Take a Walk in the Garden....

Today we have been doing a little bit of gardening as the weather here continues to be glorious.


We have never been keen gardeners and it is to our shame that until last year we had never made any effort at all and our garden was little more than a patch of grass - now Hubby is still disinclined to cut the grass as often as he should (as you will see in a moment from my pics!!) In actual fact, only yesterday he was saying he wished we could bring one of the horses home to do the job for him!!


Last year we decided that as we now have the conservatory on the back of the house (and therefore spend a good deal of time looking out at the garden) that it was time to Sort It Out.


So, last year at this time Hubby had a week off and we set to work. First were numerous trips to the tip with all manner of junk - and also coming back from the tip with some lovely weathered terracotta planters that someone was chucking out!!


Hubby then built some raised flowerbeds which we filled with plants begged from relatives and strangers!! (We put an ad on Freegle and got a reply from a local lady who let us dig up lots of things as she was redoing her whole garden).


Anyway, by the end of the summer we had a beautiful cottage garden style border thick with flowers and I can't tell you how surprised we were by how much pleasure we got from watching things we had planted grow.


This year, lots of things are coming back and this is what it looks like today (as I said before please forgive the long grass, Hubby is being mutinous about cutting it, I fear I may have to get next doors gardener to do it before long as grass cutting is definitely a Blue Job):

We're hoping the clematis and Russian vine will virtually cover the fence this year - in fact in the height of the summer I swear you can see the vine growing it grows so fast!! 

The forget-me-nots were from Mother-in-Law's garden and we had maybe four little plants last year, this year they have gone mad and spread into a huge clump. They are sweet little flowers:

Yesterday, we planted a little apple tree - Son#1 has been on at us to get one for ages so when I saw them in Wilko for £5.99 I couldn't resist:

Bless, doesn't it look feeble at the moment? 

On the fence behind the tree I am going to get some of those willow planters and plant some sweetpeas. I want a LOT!! Last year I had a few and from June-Sept they kept me supplied with a vase of flowers that smell just heavenly.

At the top of the garden we have four mature trees, so have a mini woodland glade!!:

The trees still look bare from a distance and indeed, they don't get their full leaves until May but if you look closely you can see the little buds. We even have squirrels that live in the trees.

You can also see the boys trampoline. Hubby is busy trying to persuade them that they are now too old and it is time to get rid of it but I think at 10yrs and 12yrs there is plenty of time yet to have fun bouncing!!

We had to move the washing line as it was in the way of the apple tree:

Here you can see my lovely Rosali duvet cover drying in the sun. I do love a proper washing line, a straight, old-fashioned line not one of those ghastly rotary jobs. 

We have a little laurel that we have kind of pruned into a tree and it is currently in full bloom and looking beautiful. I particularly like this as I grew up in a house called "Laurel House" due to the two HUGE laurels in the grounds:

I must also show you the gorgeous Cornish daffs that Hubby bought for me yesterday:

Aren't they lovely? And only £1 for three bunches!! I have been so lucky the last few weeks with Hubby buying flowers as the corner shop has had daffs and he has treated me three times so far.

While I have the camera out I took a pic of the phalenopsis orchid that sits next to me in my little corner of the conservatory:

Isn't it pretty? We have five orchids in total, three here in the conservatory and two in the bathroom and they are currently all in bloom. We are not good with houseplants but these are pretty hardy and best of all they flower for MONTHS at a time.

Finally, I will leave you with a little glimpse of one of my WiP's - will hope to have a Ta-Dah for you later in the week!!:

Keep well!!

S x