Thrilled with my Garden

I have not blogged for awhile as I have been having a couple of problems, I have tendinitis, which is so painful, I can't get a shoe on and I hobble around like an old woman!!!  Which is making life rather difficult.

The garden is blooming, some parts are fabulous and other parts need a bit more work.

This is the part of the garden I usually love the best, I am not so happy this year, its ok but needs some changes.

This is the same bed but from a different angle. What I have noticed is that plants this year that should only be 20 inches high have grown to over a metre. I have no idea why but it probably why this bed is not my favourite this year.

The banana 'Musa Basjoo' my hardy banana that came through the winter standing it usually collapses back to the root, I thought it would romp away, but it hasn't. It has been very slow even though its been fed and watered regularly. The Canna is far bigger than the banana.

This is the bed opposite, which has gone bonkers. The Cannas are doing so well and the Pink China clumps (big leaves at the front) have also gone mental they are close to 4ft tall which is huge for me, I am going to have to split them at the end of this year.

Same bed but from a different angle.

Now we come to my favourite part, I extended the jungle further down the garden and I really love how this is looking at the moment. On the way down I definitely have a few gaps but I have stuck canes in to mark where I need to move some of the taller Cannas when I split them.

The next pic, same bed but different angle.

These Cleomes are the same height as me? I know I did not buy this height as my garden is not really big enough, but they look so healthy.

These Cannas tower over me now, this one is aiming to take over this bed so some serious digging will be done in the autumn to split this and move round the garden.

On the other side another Canna going for the sky hasn't spread so far, yet.

Everyone is loving the changes I have made, so all the work I put in during 'lockdown' is paying off. It has been suggested I extend the 'jungle' look in the lower part of the garden especially since I redid the bed down by the pond.

This is how it looks down there, its a difficult part of the garden and I spend my life fighting back my neighbours Euphorbia and a huge grass that wants to grow in my garden not hers. So this autumn I will seriously consider digging most of this bed out, possibly using bamboo rhizome barrier along the fence line to stop invasions of unwanted  plants.

Then hopefully it will match this

Till next time x

Around our Pond.

I have struggled to find a photograph of the bottom patio and pond area, For the last few years it has been a total mish,mash and basically a mess.

Its a difficult area of the garden as it gets the full sun most of the day, but in the winter it is the coldest part of the garden, hence the lack of a tropical look.

During this COVID19 lockdown, I have been gaily getting on with all the usual jobs, painting sheds, furniture, jet washing. Sowing seeds, pricking out etc. Tiding all around the greenhouse and generally keeping busy.
Slowly but surely I ran out of jobs. So I decided I had put off doing something down here for so long I had no excuse not to anymore.
Firstly I had to find something tropical that would withstand the winter cold here and also inspire me as to what I needed to do. So off I trotted (online) to the only place I buy my palms from Hardy Palms and joy of joy I found exactly what I was looking for a Chamaerops humilis cerifera. 'The hardiest Chamaerops, can withstand severe cold for prolonged periods'.
So I bought one and whilst waiting for delivery I began preparing the bed closest to the lawn. This involved much digging and I found out why nothing has grown well here for the last few years, a weed membrane about 10 inches down I had forgotten was there. Out it came covered in roots of the poor plants that had been in here.
I also had to sort out the pond liner that was exposed from when there used to be a waterfall here.

I inserted a piece of sleeper I had left over, I then submerged some large rocks then covered them with big pebbles. A pebble waterfall.

Which I think looks quite smart. I'm pleased, as are the tadpoles, after only a day they are using the holes between the pebbels as hiding places from all the fish.

The Chamaerops arrived at an ungodly hour, with the delivery driver phoning me and getting me out of bed, with me stood on the doorstep in my PJ's!! But boy what a beauty.

So in it went along with some other plants I moved round the garden, so its begining to look a bit better. Not quite there yet though!

In the corner of the greenhouse I overwinter 2 Washingtonia Filifera, totally and utterley unhardy, but provided I can fit them in the greenhouse I will hang on to them.

The weather has been so good they have being 'aired' outside for the last week. I usually have these up on the top patio because they are so pretty.

Hubby suggested that maybe I keep them down on the bottom patio, so we began shifting them around to see how they looked. After much jiggery pokery......

Tadaaaaaaa!

How cool is this looking now. We are thrilled, its actually looking a bit tropical now.

I still have to plant up the trough, along the neighbours fence, but I'm pleased

What do you think?

Out and About in the Garden

We had a lovely sunny day yesterday, so I pottered in the garden.

We are still waiting for the fence to be done. Being helpful we bought the concrete gravel boards, as our garden is higher than the neighbours. They have had the fence panels delivered over a week ago. Very sadly for us they have put their house on the market, hence the new fence, I imagine, but whether they will replace the whole length or not I have no idea. From their garden you cannot see the fence at all, so they could very easily get away with only replacing part of it. We will see.

Our first frogs spawn this year. Really late, understandably, because of the weather.

I uncovered the arid bed to see how everything had faired,

Remarkably well I think

I know we have had snow and frost, but I think the worst of the weather has been latterly.

Before Christmas, it was really just wet!

So, removing the cover for the first time since the autumn is always a bit nerve wracking. I think what helps is the deep gravel bed.

Fair bit of colour too.

I then thought it was about time I sewed a few seeds.

Doesn't look much, but each section has different types of seeds. So 15 different ones in each tray. I used to plant huge tray fulls of one type of seed, and ending up with far to many, or the excess ended in the bin! So I am a little bit more frugal, but I have more variety. Win, win.

