My Garden in June

After a visit to Gardener's World 2 weeks ago, there has been much inspiration for the garden and quite a lot achieved.

Peter is going to build me one of these for the bins, but without doors.

I've thinned out and repotted the succulents with the intention of growing them on top of the bin tidy.

Then I saw this at Gardeners' World and want to do this instead.

I've taken a lot of inspiration from this show garden.

The second smaller shed finally came down. It's amazing how much space we now have in the garden.

It was reduced to 3 large sacks for the tip.

A green house was purchased and erected. It was an easy build.

And looks so much better than this temporary one I've had for 4 years.

Compost and new pots were purchased with my birthday money and more cucumber, pea, bean and courgette plants from the students at work were purchased now they have a home, safe from the slugs and snails we seem to be over run with this year. Plants from our trip were potted up.

No idea what this plant is but I loved the colour so bought it.

Next up is the construction of the raised beds. We're in two minds as to have them uniformed and fill this gap as per the plan or go a bit rouge and have random shapes. I'm so looking forward to getting rid of all this excess soil and remove the conifer to create a new path.

We still have the sun umbrella to be erected (it's been lying in the lounge for months) At least the sun has been out recently, which makes a nice change.

We're still undecided about the front garden. I'm considering clearing the bed under the window and moving the fig tree there and train it along the wall, similar to what my friend has done at her house with a different plant.

In the rest of the garden there has been a crop of potatoes.

The side of the house has been tidied up. This is the before shot.

There have been BBQs, letter writing and reading taking place in the garden.

I had some lovely gifts from my friend in South Africa.

And I finally identified the pink flowers that have been growing in gardens I've owned for many years.

How's your summer garden going?

Part time Gardening in the UK and Dubai

I'm a bit behind with tidying up the garden after winter, ready to start the spring planting. I was back in Dubai over the winter and will be returning during Spring, until the start of summer.

So this was how I left the garden back in November.

It's just ongoing maintenance until we decide if we're staying here or going to move. If we stay, we have plans to build a summer house, with a lean to green house and storage for gardening tools and a veranda in the top right hand corner as that boundary is South facing and a combination of raised beds, gravel paths, herb gardens and vegetable rows, basically no lawn, a combined relaxing garden and allotment in one. The existing shed will be removed and rebuilt out of shot along the length of the house and we plan on extending the conservatory. Out the front we'll build a wall, put in gates, create room for additional parking and level the garden off.

I can't wait for our outdoor furniture to arrive as it can be left outdoors 24/7, at the moment this is the only day this year I've set the chair and table up, otherwise all I've done is work in the garden and not just sat down to enjoy it.

The dog however is enjoying the warmer weather and making the most of his time outside.

Flowers for Mother's Day and new gloves and secateurs from Gardeners World arrived and kick started garden prep with mowing the lawns and weeding the front garden. Once it looked like I'd achieved something, it made getting started on the rest much easier.

10 years ago there was a simple border in the back garden, however it was badly overgrown and had trees growing in it from one neighbours garden, whilst the other neighbours replaced their fence and added back boards, the soil dug up was dumped on our side of the fence, which is totally unacceptable, but it's now my job, like the tree saps to sort out.

The bricks I placed to create an edge were consumed by the additional soil over the year, so this year I'm levelling it off and using the excess soil to fill plant pots that came over last year.

I've planted out the peas and beans grown in the green house over the winter, moved the herbs and strawberry plants into the pots and also planted onions and garlic. I'll unwrap the Bay and Olive tree in the next week or so.

There are seedlings germinating on the window sill and the same seeds being grown in the green house also. I'm hoping to be able to plant out from the kitchen before I leave for Dubai and it'll be interesting to see what grows in the greenhouse that I can plant out in the summer.

In the meantime the laminator has been put back to use for labelling, once I've finished weeding the borders, I'll scatter some wild flower seed and plant some sunflowers, front and back.

I've been spending a lot of time in the conservatory as the sun shine sin here in the afternoon, I need to swop the curtains for something lighter now the warmer weather is coming. I've taken out a subscription for Gardeners World so I can learn more about gardening and have download a plant app to suss out weeds from seedlings.

The garden in Dubai is very different to here, when I return I doubt I'll be able to sit outside in it and enjoy it as it'll be too hot, will organise the sale of the fence and removal of plants and trees and the garden furniture will be shipped back to the UK.

Check out Augusts Gardening post that covers the differences between Gardening in the UK and Dubai in summer.

My garden in June

I'm still getting used to there being no tree in the front garden. it looks very bare, but the grass is growing back now.

My strawberries failed to produce more than 4 fruits and the dog ate them.

I've managed one portion of home grown peas.

The cucumber is growing well as is the pumpkin.

I've prepared space outside for them.

I've only had 3 bean plants survive and I had an obelisk for my birthday I've yet to assemble. I made mini greenhouses to protect them from the wind and the slugs. I had a green house for my birthday I'll be assembling soon.

My wild flower seeds I sprinkled were not evenly distributed and contain mostly poppies.

 We used to have trellis round the bin store, but sadly tenants neglected it. I put in a pole to attach a frame for some climbers to grow up, but my DIY skills are lacking and we're on a tilt.

I had a slight accident with the lawn mower after failing to rake up all the stones out the lawn and had a very sore and swollen arm for a few days.

I've done so much work to get the garden back to basic, but I'm bored of it now and it looks boring. But I'm not spending anymore money on it until we decide if we're moving or staying put.

I have my little quiet corner where I can sit in both the dry and wet weather. I just move the chair back into the shed if it rains.

 I bought a little Bumble Bee Gnome and some bright yellow slip ons for gardening in.

Things I need to sort out.
The neighbour dug a boundary, it's our responsibility this side. I removed the crap she put in as it was rotten, dug a new and straight trench and used treated wood to form a new boundary. I've had someone quote to continue with the fencing to the end, but it's a want, not a need. In the meantime I've told the neighbour unless she keeps her plants on her side, I will be hacking them level as it's preventing my new grass seed from growing.

The neighbour the other side, needs to sort their fence out, they're aware Bob can get into their garden, the wind keeps breaking their repairs.

And relax.......nope never seem to be able to, there's always something that needs doing every week.