Garden Life

When I was younger I could never understand the pleasure in gardening, it all just looked like hard work with little pleasure. This possibly could be because when younger my job was raking up grass, gathering up and bagging hedge clippings and picking up dog poo - so not very rewarding tasks to be fair.

Then I married and had children, since I've been married we have moved 11 times and so gardening and making a lovely space wasn't really on my mind. Instead I looked at lawn space for swing sets, sand pits and paddling pools and enough of an area to run around a bit too. Practicality and low maintenance were pretty much the criteria I worked from.

Now though, the pace of life is much slower, partially due to the children now being adults and partially due to health limitations enforcing the slower gentler way of living.

We have been in our current home longer than any other and plan to remain here until we are carried out toes first. Its been a slow labour of love creating a home we love. The garden has been transformed more than anything from bare muddy area with enormous pond that could have been converted into a pool to a more useful, sectioned and purposeful space.

We now have a lovely freshly laid large patio area, replacing the original old shingled, decked and clay mud soaked grass area. Our garden is tiered onto two levels and so steps have been put in to bring us up onto the lawn.

Up the steps we have created a fire pit area, along with a small-ish log storing shed for easy fuel access. Instead of extending the patio up onto this part, which we considered, we decided to use a gravel that matches the tones of the patio slabs with a wooden edging to separate it from the lawn. This is because we feel that slabs would look too heavy and too much against the rest of the lawn if extended upwards onto the second tier. This way, with the complementing gravel and patio pots, the tiered seating area will blend more gently into the lawn area.

We also have a designated bird area, with two sets of feeders and a bird bath - plus a picnic table with fixed food bowl for both birds and squirrels in addition to a squirrel feeding station.

I am in the process of building up patio pots full of bee and butterfly friendly plants, I'm making good progress and loving seeing the pollinators that are visiting already.

We have a green shed with the lawnmower and odds and sods in which is quite old and ugly - so we have repainted it green and put up green trellis, covering the shed windows and planted climbing plants to train them to cover the shed side to make it a beautiful flower covered space, which will be far nicer to look at. I am still waiting for a few climbing plants to be delivered and will pot them as soon as they arrive.

Our neighbour knew my plans and surprised me last night with two climbing plants with beautiful blue/purple flowers to plant by the shed. This particular worker is a key worker (nurse practitioner in A&E) and her husband is a key worker too - mostly they dovetail and can have someone home whilst the other is on shift. However, occasionally they both have to work at the same time - and so she asks me every now and then to go into her garden and play with her dog for half and hour or so, to keep him company, let him exercise and have a toilet break whilst both herself and her husband are at work. Obviously, as a dog lover, this is no chore whatsoever and an absolute pleasure to be able to do something to help out my lovely neighbours whilst they go to work. Whilst dog sitting I noticed some really lovely flowers climbing up a frame in her garden and asked for their name so I knew what to look out for, to buy for the green shed project. I couldn't get any when at the garden centre a couple of days ago because it had been cleared out pretty much - so when she asked me if I had got any I told her sadly no - but hopefully I will get them the next trip. However, she had other plans and gifted me the two coveted plants as a thank you for dog sitting. I was so emotional that I cried (I blame the menopause) because despite working in a tough job on the nursing front line she thought to get me the plants just for looking after her dog - which I love doing anyway.

On the far side of our garden we have raised vegetable plots, newly installed and will - in exactly 7 days - be topped up with fresh top soil so that they will be full and ready for planting, They currently with green mesh over them to stop our dogs digging up and eating the stinky compost we mixed into the soil from our three composters when we moved them to by the green house.

We also have a second hand newly glazed greenhouse for my potting and seeding purposes and the area around the greenhouse is where I have my mini fruit tree orchard of just three trees right now - all dwarf heavy fruiting trees and currently in patio pots because our soil is so heavy clay nothing seems to grow in it and past attempts to plant trees in it failed. So currently we have a pear, apple and plum tree which are situated in the area around the greenhouse and vegetable plots. To help the insects and add a little wild garden vibe to the area I have managed to seed butterfly and bee friendly wild flowers which should hopefully sprout within the next few weeks, along with a load of bee bombs in soil capsules too. Later this year we will take the trees from the pots and dig them into the earth - but mix the clay earth with sand to make it better drainage for them.

