A new year in the New Garden

So spring has sprung early this year....or so it appears.  It is March.  The nights are very cold and on clear nights, thanks to our elevation and the new LED street lighting, the night sky is absolutely amazing.  I'm not sure my current camera could quite capture the sharpness of the stars, but take my word for it.  The new lights have made such a difference to light pollution.  Anyhoo,  you haven't tuned in to hear about stars. The new garden is the star here.

There is much to do in the bottom garden this month.  First up we moved the compost bins to the area behind the dry stone wall so they are out of view from the patio above.  The compost bin that was left behind by the previous owners was about half full of lovely mature garden compost, ready to use (apart from the egg shells which they didn't crush up before adding....and there are a LOT of egg shells!

The garden compost was heaped up in the area where we are extending the Birch bed.

Bumblebee started clearing the raised bed in preparation of his veg patch.  He plans on growing rhubarb, potatoes and carrots....I would like to add some sweet peas if he will allow it.

The Man That Can marking up the bed extension.

I just could not resist adding some colour to the Birch bed.  Two shades of pink and a bright white should do it for now.

Climbing hydrangea should feel at home in this shadier spot by the shed.

Of course now we no longer have the skip, look at all this builders waste dug up from the very area we want to extend the Birch bed!!  Fortunately most of the whole bricks were put to good use in the edging.

Bumblebee was very hard working in just one morning clearing his veg plot.  We'll return to it next weekend, weather permitting.

And the completed extended Birch bed!  Lots of room for more plants....

The spring bulbs that survived the move in a pot have made an appearance in the warm sunshine this week.

The fending on the right was treated, along with the trellis and the clematis pruned and trained in.  Then the patio and decking got a thorough jet wash.  We actually did not realise that some of the stone is almost white!

It took a while, but this bed was weeded, pruned and shaped.  We picked up some half price dwarf narcissi for a bit of spring colour.

Plenty happening with the orchids inside too.  I have all but one plant in either flower or bud.  This one was a bargain at half price last year because it had finished flowering - a great way to buy your orchids. 

The last job of the month (so far) is moving the gravel, putting down weed membrane and then replacing the gravel.  I removed it, The Man that Can replaced it.  A fine tuned team.

Watch this space!

February's End

As yet, winter has been mild.  There has been very little snow, and even less sunshine.  It has been the wettest winter on record with many places being flooded across the country.  There has been a fair amount of activity in the bottom garden however.  In October our lovely friends bought us a Himalayan Birch tree so we created a bed especially for it using the bricks found in the garden. 

Vine eyes and wire were attached to the fence panels which were treated in late summer.

Autumn brought a bounty of material to add to the compost bins, with a great many leaves to bag up to create leaf mould.

And then the best part of creating a new garden - the plants.  We bought two winter jasmines to cover the fence on the shadier side of the patch at the bottom of the garden.

And three New Dawn climbing roses.  The idea is to create a seating area to be able to drink in the scented pink blooms.  We chose New Dawn for both fragrance and the name has a special meaning to us.

 The apple tree gave us a huge harvest last autumn and the unknown variety of eating apples were delicious!

We've hard pruned the evergreen honeysuckle as it was pretty much out of control.  The deciduous one on the right of the arch has been tidied up and the new shoots tied in.  There is a clematis here too, which has also been tied in - hopefully to make a better display this year.

Then came the major job of the winter.  Clearing out the bottom garden of all the builders rubble that was dug up when creating the Birch bed.  

There was also an awful lot of junk left behind from the previous owners.  

Wasn't sure the binmen would be too pleased if we tried to dispose of all the rubbish and bricks in the wheelie bin, so we hired a skip.  By the end of the week this was full!

Time for something a little more promising. A quick tour around the February garden to see that spring is just around the corner.  Hardy Geranium.

Bulbs.  Daffodils and Tulips.

Astrantia

Hellebores.

Sambucus Nigra before its spring chop.

That variegated holly we decided to allow to regrow after chopping down the massive bush last summer.

Hydrangea

Snowdrops

Photinia...I think

I think this might be a Pieris....

We bought a number of shrubs and planted them last autumn.  Among them were Daphne, Philadelphus and a few other shrubs for scent.  

The front garden in winter.

   I cannot wait until summer to see this all filled out.  It is so full of promise.

Summer is over

In another couple of weeks it will be dark when I leave for work.  In the meantime I shall enjoy waking to this view while I can.

 

 

In the house, the orchids are still going strong with others beginning to join in the party.

This is the orchid I saved from work last year - it has 16 blooms this year so I must be doing something right.

The Toad thinks the centre of the flowers look light a bird in flight

In the back garden, the roses all have blackspot.  This particular one in fact does not - it has no leaves whatsoever!

 

The blackbirds in particular have begun to tuck into the berries on the tree.  During a party a couple of weeks ago a juvenile blackbird sat above one of our friends for ages and was quite happy to watch the comings and goings around it just a couple of feet below.

 It was a long time coming, but finally we get to see what colour the inherited hydrangea is.  There aren't many flowers, but they are a good size and the most beautiful shade of lilac-pink.  In the spring I will give it a good prune and feed as it is rather ungainly at the moment and needs a bit of tlc.

 

 

We seem to have chosen well with the length of flowering period for r. Tall Story.  It's still going strong with a great number of buds coming along.

 

 

The hardy geraniums got a good chop after being planted and they are beginning to flower again. 

The 'red' hydrangea we brought with us did darken a little to a light red/very dark pink, but it is becoming pale again with the cooler weather creeping in.

 

Another 'inherited' member of the garden.  This is Rocky...

 

The removed holly is sprouting from the base.  We did consider cutting them off and feeding it weedkiller, but we have decided to let it grow.  We plan to keep it as a small shrub as it could be a very good hideaway for birds.

There can be a lot of beauty in decay

 

At the moment, these little fellas are residing in an old wicker toy box we picked up from a car boot sale.  The toy box actually is going to be home for a few varieties of fern in a shady corner and the violas will be put in hanging baskets when The Man That Can puts the brackets up.

 

 This huge inherited fuchsia has been flowering its socks off all summer and it's a huge draw for the local bees.  Next spring it will have a good reshaping prune as it's a bit leggy.



Honeysuckle with clematis in the background.  I'm very excited about sorting out the plants that are covering the arch next spring.

Our neighbour assures us these are eating apples - we will find out in the next week or two!

 





I'm trying not to interfere too much in the garden as I want it to do it's own thing to show me what it has.  I do hope we have inherited some spring bulbs, but it's not the end of the world if there are none.  We brought some muscari and snowdrops which have been planted up in the front garden.  There are also some bulbs in the pots from the layering Bumblebee and I planted up last autumn. 

 

The two compost bins are working away well, with the inherited one almost cooked and ready to use.  I think we might have to bring in some top soil to bring up some of the levels though as we are struggling with the old tree roots.

 

I hope your summer was as good as ours.  Time now to replenish the levels in our water butts.  Bring on the autumn (and since we now have trees, leaf mould!)