#37 - Hot enough in the UK

… so I was out in the garden before 7 a.m..

I managed a good bit of heavy weeding, then did a once over in the veg beds and watered them.

When I first planted the Lavender hedge between the middle and bottom terraces at the end of the garden I could not get all the way to end, as the large raised beds had not been installed, but were planned.  So after they were added, I had a small gap between the original hedge and the edge of the new raised beds. 

 I’m not sure what variety the original Lavenders were - probably just basic English ones as I purchased them as un-marked plugs.  I decided therefore that I wanted a Hidcite to mark the difference, and I can use it to take cuttings later on, with a view to putting it behind in the middle vegetable garden terrace going forward.  

I managed to quickly weed and plant it, and used the wet cardboard and 20mm pea shingle on top.  When I next venture out I’ll also get some nice decorative pebbles.

As you can see, I’ve still not finished mulching, as there is more to do weeding around the Hydrangeas, but it’s a start.

Due to my uncontrolled plant habit, I still have a lot more plants to get in both containers and the ground, so I’m aiming to get out here again this evening.

May you path be always in the light.

Hugs

Kay xx

#28 - New gate and fence to the front today

Our eldest kid is installing a new fence and gate to the front side of the property today, so there is a lot of drilling and holes.  It will be lovely when it’s done, and I am so lucky he had some time to get this done.  If it looks as nice as the rear gate I will be very happy.  The weather has been horrible for the last drew days, and so I will paint it when it’s up.  Actually,  is easier to do that way.  It is another step forward in the garden’s evolution.

I do have to paint the boundary fence panels for the rear, at least on the side that is facing our neighbour.  There is no obligation to give them the nice side of the fence, but it is the decent thing to do, plus if I had the rails our side and we can install tension wires for more climbing plants.  I dug up the Bergenia plants, and will pop them somewhere else, as I don’t think there will be sufficient space for them to be happy without me taking up some of the path.  The arches on the path will need a bit of attention, as they are not completely stable due to the rocky nature of the soil in that part of the garden.  I think the solution will be to lay down some sleepers on a level base and then drill holes and screw the legs in, or perhaps use epoxy.  The darling one is always brilliant at coming up with solutions on our sloping in all directions site.

Talking of evolution, eldest kid is also going to install my pergola for the pew I had as a birthday present two years ago.  It sits up near the arches, but is in full sun.  This is not ideal, and so we will take the opportunity to build it  a little home of its own where it can look up towards the arches and Hebe garden.  I could not find a suitable off the peg one, and so as designing a bespoke one.

The only thing is there is an awful lot to dig out, to level off and then retain with a sleeper wall, but the view should be really pretty towards where the pew is in the photo above.  There will be new fencing, notch’s general view of my neighbour’s s ants on the washing line, covered in clematis and jasmine. Plus there will be a small rose bed in to the bottom of the Hebe garden, where the wire gabion is sitting at the moment ... or where you can see a green plastic compost bag in it.

Hugs

Kay xx

#19 - Second shift today - hold on to your hats as it has turned into a long ramble ....

 I started work early this morning very early, 7.am early in fact to beat the heat, as it gets very warm on the top bed.

I started off by lifting up the board between the bark path and the boarder edge under the arches.  The pile of weeds was just one of many, and need to a bulk bag to go to the tip, as the usual Brown Bin collection is delayed due to a local authority strike - it's not going great for them at the moment.

Then moved on to weeding more of the bed ready to transplant about 12 or so Foxgloves from the raised beds that had self-seeded last year.

The next photos are just here for safekeeping, so please ignore it, or enjoy the half trimmed hedge, which is our rear boundary (not the boundary for the tenant at the rear to trim), which is what happened last week.  We had purposefully left it long whilst the hedging of Laurel and Viburnam Tinus grew up.  Of more importance,  its bird nesting season and so they had no business cutting it for that reason, let alone that it does not belong to their property.  I have been in contact with the local authority as it is a social housing tenant, and need to send them some photos, so in case I accidentally delete it from my device.

You can see the line where I stopped them, I have no idea what was going through their heads as they know full well that the boundary belongs to us. It is not that in the appropriate season I would necessarily have objected to a height prune, but would have liked the option to control what was taken off.  Obviously, there are no objections to them trimming the face of the hedge their side, but the height is definitely not in their gift with out prior agreement from us.  

