Temporary border wall

I will eventually put up a wall between the patio area and the grass to allow me to put more plants in the back garden. At the moment the wall is just temporary until i sort other jobs out for now ive put some Lobelia and mixed french marigolds between the bricks and also popped in two Gentians which i loved the colour of.

The blue/lilac colour plants are the Gentians ive put in

Right border 04 05 11

Favourite border when sitting at patio table has to be be nearest right border, ive put two lots of scented dwarf carnations near to where i sit and then this year ive covered the rest of the right border with sweet williams, ive not put sweet william in before but think they look great i just hope these survive the rain in the next couple of months to bring some colour down the right hand side.

Plants in left border 04 05 11

Left hand side of left border

Circle of mixed french marigolds

Right hand side of left border six Lobelia just in front of the Hydrangea 

Plants in back border 04 05 11

The plants i went out and bought with my mum in the easter holiday finally got put in at the weekend (sat 30th april)
Heres the back border

Back border two groups of Geraniums and Begonias

these are the only two plants that seem to do well in my garden

Wisteria Side of house

I wanted to show a picture though not a great one of a Wisteria bush i have growing over from next door, not only because it looks lovely and flowers more than once it also smells lovely and makes it a joy to walk down the side of the house. Ive tried to do a couple of cutting to put in the back garden. wisteria orginally was found in China and Japan. Ignore the gate its being moved to the front of the house eventually and replaced.

Front Garden 04 05 11

Its nice to see the first flowers coming to life in the front around the window, think it needs tidying up a bit though

This is latest bush added to  the front it was given to me by a couple of friends Dave and Julie Barfield

Worry Tree in front garden

This is my worry tree at the edge of the drive, my mum bought it for me a few years ago and it was next to the front door but had to be moved eventually.The idea of having a worry tree is when you walk in say from work ect you touch it and leave all your troubles and worries on it and dont bring them into the house, you then pick them back up the next moring when leaving. I read it in a mag somewhere and just loved the idea not that it ever worked, maybe i shouldnt have moved it.

Great Idea to make sure ground is flat before laying turf

My Niece Jodie gave me an idea the other day after playing on the back garden with the hose pipe, i dug up all the grass last year for a number of reasons and to prevent weeds coming back up during winter the ground has been covered with a sheet. After my Niece had finished playing squirt the cat for the day i realised after a few days where the water still lay in puddles was a good indication to where the ground is not completely flat, thanks Jodie Mae XXX

tags: laying turf, turf

SEEDS UPDATE DAY 65

Managed to repot a few seeds this weekend i would so half are doing ok and half at not doing well at all, i think this is mainly down to me starting them off in the kitchen this year and it hasnt helped with the temperature chaging, hopefully it will go better if i can get a greenhouse sorted for next year where i can keep the temperature stable. I have also noticed a lot of black fly in the trays this year.

tags: seeds, garden, gardening, plants

NEW PLANTS BOUGHT

Ive still not had chance to put the new plants in yet and i know it looks a lot but i still feel i havent got enough, so far i have Lobelia, Marigold, Sweet William, Geranium, Dwarf Carnation, Begonia and Gentian.

I love sweet william but havent had much joy with them so this year they are going in the right border in a place they will like in the full sun.

I got the Dwarf Carnations for the scent and they will go in the right border also but close to where i sit on the patio.

As the Begonia dont mind a bit of shade they will be in the end border but ive only managed to get white ones so far and feel i may need to buy another colour if i find any.

The Marigold and Lobelia will go in a wall iam building across the front of the patio area, between the patio and grass, i never hold up much hope for the marigolds the slugs love them and they are usually first to go.

Ive not yet decided where to put the two blue Gentian plants ive bought yet, i just loved the colour i may even leave them in pots or even a basket.

So far thats about it i havent got anything forr the front but that only needs a few plants and i havent got anything for the left border, i may even wait to see if any of my seeds actually survive this year put them in the left border

This years plants

tags: garden, gardening, borders

Bye bye Tulips and Daffs

As they looked such a mess with a lot of help from family the tulips and daffs came out the right and end border and the borders was weeded and dug over ready for the new plants

Right border

End border

tags: garden

Traffic island where do i go wrong

Every year i love seeing the traffic islands around town full of colour and beautiful flowers and wonder why the hell dosent my garden look that nice, heres an example

My Daffs today

My Tulips today

Plants on traffic island today

Do you notice a slight difference?

tags: tulips, daffs

Good Friday

Went to a couple of local garden centers with my mum today and bought a load of plants for the borders, i do this every year at this time because i know in a few months time the slugs would have got through the lot of my seeds, i just hope for once iam so wrong. The weather has been fantastic over the last few days the art now is to get the plants in and growing quickly before we have the usual April May June showers, i know May is the time we get those April showers now days which brings out every slug in the garden just to eat my plants.

tags: garden, gardening

FLOWER BORDERS

Daffs didnt seem to last two minutes this year but tulips havent done too bad as its first attempt, roll on the next couple of months so i can get these two borders filled with colour

THE BUSH BORDER

Nothing much happening in the bush border this dosent normally come to life until july/august time

DAVE AND JULIES BUSH

Want to thank Dave for sending bush last week, ive stuck it in pot for now and it will go in my bush border as we dont know name its called Dave an Julies bush and will go next to claires bush

MORE LIKE A BUILDING SITE THAN A GARDEN

As you can see the back garden is more like a building site at the moment, i am unable to start anything at the moment and find it very frustrating because i just want to make a start. Ive got pipe and cables that need putting down and a problem with the drain that needs to be sorted before i start anything. Hopefully my dad says he will be round with a builder this week to sort the drain out, but we are talking builders here so iam not holding my breath.

SEED UPDATE APRIL 2011 DAY 53

Moved seeds outside on day 53 getting me down a bit now the sooner i get a greenhouse the better, i dont think it did them in kitchen near door and radiator with the temp changing, then i started getting black fly which i really dont want in my kitchen no matter how much i love gardening. Regarding the seeds they dont seem to be doung well at all but i will stick with them until the last slug has had them. as predicted i get to this stage every year then next week or at the end of may during the bank holidays i always end up going out and buying a load of plants anyway to fill the borders.

JODIEBIRDS

After asking Jodie my youngest niece if she wanted to play in the garden at the weekend i eventually manged to get the pick axe from her and to try something more lady like, she made a house for the ladybirds.