Our buddleia is growing nicely ready for the butterflies and bees to enjoy in a few weeks time and a stubborn Yucca is coming back further along the same border - we cut it right back to a low stump because it was diseased but it has determinedly sprouted back and so we are going to let it.

Next years project is to add a small wildlife pond, in front of the buddleia, for frogs and newts, we have them visit our garden and spawn in plant pots, so they need a secure home providing where the spawn can thrive and not wither and die.

This is the spot I have picked for the pond.

mock up of what I am planning

I have ordered 8 young mixed holly bushes (4 different varieties for colour and interest) to put along the back fence to fill in the gaps because so many plants just die that I plant there - the birds loved our old holly tree that we recently had to chop down due to disease and so the bushes will fill the gaps and provide cover for them (and berries) as they grow and mature.

I have also ordered three climbing plants, one for the gap to climb up the trellis, one to climb up the wall on the patio near my herb table and the last one to climb up the wall of the extension by the garage.

Finally, we are just waiting to have the pump installed into our water feature - the electrician is coming in a weeks time - as it is outdoors and can be fitted whilst social distancing. He is also adding two single outdoor sockets to the post of the hut so I can fit outdoor fairy lights around the hut thatched roof and the second socket will be perfect for plugging in a radio or whatever.

To the left of the photograph below is a new border which is also gravelled and I plan to fill with bee and butterfly friendly plants. The edges will be finished off with coping stones in a weeks time and tidy the whole feature up.

I have so much more to do with this garden and I have so many plans and feel I have many years of enjoyment developing it ahead of me. This is and has been throughout lockdown, my sanctuary, a quiet place full of bird song and insect activity. I love to sit and just watch our wildlife visitors and look forward to the planned pond addition next year to extend my wildlife friendly garden to the aquatic visitors too. Having health issues meaning I spend 99% of my time at home having the extension with my new downstairs bedroom and wet-room leading out into the garden from my bedroom patio door has transformed the quality of my life. I can lie in bed and watch the wildlife or sit in my rocking chair by the window on days when the weather is bad. On days when it is warm and dry the patio door is left wide open and bedroom and garden become one.

Love and Blessings

x~X~x

Joy Of Herbs

I love herbs, I love their beauty, their variation, their aroma and their flavour ~ that is all but coriander! Coriander is vile, especially when fresh, it is an abomination of the herb family, however when it is dried and ground then coriander is okay if used in curries and chillies or whatnot, then and only then, in my opinion, is it acceptable. 

A while ago I planted a herb garden and it is now, for the most part, thriving. I have re-potted some of the more vigorous growing herbs that have had a huge growth spurt and yet had to start from scratch with the basil, which it seems is harder to grow and maintain than other herbs. I almost lost my thyme but managed to pull it back thankfully.

The chives are hitting the end of their flowering period and we have thoroughly enjoyed their blooms on salads, sprinkled over veggies and added into mash. I will be looking at growing a variety of edible flowers now because they are so enjoyable to experiment with in the kitchen.

Today I used up the last of the chive flowers in the mash with our dinner and also harvested a variety of the other herbs I’m growing to add to my vegan mince ~ a sort of bolognese, heavy with tomatoes but also carrots, peppers, leeks, celery, mushrooms and onions.

It felt pretty damn amazing to chop and add the herbs to the mince and then a couple of home grown bay leaves too! The aroma filled my nostrils as I chopped and a thrill of excitement ran through me at being able to add fresh herbs instead of the standard dried variety.

I am enjoying so much learning about different plants, how to grow them and learning that it’s trial and error ~ some are rather tricky to grow and will take some practice to master the techniques. 

I feel that finally my black thumb is changing colour, the black is now tinged with a hint of green. Who knows how far this will go ~ I have ambitions, so only time will tell.

On June 19th I am enrolling on a online herbology course and so aim to learn as much as possible at growing my own garden pharmacy, to grow and create my own home made remedies and poultices to treat my ailments with. So, watch this space as I will share snippets of my journey with you.

~ Blessed Be ~

x~X~x