As Bird Nesting is from March to end of August (better September) in the UK there would have been plenty of time to organise permission from us.  Actually, the contractor they used got a sharp talking to about being aware of Bird Nesting and boundary ownership before starting work.  Our son is a Fencing and Garden Maintenance Contractor, and I know that he always checks, and is right up there on bird nesting legislation.

There is no point in being low frequency and angry about it, as I am realistic enough to realise that the vegetation cannot be glued back on, but the Warden is go have a word with them about their behaviour and remind them of the correct procedure etc.

Anyway, on to nicer things.  Monday is Top Bed day and it is now looking a bit better, with first pass weeding of most of it, and second pass weeding of some of the area done at the weekend.  

The eagle-eyed of you will have spotted the wheelbarrow full of my efforts and the big pile next to it.  Lots of Buttercup, Dock Geum and the grass that shall not be named.

What a joy the emerging gloves provide, they always remind me of Beatrix Potter and Jemima Puddleduck illustrations from childhood..  The perfect and quintessential cottage garden.

Indeed, I  made such good progress that some Foxgloves were also moved from the raised beds, well before at 8.30 and I stopped for breakfast, and are now snuggled in with their new bedfellows. Who have lovely blooms just forming.  There is a Robinia and a Grevillea (I think it is called) that need to be moved out to new beds.  Iris plants that need to move in, along with about 12 Shasta Daisy plants I raised from seed last year, and some other large clump forming Daisy plants that came from Mother in Law's beautiful garden.  So the area will be quite full when it is finished.  At the moment it has just tipped over from an area of shame to on the verge of being really quite lovely.

After breakfast and a well-earned rest I sallied forth again, as I’m repairing the stone wall by the gate (to retain soil mostly), and I can then plant up with Lobelia. and golden Lamium.

 I also moved a bit more compost from the old bin site into its new location.  It is dirty work, but somebody has to do it, and somebody is me!

The Big Boy Hot Bin is still pending a move, but it is not a single-handed task.

The fence is looking good in the Cuprinol Ducksback in  Forest Green looks great on the fence.  We painted the other side yesterday, and that is also looking mighty fine. It's a bargain at the moment from Wickes at £8 per 5L pot.

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

#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

#13 - Back in the game

 …and hanging out with Kevin my gargoyle.  

We’ve done lots of weeding in the rear raised beds as well as clearing Magnolia petals and sweeping up the paths.I also planted a Hydrangea Paniculata Limelight that Mother in Law bought us last year.  She assured me at the weekend that it was would not get too big, and I have to admit that I bunged it in taking her at her word.  I should research it to make sure though as it might need to be re-sited.

Sitting up there with a cup of tea and the most delicious scent from the Citronella was bliss, but it is now a little hot, so I’ve ventured inside until later.  

After my stroke the garden got away with me, but as long as I am careful and take frequent rests I am startling to do more.

The good news is that whilst I have been away my lovely Husband found time to paint the shed outside, and started painting the interior this weekend just gone - I’ll take an update of how it looks shortly.

Tomorrow will be a good day, as the oldest kid is installing a new gate and side fence - for seven years I have had to endure a rotting short gate that was tied up with rope, so I. Sure you can imagine how much I am looking forward to it.

Hugs

Kay

X

#8 - Between the cracks

 Perfect Spring weather.

Today’s been all about moving forward in readiness for the shed, so I have been weeding and sweeping the brick pavers.  I added white vinegar to a couple of test areas to see if it works to kill the weeds.  From doing some quick research adding table soap and washing up liquid increases the efficacy, so if works I will make up a batch and keep it in a spray bottle to use at will.

The other half is yet to do, but I’m sure you will agree, it’s bad ...

In the week I will move the chais and get down to, I might need a hand with the table. Once done I can jet wash off.

I’m off to do some research on sentry sheds.

I hope you have had a good weekend, and managed to get out in the garden or nature.

Hugs

Kay xx

#7 - Hedging my bets

 

This morning I’ve been weeding, and tidying up the pile of hedge prunings.  The pile is considerably smaller now than the photo. I will have to wait until the brown bin is emptied early next week to finish that job though, and more than likely I will add to it too.

It was also long time past to plant out the apricot Foxgloves sown last year in the top wild flower garden area.  Happily, there are volunteer ones up there, which I think are white.

Good news, the concrete base is set and hiding out under a tarpaulin to protect it from frost.

The tomatoes were due to be sown, however I think I will wait a few more weeks to do that.

Hugs

Kay xx