WET AND COOL TO END APRIL

All the lilac's are in bloom, this purple in the front garden adds a dash of colour on this wet and cool afternoon.

 along with this stunning white lilac.

 This lilac is down near the end of the garden.

 The Azelea's and rhododendron are also starting to open.

 even on a wet day these tulips spark with colour.

 The wisteria is starting to flower.

 The Iris circle in the flower garden is looking nice and healthy with some flower stems growing up.

The Rhododendron in the flower garden.

 a few more pots of plants added to the patio.

 more in the corner.




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TULIPS AND LETTUCE

 Finally all the orange tulips in each pot , in each  bay , are now in flower givng a lovely grouping of colours.

We bought the bulbs from Sarah Raven's website in the colour sets she had.There were lots to choose from, so we'll but more later this year to plant in the flower garden.

We Needed somewhere to plant our vetetables, lettuce leaves etc.We went looking at the vegetable trugs that are available and the costs were very high. This one below was £99 and not that big.

 Lovely looking but pricey, so we looking around to see what we could use to make one but without costing a small fortune.

 We had this, which is called a Plasterers bath, we'd bought it to use to bath our Westies in a few years back.
We whated to keep this one for various uses , so went online and ordered two more, cost £32.

Paul then searched for some old wood we are ready owned to make up a frame.

 So using some old decking boards and some timber, he made a frame work for the tubs to sit in at a comfortable height for ease of use.

The nice new bath.

 Holes drilled into the base for drainage.

We've placed it, for this year, in front of the pond on the patio.

It was filled with some garden compost and a bag of compost. Then we had to wait on a delivery of compost from our local nursery, once it had arrived, Paul planted up the second bed.

 So some a pair of raised vegetable beds, cost to make £32. Okay not as pretty as the one shown earlier but twice the size and one sixth of the price , based on buying two.
This as now given us more space in the greenhouse for the Dahlia's to be grown on.



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IT'S ALL GO IN THE GARDEN

Today we have spent more time in the garden, weeding and cutting back and getting plants int the ground.

The border in the flower garden as been dug over and some of the plants we moved last year and put in the nursery bed, have now been transfered to this bed.

 We need to replace the fence along this side later in the year, so we have cut back some of the overhang and have planted a lovely tall hydrangea near to the back corner, which will hopefully give the back of this border some height and colour.

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 We also cut back the honeysuckle at the back of this area and cleared it and planted ina couple of Cardoons.

  We have placed our small stone head on the inside of the Lychgate and will see if it suits.

It will be interesting to see if it gets noticed where it is,or if it just fades into the background.

The shady garden is slowly coming to life.

 The apple trees are full of blossom, so we should get a good grop again this year.

 The tulips in the formal garden are flowering with more buds appearing and readying to open.

 The box really needs trimming, we missed doing it last year, so must make sure it's done soon.

 We are really pleased with these tulip bulbs which we bought from Sarah Raven's website last year.

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 This Wisteria is looking lovely against the black of the wall, so we may try and find a place along the edge of the patio to plant it.

 The yellow Magnolia is flowering well and looks like it's enjoying the space.

 A closer look.

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 More colour appearing in these planters.

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So lots more to do , clearing the flower beds of weeds and planting them up. Luckily even though we cannot go out and purchase plants, we have quite a few we bought late last year and over wintered and can now go in.

 Plus we have managed to order some more plants online which will be delivered in the coming weeks and can help to fill in any gaps.

We have more seeds also growing in the greenhouse, flowers along with some vegetables.

See lots more to do over the coming weeks and months, a gardeners work is never done!

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THE YELLOW MAGNOLIA

Is flowering very nicely!

 So it looks like the chance of position is working.

A closer look at the flowers. It would be great if this tree likes this spot and grows nice and strong.



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BANK HOLIDAY SO GARDENING

Since the whole worlds in some sort of lockdown one way or the other, it makes perfect sense to get outside into the garden while the weather is dry.

The path at the top of the garden always gets covered in earth, leaves and weeds over the winter months, this is a photo be fore I started to sweep it.

 After it's been swept. It's always so satisfying seeing the path being revealed from under all the winter debris.

In amongst some shrubs is a birds nest.

 We had three, now two cats, so it seems the birds despite this still make their nests where they could be discovered by a passing cat!  But hopefully the birds that used this one survived.

 Plenty of green in the shrub border.

I weeded the border as I passed with the broom.

This little blue perennial which was planted in places along the raised border is now moving back into the border, so will need to be divided and placed elsewhere.

This cheeky Robin was watching me sweep , so he could drop down and pick it over for any bugs or worms that may have been distrubed.

 We had been bad and allowed crouch grass and weds to fill the rockery over last year and the winter! Before..

 So I spent some time clearing out the worse of the grasses and weeds. Some actual palnts, a couple of Geraniums and a Grannys bonnet had seeded themselves also in the bed, so I have left these until later when I will transplant them into pots or elsewhere in the garden.

before

 after... I will need to buy a few alpines to replace those lost under the weeds or which grew to big for the space.

The Wisteria we bought in the sales last year is starting to flower and looks to be a beautiful purple.

The pots of tulips are filling with lovely colour.

 Very pleased with how these are working out.

This one that is a mixture of spring bulbs looks particularly lovely.

A corner of the patio.

 lots of lovely colour.

Out the front the trough is now filled with colour which looks lovely as you approach the house.

The alpine trough are also doing well.

The old sink.

The stone trough.

This little pink bucket of pring bulbs by daighter gave me two years ago, is still flowering each year dispite being just left by the front door. I will have to replace the soil this year and maybe add a couple more bulbs in the autumn ready for next year.

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