My Garden in July 2024

There's so much work to be done in the garden, mainly tidying, moving soil, bricks and wood. Most of it is being used in the construction of raised beds, compost bins and a cold frame. It hasn't stopped us using the garden and it hasn't stopped us growing a few things. What has slowed us down has been all the rain in terms of getting the work done and with the rain all the slugs and snails that have eaten their way through most of the things we have grown.

Most of the wood has been stored down the side of the house.

Not much to clear from here now the raised beds are built.

Peter will build a slated fence behind the raised beds to provide a screen for the water butt, the BBQ and the cushion box.

The raised beds are now in, so this soil is being sifted, the weeds will fill the council waste bin, the stones will be used in the paths and the soil will fill the beds. Once cleared this will be the area where the compost bins will be built and the cold frame will be assembled.

The garden has been used as a work station and there won't be any improvement here for a while yet, while the rest of the work takes place.

We're going to have to rethink when we dig this fir tree out and re lay the path as we've now where to put the soil other than levelling off the front the lawn, but we won't be doing that until the spring time, so for now, it's going to stay put.

I've repotted some herbs

I need to sort out drainage, the pots just filled with rain water and the seedlings were drowning.

I bought these trees at The Gardeners's World Show, they're doing very well in the pots by the shed, sheltered from the wind and they get a lot of sunlight and just the right amount of rain.

The front garden will be next years project.

The shrubs are really slow growing. I want to level the lawn off, there's quite a slope here, thinking of using bricks left over from the extension build and the soil from the soil from the back garden which will give the shrubs more nutrients and should help them grow quicker.

I'd like to continue the fencing down this boundary as the neighbour drives me mad with her plants over hanging our garden as she takes little care and the plants kill our grass, it'll have to be a lower fence so we can see to get off the drive, we struggle at the moment as she has let her shrubs grow quite high, it's a hazard as the school entrance is next to her house and kids are coming and going at times when I leave for work and arrive home.

The daisies have gone over now so they've been dug up and made room for the hydrangea and other plants.

The hanging basket is doing well, it will be restocked with winter plants when these ones finish flowering.

The Hollyhocks aren't very tall but at least they've flowed this year. I grew them from seeds I collected from ones growing wild during covid.

I seem to be growing more weeds than actual plants, there are climbers in here to cover the gates so I need to weed carefully and can't take the pots down to do it properly.

I need to replace this pot before the climber takes hold properly. Eventually we'll replace the gates with solid ones.

The cold frame has protected the chilis from the slugs and snails and we even have cucumbers growing.

The pumpkin has been lost though.

The herbs are growing well, as is the chard, that keeps reseeding itself.

The tomatoes are also doing well. They like being out the front of the house where they get the sun in the mornings and the evenings.

How is your garden doing in July?

 

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?

Our Spring Garden and plans for the Summer 2024

It's been over two years since we had the new shed on the far right of the photo. We kept the old sheds to store stuff in while we had the kitchen fitted (finished 2 years ago) and the extension finished (1 year ago) and bought a new smaller shed to sit round the side of the house to store the lawn mower in (6 months ago) and in April 2024 we finally got round to taking the larger of the 2 sheds down. There have been numerous trips to the skip with the old wood.

Both sheds have stood for over 20 years, with the larger one under going some repairs mid 2020, but it is time for them to go and for us to remodel the garden. 

The shed base was in perfect condition so now serves as our new patio area.

The smaller shed will be taken down in the next week or two, once I've rehomed golf clubs and and garden tools. Then we will be constructing some raised beds in the area.

Once the smaller shed has gone, the garden will really open up, we have a large sun umbrella we brought back with us from South Africa to put up and provide shade from the sun that's pretty much all day round in this spot from April through to October.

The plants in the garden have faired well over winter and the frost covers are now off.

Raspberries and bluebells.

Figs

It would appear I've been protecting some weeds over the winter.

Bobs memorial pot with Forget me knots from a friend and the vets.

There are a couple of areas in the garden where water has been pooling due to us holding back piles of dirt  (which we'll be using in the raised beds) after the building work, which Peter has addressed by finishing the patio.

I've weeded the front garden, removed a dead spiky shrub from by the bins and planted some wild flower seeds in the borders. It'll be a while before we make any changes out here.

This has all been cut back and is in full sun most of the day (when it does come out) so the green house and herb bins which also grow potatoes and chard will stay here.

The spring/summer wreath is up now until Halloween.

The side gates are going to be replaced with wooden ones with key pads for extra privacy and security.

It's nice to see patches of bare soil now the weeds are gone.

There's a lot more work to be done in terms of building (raised beds) a compost bin and cold frame to be built and I would like to invest in a proper green house at some point. We'll be off to the Three Counties Showground in May for a good look round. We bought all the sheds from there over the years, found the builders for the extension and even bought the Camper Van from there last year.

I'm hoping by the summer of 2024 all we are doing is mowing the lawn, watering the plants and just sitting in the garden enjoying it with the odd BBQ.