#21 - new raised bed

 From this …

To this …

I’ve planted up with Rummer Beans at the back, and Salad Onions in the front.

Then yesterday I found a little rusted bird ornament to sit on the top bar, and round balls for each upright.  I’d take a photo of them, but is is pouring and we have a thunder storm kicking off.  

The balls aren’t fitted yet, and I think they might get a coat of Valspar Blanc de Blances (as per the shed door). The bed itself is painted in Blue Stain and I am going to repaint in Ducksback Forest Green, and the uprights and top bar have been painted in Forest Green, so the Blanc balls will be a nice contrast.

I am super lucky that he Darling Husband  builds these beds for me, but he out did himself with the bean support on this one.  There are a whole stack of gravel boards waiting for him to build me more, and I have to say that I quite like these climbing supports, so he may well add them to the bed on the opposite side of the shed, I think that they were made out of shuttering boards from when the shed base went in.

I also found a lovely wind chime in Home Sense, which has a nice tinkle, but it’s painted black with a weird symbol on the sail.  It has been put on the black rose arch for the time being.  Probably it will get the same Valspar Blanc on both the “hat” and sail, and I’ll cut out a vinyl flower on the Cricut Machine.

Hugs

Kay xx

#18 - One out of four and the big boy

 

Compost Bins that is.

Yesterday I managed to lift off the plastic compost bin, and re-locate it to the side of the willow, there are three more to also move, hopefully, before the weekend.  Then darling Husband can give me a hand to move the big boy Hot Bin over as well - that folks is going to be a task and a half, but I really don’t want this working area to be as discreet as possible.

I also made a start digging over the bed in front of the new fencing, but called a halt after scraping off some of the carefully back-filled Earth done by the eldest kid as the bottom panel, and more importantly the gravel board need to be painted.

If it stays dry this evening the darling one will paint it for me, if not that will be tomorrow’s job, as I still need to top off and backfill the wall with large stones so that I can start to plant up.

The Cotinus in the pot is auditioning, if it stays there it will probably go further back, but nevertheless it needs a home somewhere.  That is definitely the problem with being a plantaholic, a new home for something or other is always required.

Having ground to a halt here, I moved on to weeding the top bed, which has expanded massively, but was sadly neglected last year.  Plenty of the grass that shall not be named, Dandelion and Buttercup to pull.  It’s a behemoth of a task.

I know there should be no shame in the garden game, but it is not looking good, or at least, it’s looking better than it did.  A rock is marking the spot where a small water feature is going, and so I will have to work around that as a Buddleja has self-seeded at the back, and needs to come into the sun.  There are a couple other inappropriately placed shrubs to move.  I have enough Shasta Daisy plants to sink a small ship, which are desperate to go somewhere, so expect to see at least three there.

I need to watch my time outside today, as I managed around over 4 hours yesterday, and over did it a bit.  The problem is I forget the time.

Hugs

Kay xx

#17 - You could of heard me belting out a tune this morning

 CeCe Penistan would be livid too.  ‘Finally, uts happened to me, right in front of my eyes’ ...

It’s the small things that make me ridiculously happy, or in this case a large thing that has taken its blasted time to being nursed and tended from inauspicious beginnings.

Meet my one and only Aquilegia (currently), with the variety lost in time, that was rescued a few years ago from an overturned seed tray deep that had been blown over in a storm and the rest of its seedlings perished.  

It has been nurtured, and also nearly bitten the dust a few times, but despite all the odds is now this beautiful specimen, and looks like it will be cream or pale yellow.  I can’t wIt for it to fully bloom.

Judging by the slowness of my recently sown seedlings, Aquilegia might be slow growing, so you could end up for a two or three year break before there is this level of enthusiasm seeping through the screen, because when all8# said and done, it one of my favourite perennials, and a cottage garden staple.

Hugs

Kay xx

#16 - A good day of work

 … and the new gate and fencing at the side rear has been done ...

It’s a difficult area  to work with as the bank is a lot steeper than it looks and has a camber  A huge rambling rose had to be cut back hard to install the Reed fence panel, which left a gaping hole in the boundary fence and hedge too, so a short term solution is the Reed screen, by the time it’s worn out the Laurel will be much bigger.  It looks distressingly small in this picture, but is in fact larger than it appears. I am rubbish at photography!

We have been debating a triangular trellis atop the fence panel, doubt will no doubt kick the idea back and forth for some time until the right solution is found.  

There is still plenty of work to do, like painting it all, which begun this afternoon when there was not a cloud in the sky, but has been halted by patches of spitting rain. Isn’t it always the way?

An unknown animal has already damaged the corner of the Reed, and so we have had to come up with a solution to stop it from creating a bigger hole … honestly, it could have just gone around and behind the screening rather than create a somewhat cartoonish hole in it.  We clearly need to have a chat.

This morning a few plants hopped in the car from the Nursery at Horam, some for this area, vegetables for some of the raised beds and  a nice tray of container plants for outside the front door,  it more on that over the next few updates, one in particular is really exciting.

For the rest of the week it is more weeding elsewhere in the garden and ground preparation in this area before the planting  can begin.

Hugs

Kay

PS:  Supplier of fencing, posts and gate was Tate Fencing and installation was down by eldest kid and my darling Husband.  The kid despatched a good amount of old tree roots, and the most god awful grass in vast numbers that just spreads everywhere,  I am not going to dignify it with a botanical name, as it most definitely does not deserve one.

#14 - Valspar does the trick

 

… and moves up one step closer to a nicer space.

Both the green and white colours are Valspar, although expensive it is such good quality.  We have pretty much used their paints throughout the house in various colour schemes, and are comfortable that the quality is excellent.

Two coats were done of the green (Afternoon Nap) and the white accents (Blanc de Blancs). The white is also being used on the interior, but just one coat for a whitewash look.

Much more is going on in and around this area, which I’ll update as we go, but we need to make a decision about what to do about the steps.  The concrete base will be painted with a masonry paint, and I was thinking that I might also paint the wall either side of the steps.  However, there is a nice amount of lichen on it, which will be a nightmare to remove, so currently I think we will repoint the steps and then use a dark masons paint on them as a temporary fix and think about nicer steps later on.

We also need to fill in the gap between the shed base and the original brick paving with gravel, which just means clearing about debris and hauling the gravel around from the bulk bag.  Now that I am on the mend I will add that job to the list.  The bricks just need a power wash to clean them up a bit, rather than replace them, as I quite like their time worn appearance, it adds character, and they do not come up without a fight!

Talking of lists, I need to persuade the lovely a husband to make me a blackboard to hand on the inside of the door so that I can write the jobs down and tick off etc.as we go.

Hugs

Kay x

#6 - The Base’ics

 

The lovely Phil from PW Groundscape has just toddled off , after an afternoon and a very early start today laying the shed base.

Tarpaulin at the ready in case of frost, but I’m super happy with his efforts. 

I think we have another three weeks before the shed is built and I’m not sure how long the wait will be to install.

No worries though, I have to jet wash the remaining pavers and in-fill gravel where necessary. 

Also, I think the dreadful red steps will be painted, and possibly the brick wallow the raised patio.

If you add in the hedge urgently needing a trim, and more tidying up, there is plenty left to keep me out of trouble.

Hugs

Kay