Pond Area, done!

The gardener came in today, it was a beautiful cold and sunny day.

If you remember this is how it looked

and this is it now. The far side has been cleared, the waterfall has been moved to this side

It is all ready to be planted up after the new fence is put in.

The Rheum has also been dug out, although the board is still bent, once the new concrete gravel boards go in I can remove the old wooden ones so the beds will be wider.

I may need to move the waterfall down a bit, but on the whole a great start.

It was my birthday recently and I was given some 'Garden Vouchers' which I will use to buy some shrubs to go in here.

Plans for the Garden, so far!

Come the spring do you plan what you would and would not like in your garden. Do you have areas you like and dislike. I do. Some more than others.

The neighbours fence is my biggest hate. It has most definitely taken a battering this year, lots of panels have popped out and refuse to go back in so I have had to put up chicken wire to stop Darcy going through.

For the past few springtime's, they have said 'we will be doing the fence' and nothing has happened.

This top part, I was trying to work out must be about 10 +/- years old

Now the blue painted fence is closer to 25 years old. It surprises me how it still stands.

The other day I was informed that they will be replacing the fence this year, you could have knocked me down with a feather. Hubby and I have always said that if ever they did do this, that we were prepared to buy the concrete gravel boards, as out garden is higher than theirs, I add more compost than they do and this would hopefully prolong the life of their fence.

I told them this, saying we would add 6 inch gravel boards at the top and 12 inch ones on the section by the pond area. So to allow for this when ordering. They where keen to go ahead quite quickly so I have ordered the gravel boards which will be arriving Wednesday and yes they do know! I just hope they buy the fence panels and go ahead.

I have been having physio on my back since before Christmas, it has been giving me so much jip! The physio has threatened me with all sorts if I dig in the  garden, but as you can see there is a problem here by the pond. The Rheum has started to roam and the piece of wood we put in to help protect the fence, has bowed considerably, so much so, no gravel board will slide in there!

Not sure what to do, but I suspect I will do it myself!

Whilst we are down by the pond, the other part I want to sort out is the other side by the water fall. This looked amazing when it was first done, 8 years ago, now, it looks a flipping mess. So I will be digging this area out as well. What I shall do with it, I have no idea?
A work in progress!

No. 1 Daughters Help!

Being Bank Holiday Monday, and that her boyfriend is Assistant manager at a zoo, K was free so came over to help in the garden. How lucky am I. As you may remember I had a number of jobs I wanted doing so let her choose, she chose this

Down by the pond, the bed next to the decking. I have wanted to move the massive pond filter since we got it, but it means digging out the entire bed, laying a slab for the filter box to stand on and replanting.

Again a bed that hasn't been touched for years.

So the digging begins.....................

It doesn't look much but it was, that fern was not easy to move, then we had remove all the Ivy (from the neighbours) and bindweed roots.

K reckons it was also the 'Graveyard of Lost Feet'!!!

we found all of these buried in there..... I must admit, I had wondered where they had all gone.

So K has raised the border edge, so it will hide all the pipes and cables, which are still to be attached. K also redid all the large stones on the right, they hide the pond liner better.
We have been thinking of putting a water fall in here but that will wait till later in the year, as it looks very likely that we will need to put a new pond liner in, so the whole of the surround will have to be re lifted and relaid again. So a job for later in the year.

I am thrilled the filter box is off the decking, just need the plants to grow to help disguise it all!

Thank you very much Daughter No.1 xxx

Cleaning the Fish Pond

So it is that time of year, we didn't clean the pond out last year because, if you remember, I was 'oop' north looking after mum after her fall and hip replacement.
So hubby had a day off, we bought a paddling pool to put the fish in and syphoning and catching of fish began!

This is the only time we find out how many fish are in the pond, currently 43 of which 17 are tiny babies and haven't been eaten by the Orfe!

We scrub down the liner and as you can see it is not bad at all........ but there was and accident!!!! You see the brick to the right of the pump, we use these to hold down the net or to stand pots on in the pond, well it got knocked off the side and had a perfect hit and pierced the liner!!!

So we had to go out and find a repair kit, clean all round the hole and patch. It is then supposed to then set for a couple of hours, but the shop siad we could fill straight away.
By now it was quite late and we where both pretty tired. Pond plants are very heavy when you lift them out. So we had a 1 hour tea break before we refilled.

So here it is the next day, as by the time we finished it was too dark to photograph.

The patch appears to be working, as the level hasn't dropped.

We are pleased that is all over for another couple of years, although we still need to repot a lot of the plants, which got put back in because we had run out of energy, time and light!

I have been considering entering my garden into the local towns 'Best Back Garden' category next year. So I have quite a lot to do before then.
One of the things is what on earth to do with the filter box. This is new and to clean it, you switch the flow of water and then turn the handle on top which moves all the foam inside, agitating them to clean them. It is the best pump we have had, but obviously we need easy access. Something to think about. Suggestions gratefully recieved.

Meanwhile in the Arid bed

A lovely bit of colour at this time of year. As we go into our 2nd winter season, I am thrilled at how well the Arid bed has done.

The frame is up ready to cover should it rain and should the temperature drop. They can cope with rain OR cold but not both together.

I think this will be the last year I can use this frame, as the large Agave is 'just' overhanging and I will have to put corks on the tips to protect the liner. Before you ask, I won't be drinking bottles of wine to do this, I shall pop down to the local 'Wilko's' and go to their homebrew section and buy a bag of them!
Till next time x