Garden in December 2016

I didn't get round taking pictures on the first of the month, but these were taken just before Christmas.

The lawn is looking very green with all the rain it's had.

The grasses at the side are dying down now it's cold.

But there are some signs of life - Clematis 'Wisley cream' is just coming into flower!

The Japanese anenome is covered in fluffy seedheads.

And something else coming into flower! The Daphne is about to flower for the first time.

Winter flowering pansies flowering. In winter.

The Sarcococca  is about to flower too.

Busy days

I had intended to do more sewing at the end of last week, but the weather forecast was really good, so I decided to take advantage of the sunshine and 10°C+ heat and get on with some work in the garden.

First of all I had this lot delivered from the garden centre - 8 x 80 litre bags of composted stable manure.

I weeded all the borders, and then mulched them. I did the front garden one day, and the back the next, making the most of the sunshine. I used 3 bags for the front and another 3 at the back. I'm saving the rest to pot up containers with, although anything left after that will be added to the mulch around the soft fruit. The weeding wasn't too bad as there hasn't been enough warm weather yet for very much to have germinated already.

The cage thing behind me? It covers the birds' ground feeder to protect it from pigeons (of which we have far too many) and squirrels (of which we also have far too many). The bars are far enough apart to allow the smaller birds in to get the food.

After mulching all along this side I realised that the fence really looked untidy and could do with painting with Cuprinal fence stuff. The OH did it when we first moved in, but since then it hasn't been dry enough to do at a time of year when the plants are low enough to actually reach the fence...
As you can see, parts of it had gone rather green.

So I popped to the DIY store and picked up a bucket of Cuprinol and got painting.

It's a definite improvement and should mean that the fence lasts for a lot longer (this isn't our boundary to maintain, as the fence itself belongs to the neighbour's, but I'd rather make sure we're doing our best to maintain it from our side anyway).

I also edged both the lawns with the lawn-edging tool. This is one of those jobs that is much easier with the right tool. The first year I tried to do it with a normal spade and it was horrendous. Much like the year I tried mulching without a wheelbarrow and soon got fed up of heaving buckets of compost around.

And, finally, the OH gave the lawns their first cut of the year. They're looking a bit patchy, but at least they're now the same length!

These crocuses opened up in all the sunshine. Aren't they beautiful?

Anyone else been making the most of the sunshine?

Garden at the beginning of December 2014

Last one of the year! It's about 8°C today, so not ridiculously cold for the time of year. The leaves are off most of the trees, apart from the two apple trees actually in the garden, which have just begun to drop leaves. The garden is also probably looking a bit lighter as the neighbour's walnut tree was removed last month (it had died and had honey fungus).

Pretty leaf colours on the Hydrangea Twist n' Shout

The cyclamen I planted up in containers last month are just starting to flower.

The colours of the remains of the Spiraea flowers are really pretty (although they're prettier when the sun is shining on them!).

The Cotoneaster we bought last year has really pretty leaves now, and some red berries, although I think some have already been eaten by the birds!

The Alstroemeria is still flowering (it's tucked up in the cold frame for the winter).

And the Convolvulus has started flowering again!

Think that's all for now! Happy December gardening everyone. I think we've nearly done for the year, we had a big clear up over the weekend, and I got the soft fruit and rhubarb mulched.

Garden at the beginning of September 2014

Can't believe it's September already. Autumn is definitely on the way, and the weather's been cooler over the last few weeks. We've had a lot more rain, so the garden is looking greener than it usually does at this time of year!



Everything seems to have been a few weeks ahead of itself since Spring, so the apples are nearly ripe now. We haven't lost any (so far) to squirrels, partly (probably) because of hanging up the old CDs to deter them, and partly because the neighbour's walnut tree has died, and they used to cross our garden to get to it.

This is the Rudbeckia in full flower. I divided it into three in the Spring and it seems to have recovered OK.

The hydrangea (this is Endless Summer Twist n' Shout) has really pretty leaves at this time of year - it's almost exactly four years ago that I bought this one, and I was attracted by the leaves then.

The Penstemons have been great this year, with lots of repeat flowering and a lot of growth. These were plug plants free with a magazine special offer a couple of years ago. Last year they didn't do a great deal.

The newest sedum (bought last year) flowered. I didn't Chelsea chop this one.

But I did Chelsea chop the others (these were already here when we bought the house). These have been chopped to about three different heights so should all flower at different times. The idea is to have flowers continuously so there is always a source of nectar in the garden.

And the Japanese Anenome has got huge. The flowers are so pretty. I deadhead it for a while, then I let it set seed (the seed is like fluffy cotton wool), and it's self-seeded in a couple of places in the garden, which was my intention! There's also some Nemesia in the container in the background.

These are the last few Sweet Pea flowers. I've been diligently dead-heading it twice a week through the summer to keep it flowering, and I'm now going to let it set seed so that I can collect and store them ready for next year.

Definitely signs that Autumn is on the way. The first berries have appeared on the holly. These are the first berries to appear on it at all, after we bought a male holly to go right next to it it seemed to get the idea about berries.

The red Pyracantha has lots of berries on it, but the yellow and orange ones still seem to be forming.

The tomatoes are still ripening. I'm not convinced at all about the cordon ones. We've had about four tomatoes from the two plants, and they were nice. But a lot of the fruit has split, one got Blossom end rot, and one branch fell off entirely before the tomatoes ripened.

But the cherry tomatoes have been really good. They've ripened at a steady pace through the summer so we've always had some to eat. They're tasty, and not as thin-skinned as last year's variety. Last year a lot of them split, but we haven't had that problem this year.