Midsummer.

Almost midsummer, so time for an update. The weather has been surprisingly good here for the last month or so, lots of sunshine, failry warm and just about the right amount of rain. It was very windy back in early May which was around the time I put my temporary greenhouse up but I managed. Only be using a lot of guylines though!

Usual overview...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

State of Play.

Here's a photo from the usual angle. I took it yesterday and as you can see, it's a bit of a damp and overgrown mess at the moment.

 

 

Not to worry, it's all superficial stuff. First bit of good weather after the kids go back to school and I'll be out there to give the place a tidy up, then I'll feel more inclined to make the necessary long term plans.

I need a a new greenhouse as the old wallhouse is literally falling to bits. It's fourteen years old and and wasn't an expensive one to start with so it's done well but whether I'll simply replace the wallhouse or go for something bigger is still under consideration. I would like a bigger one to play with but the garden isn't that large, I'm considering replacing the wallhouse for propagating and getting one of these for summer use only. Of course if money was no object I'd buy a Keder greenhouse but ahem, you could buy a second hand car for the same money as the smallest one of these. I've seen the Parasene greenhouse, it's like a sturdy pop-up tent with guylines and it folds small for storage.

I'd like a new shed. I'm currently using the kids' old Wendy house as a shed but it's not big enough, not tall enough for me to stand up in and the roof is starting to leak, amongst other damage. It's fourteen years old too, of course.

  I need to cut some more beds, to give me more growing space. I've got room now that the climbing frame and useless pear tree have been removed from the centre of the garden but until I decide on the type of greenhouse to get I'm not able to plan the beds.

Decisions, decisions! Once I get out there and do some work on it though I'll gradually work out what to do. I don't do well with making plans on squared paper, I do much better fiddling around with sticks and string and a spirit level. So watch this space. :)

January.

Just a brief post to say Happy New Year! I'm hoping to do a lot more in the garden this year. Looking back at the pictures, I seemed to run out of puff around midsummer. This was partially to do with being unwell over the summer and also the terrible weather we had then. I did get some good crops and a few things have changed, most notably the climing frame and pear tree in the middle of the garden have gone. And I handed in my allotment keys at the end of November to the playhouse is now stuffed full of gardening equipment. Do I miss the allotment? Well, a bit, sometimes I'm thinking about growing and think "I could do..." and then realise that no, not possible, no allotment. But I don't really miss it, no. I did the right thing because my health problems are still ongoing, I just couldn't have kept the plot on for another year. So, plans for this year? A better composting system, a new greenhouse if I can find the money, four new raised beds, move the raspberry patch, build a wormery. And grow more crops, of course!

June.

Very quick post, just a picture really to show how well things have been going in the garden. I've finished the rather wobbly paving round the greenhouse and added hoops for nets. The hoops are alkathene pipe bent into an arch and held to the bed uprights by plumbing clips, the kind that hold pipework to the walls.




(Click the picture for a larger version.)

April First.

Well, it's actually April 2nd that I'm posting this, but it's my first post in April, okay?

Work has been progressing. It's amazing what you can achieve by trying to do an hour every day or so! Not always possible of course but I've been inching along. There have been two more trips to B&Q too for more slabs and timber, plus some of my long neglected garden equipment stash has been brought out from the dusty recesses of the shed. Gardening stash? Why yes, of course. every November when the supermarkets reduce their seeds, sundries and gardening equipment by 90% or so I' stock up. I hate buying things full price.

View from upstairs window...

Yes, actual gardening has been taking place in that I have been sowing seeds and planting up some containers. It's nice to get some colour into the place.

Back wall...this is the fruit bed, with not only an apple tree but also a gooseberry bush, two currant bushes and some late fruiting raspberries. I'm going to plant some strawberries along the front edge as well. The border is actually a lot wider than it looks at this angle. It's about 70cm wide and I've added a lot of compost and top dressing to improve fertility. I'll have to rig up some sort of wall net during the fruiting season though otherwise the birds will have the lot.

Views of the side beds. This rose arch was a 99p sale buy from Lidl three years ago...I've got three. This one is to support the honeysuckle. There's a bird box in the honeysuckle too btw, and I think it's been occupied by a pair of Great Tits this year.

A second arch is going in along the wall here.

And this is the WIP section. I am digging out this roundish bed, then beyond that is a rectangular bed 2.40m long and there will be a third bed of roughly the same size where the bench and Christmas tree are..

Lots to do yet of course, but I'm happy with progress so far. It's not a big garden thouugh so I won't be able to get much more by way of bed growing area. I'm intending to add some large pots though and there's always the greenhouse. Long term though? That climbing frame will be gone one day, I hope!

Sunshine!

Lovely afternoon, warm enough to work in a t-shirt rather than three layers of fleece and a waterproof. This is March, in Scotland. Weird or what?

Anyway, it was a nice afternoon for a potter and to tidy up a few of the rougher edges. There are still plenty of rough edges of course, given that I'm using  mostly scavanged timber and my woodworking "skills" are pretty dire but still, I'm getting it done.

Usual overview.....

Ground level shot, from the back door looking up to the greenhouse

Top..

Going downhill..

It's all looking most promising, no? One thing though...That is a Gnomeo standing all alone in the bottom bed. Princess won him in a draw. Anyone got a lonely Juliet that fancies a change of garden?

Down to the bottom.

I had another productive day down in the garden today. Hubby's car is in the garage which means Hubby has to take my car to go to work and I get stuck at home. Which is okay, actually, as it means I don't have to run around doing errands or taking kids to things. I just had to pull in a few favours for lifts for the kids and then spend the afternoon in the garden.

Here's where I've got to...

Now you may think this is progressing at a snails pace but I'd like to point out that apart from Lad carrying up a bag of compost for me the other day, every single thing has been done by me. And that includes going to B&Q and buying slabs and timber, lugging these into the garden, digging out every last teaspoonful of soil etc etc. So I'm quite proud of the fact that I put the last path slab in today, only a month after I started work in earnest. (We'll ignore the fact I managed to crack that last slab, bah, but I've got a spare.)I have reached the bottom of the terracing, in fact. The beds are all in!

So I've got about another two afternoons of tweaking the woodwork, making the last of the boxed in herb planting areas at the ends of the paths, laying the last three slabs outside the greenhouse, topping off the second bottom bed and giving the place a bit of a sweep and tidy up.

Then? Well, then I can actually plant something. No idea what though...I haven't even drawn up my growing plan for the allotment this year yet. I'm hadrly going to be short of crop space this year though so I think I'll concentrate on making the garden beds pretty and building up the soil fertility this year.