My Garden in May 2026

Peter has been working hard in the garden in May. I've been supervising.

He's painted recoated the shed and the raised beds and set up a watering system on the raised beds for me.

With the extension pipe fixed on the wall in the back garden it's made it a lot easier to water the garden now.

 I've been using this Ikea planter for the over run from the waterbutt and fill up the watering cans and use them first to water the pots and collect rain water in this buckets. The neighbours child came round needing rainwater for a new house plant he had bought.

The brick wall under the canopy is going to be clad with wooden panels. Peter is measuring up this week. We're going to display my late fathers random collection of road signs, car parts and pub memorabilia and I want to put up some hooks for coats, a chalk board and some other random items.

The last job for the back garden is to move these path over to the left, it's for aesthetic purposes only, but the fir tree, jsut in the shot needs digging up and a lot of soil needs to be moved to the front garden, o it can wait a bit longer.

We have some gorgeous flowers blooming and some buds waiting to flower. I hope I don't miss them as I'm away this week. I've asked Peter to send me some photos if they do.

The neighbours rose bush in the front garden and it smells divine.

May is of course the RHS Spring Festival in Malvern. My friend came with me on the Sunday. I also visited on the Thursday after work.

There were interesting talks with TV gardeners and chefs

Fantastic blooms

Fab displays

Gold medal gardens

Lots of ideas to take home and recreation, if not on a smaller scale.

My Garden in March 2026

My garden is doing very nicely without me at the moment, which is how it should be.

By now I should've shifted these pots into position and I should've dug these beds over and I should've planted out the hedge row, but do you know what?

It really doesn't matter.

What we did get done though was the patio was cleaned and de spider webbed and tidied up.

We've had a glorious few days in March and did I spend them in the garden?

No I was at the seaside.

The washing spent some time in the garden, but mainly on the patio, under the cover because  you know, I still don't fully trust this weather not to just suddenly rain.

The seeds were finally sown, which meant the back room had a spring clean so I could make room for the seed trays. I spent a bit more on the trays this year from a garden centre. it's a false economy buying from B&M (other stores are available) as they don't store well and crack over the winter.

My temporary potting table worked well, b ut I had to work quick to avoid the rain.

Wishin 4 days my first seedling appeared.

There are still. few days left in March. I'm busy this week with the last few days of term, but with the Easter break coming up I'll be spending the first few days at home and getting the pots into place, potting up the parsley that survived the winter in the covered beds and digging them over and adding compost from the bins. Then sorting out this corner, the plastic greenhouse and planting out the basil that is taking over the kitchen and seeing if I can rescue the magnolia tree. The pear tree is doing well, it's the only bit of blossom in the garden so far.

Pear Tree

Word of the Week - Brighter

It's not rained for 5 days and I've not worn a coat for 3 days, although I have taken a coat with me and left it in the car, just in case.

It's still been a little chilly, but I'm indoors most of the day and it's been manageable.

Things have been looking brighter this week. Not just the weather but me as well. Work has been much improved, far less stressful and so far only one stray object has hit me, which was a deflection and so far I've just been called a 'crap teacher' no F bombs, no fights and quite a bit of cooperation from some students who previously have shown very little respect for themselves let alone anyone else.

I went to Birmingham on Monday after work and wore my normal winter coat rather than my dry robe, which has now gone up in the wardrobe in the loft, leaving so much more space in the downstairs loo.

Peter spent 3 days cleaning the patio area, it was full of debris and spiders webs and I'll be spending Sunday putting it back together.

The pots will be moved into their new positions and I'm looking forward to replanting the herbs that have survived the winter under the cloches and sowing some seeds ready to plant out in these beds once they've been weeded and compost from the bins has been dug in.

I'm back out running, no where near as far as I should be considering in just over 5 weeks I'm running a marathon. We've been walking the Malvern Hills after work as it's light enough for a stroll followed by a coffee after work.

I don't actually mind the winter, the cold and the dark evenings, it's the rain and ill health that has caused me the biggest problems, getting out and about. Picking a marathon date for April wasn't my smartest move for someone who hasn't run before with only 26 weeks to train to run 26 miles, but I'm getting there. 

I'll be running longer distances over the next few weeks now the ground is drying up and it's lighter as Malvern isn't the latest of places and a lot of my running route options involve fields which have been waterlogged up to now or industrial areas which I haven't considered safe to run on my own in the dark.

