:



This stretch of hedge was cut back the day before yesterday. It's only a few meters but it took me ages - reducing the height by nearly half, with loppers and a secateurs. All the trees in it are different. I chose them from a thing called the Plant Postcode Database: they're all very local. As a result they grow like there's no tomorrow and several of them sucker a lot into the beds on either side. Not terribly intelligent planting but we live and learn. At least they're healthy!



The path leads on:



To the next bit of garden. The right hand apple tree will be in blossom in about a week I think. They're old and tend to flower and fruit in alternate years, but since we have 5 apple trees in total this hardly seems a problem:



In our rather broken down greenhouse some tomato plants are waiting:



Near the back of this area, a ribes and kerria are some of the few plants apart from the trees which were here when we moved in, 9 years ago:



The main veg beds at the moment:



The view back up the garden towards the house:



And the back of the house:



I think the grass will be quite a bit greener in the next photos I post (though no doubt it won't stay that way forever - can't have everything). More soon!

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: