Same old, same old!

Basically its the same garden just pictures take on a different day, today we have sunshine and warmth. A treat because to be honest the weather has not been warm and the garden is way behind.

I have worked out a sort of system, of how to manage my M.E and garden. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I nearly always do a dog walk on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They are the days hubby goes to the gym and the least I can do for him, as he does 'so much' for me is let him have his gym time. On these days that will be all that I can manage. On a Tuesday, I may, (again depending on how I feel) go and do 20 mins pottering in the morning. If I am good and only do the 20 mins, come in and rest I can sometimes manage another 20 in the afternoon. this is occasionally repeated on a Saturday, but rarely done the other days. Its always a 'wait and see how I feel'. If all I manage is some hoeing, that keeps the weeds at bay, I am happy.

My tree fern bed, as you may remember they got hit very badly by the 'Beast from the East' in the winter of 2017. Everyone said to me, 'just keep watering' and I have. Earlier this year when the girls where here I remembered I had bought a number of years ago a solar watering system, so we decided to set it up. I have a massive water butt that collects the water off the roofs at the back of my house, so very rarely empties. The the siphon bit went in there and the sun does the rest, its all automatic and comes on for about 15mins every 2 -3 hours depending on how much sun we have. It has been amazing, why did I not set it up earlier?? Each week I still give them one good soaking from the hose as well.

The new tree fern is now planted in.

This is the smaller one, can you see all the croziers? Loads of them. I know they will only be small but its alive and they will get bigger.

The bigger fern has slightly bigger croziers. You can see its fronds 3 photos up, I know they look stumpy and funny but again its alive and growing.

The new bed, a bit slow off the mark but coming along, this doesn't get as much sun as the other bed.

The other bed is off!

The Arum lilies have outdone themselves this year. I don't think I have ever had so many flowers before.

I never wrap my Musa Basjoo and this year due to the mild winter it stayed relatively firm and tall so a lot bigger than normal.

Olive looking very green. I am not sure I will be around, but I can't wait for it to get big and have a 'knarled' trunk! lol!

The arid bed amaze me, I do nothing apart from throw a few chicken pellets on.

Aloe polyphylla, starting to spiral, woo hoo!

Hubby went out and bought an old butlers sink, a bargain at £10! I blocked up the plug hole and planted all my carnivorous plants in it. Filled it full of water and they are as happy as Larry.  This is raised up on bricks on the decking down outside hubbies office. I sit down here a lot and its fascinating watching just how many flies are buzzing around it and going in to. Chuffed with this.

Well writing this blog has kept me out of the garden and sat down and resting for a while, now to go and get a cuppa and watch flies!!!

What would I do without my family!

So it is 3-4 weeks since I had the work done in my garden, normally it would have taken me a couple of days to get it all sorted and planted, but I just can't do it. So I have had to be patient, not something I am good at, but because I physically haven't been able to do things, it wasn't too much of a problem.

So I must thank from the bottom of my heart, both m girls and my lovely hubby. None of this would have happened if they hadn't been popping round to do the heavy work and planting.

So the top bed:-

The Paulowina is off, I have 3 shoots growing at the moment, but I think I will take one off.

The Petasites, still being kept in its trough, but watered and fed regularly has been moved to infront of the boiler to disguise it a bit.

Looking down the garden, past the new bed which has had bagfuls of compost and manure added before the planting began. What I cannot believe is how much of a difference the hedge on the right being cut down to below the fence level has made. The Alliums actually grew upright this year instead of growing out at an angle.

The hedge on the left has also been cut back. This bed all planted up, wait a couple of weeks and it will start looking good.

The new bed, a lot of annuals in here for now, just one or two hardy. I need to get hold of some really good hardy plants.

The Trachycarpus Princeps just to the left of the Cycas is quite small at the mo, but will grow, but not as big or as fast as my other one I have been informed.

I will extend the sleepers, probably next year when I have a bit more cash.

The arid bed, still growing like crazy, I never do anything to it except cover it in the winter and throw some chicken pellets on it during early summer. I do wish I had realised just how big they where all going to get, I would have spread them out a bit. I had no idea just how much they would love my garden.

Opposite the arid bed, looks boring doesn't it, qiute a few hardy plants in this area, just have to wait and see if they come up.

Lower bed on the right, this is an odd part of the garden, the T-Rex, (big leaved plant on left of pic) has been in here for quite a few years now and should be considerably bigger. No idea why it hasn't grown, although I suspect a large orange blossom bush/tree on the extreme left of the pic is taking over this bed. We are seriously considering getting someone in to dig it out!

 The pond area, my 2 Red Hot Pokers have flowered this year, they increase in size year on year, so when I'm dead they should look amazing lol!!!

Raised bed by bottom patio, odd bed? This is were the spider plants survived the winter. We have planted a Passionflower on the right so hopefully that should start climbing this year. This should start looking better in the next few weeks.

Behind the pond, another odd bed, bottom right of the pic below, is another newly planted passionflower. there are some hardy plants in here somewhere but they have yet to rear there heads. Because its up against the fence, I think it stays rather dry during the winter hence the disappearing hardy plants.

The fish pond! The sooner someone invents a contraceptive pill for a pond the better, we reckon there are over 50 fish in here. Flippin things keep breeding!!!

The bottom bed. This is the wettest part of the garden but still the Gunnera refuses to grow, I have threatened to dig it out but hubby says no.The arum lily on the other hand is doing fine. We have planted 2 new clematis to climb up the frame and there is also another T-Rex newly planted here as well.

So there we go, I haven't shown you the bed on the right of this area because we haven't got that done yet. its another difficult bed as my neighbours euphorbia and mint has decided it would much rather grow i my garden than hers. It has become quite invasive really and has spread practically the length of the bed.

I am funny, a lot of the plants I grow can really romp away but I would hate to inflict my plants on my neighbours so I keep these ones potted up. I think I probably think this way because this has happened to me and I don't like it. Maybe I should set them free after all?????