I haven't done half the jobs in the house I promised myself I would do over the winter and most of that is due to being the only one who wants to get anything done. I find I work much better if I'm on my own and I'll have a splurge over the next two weeks while Peter is away in Turkey visiting his friend.

Whilst the sun isn't necessarily shining every day, it's not raining, it's getting darker later, it's definitely warming up. More places are opening up and opening hours are extending. I've a couple of camping trips booked, some park runs lined up and several football matches to look forward to before the end of March.

The Easter holidays are on the horizon and then the summer and more of the above. So it's all looking brighter, all round.

My Garden in February 2026

I haven't ventured any further into the garden then the patio other than to take some photos all winter.

I took the cushions in from the chair as they were getting a bit damp earlier this month and just take them in and out when I need them.

I tend to sit out here in the morning with my cup of tea in all weather, wrapped up in a blanket.

These photos are only two weeks apart. It means I'll have to move the pots out of the cold frames soon as I'll miss the bulbs flowering.

All the pots in the cold frames have bulbs as well well as over wintering the herbs. I'm hoping the frosts and snow have finished now, but we had a hard frost last week, so who knows?

All our pots have excellent drainage and are placed on gravel, which is a good job with all the rain we've had this year.

This area has been a dumping ground for excess soil over the previous two years and is the last part of the garden that needs landscaping. It's no where near as waterlogged as it has been over the previous years, especially if you consider our neighbours garden is higher than ours and the overflow from their path drains onto this area.

The fleece blew away early in the new year and I didn't bother replacing it. Everything has survived and there are new shoots and buds appearing.

I'm tempted this year not to plant any veg and just fill the raised beds with wild flower seeds and create a colourful and vibrant garden and just enjoy it rather than working in it.

What do you think?

My Garden in April 2025 - Flowers for Stephanie

I can't believe these photos are taken 20 years apart. Not much has changed, even the door mat is the same. The front door and the blinds have been replaced, the carpet in the hall has been replaced with wooden bamboo, the shrubs have been weeded out and the woodwork has been painted. In those 20 years, several other families have lived in our house as we rented it out while we lived abroad from 2010-2021 and Stephanie is no longer with us.

Peter and I bought the Jasminum x stephanense earlier in April and planted it by the front door in a pot. It is highly fragranced and we wanted it somewhere where we would see it every day.

We've involved our grandchildren with planting flowers in memory of Stephanie as they are too young to have remembered her and sadly our 3 year old grandson never got to meet her, she also has two new nephews born this year.

Our granddaughter planted these Angel Wings tulip bulbs after the funeral in October, given to us by a friend. As she watered them she said 'stay hydrated Stephanie'

They flowered in time for Mothers day.

Our grandson planted a rose bush 'In loving memory' that my mum bought for us to mark the 6th month anniversary.

We also planted some marigolds for great grandad (my father) his favourite flower.

In the rest of the garden, I finally planted the raised beds with a variety of vegetable seeds I had. I'm not hopeful for a lot of them, but I do have a good crop of radishes, beetroot, tomatoes, and one or two carrots, cucumbers, chilli and an abundance of parsley, coriander and Thai basil. 

The garden, although north facing, gets a lot of sun and isn't over looked. The old green house is ready for  the tomatoes and the compost is doing well in the new containers Peter built. We've bought a new post to re site the clothes airer so it doesn't block the view of the garden when sitting outside.

The back of our garden is quite stark with a wooden fence and the bare brick wall of the neighbours house but with do have clear open skies. I wanted to break up the brick work and the fence so I've bought a few fruit trees that are planted in pots to add a bit of colour and depth to the garden.

Apple

Cherry

Pear

They sit amongst the bamboo, magnolia, willow, bay and olive trees and shrubs, also in pots. There are a couple of exotic fruit trees, lemon and orange that are growing very well.

As well as the grandchildren helping out, Olive has been digging.

The front garden has been weeded and wild flower seeds sown.

BBQs are being enjoyed.

And the bluebells are out. Once they've finished flowering, this area needs digging out and the soil will be moved to the front garden to level it up and hopefully with some more soil the trees will grow and we'll have a hedge to stop the local dog walkers and kids from the local school running over our front lawn.

How is your garden coming along? Any plans? Or are you at the stage where you can just sit and enjoy it?