In our garden :: April

Ooh at last the sun is out, the warmth of spring has arrived and it's time to get back out into the garden. With the draw of the wonderfully sunny warm weather last weekend my mind has been dreaming of what our garden will produce this year. Last summer we bought a greenhouse and this is my first time I've had to make the most of it during spring.

A few weeks ago I spent a Sunday afternoon weeding our garden, preparing the raised beds, tidying our greenhouse and setting up our garden space for a season of planting. One hour became five as I tidied our space and lost track of time, only realising the time when the light levels started to drop. I started planting a few seeds that weekend to make a start on the growing process. Peppers and basil were both planted into left over blueberry punnets and placed onto our bathroom window sill to germinate. A few weeks on I think that they are nearly ready to prick out into separate pots.

 

I'm on the beginning of my journey with growing seeds. Last year I managed to grow a few nasturtiums and stocks from seed but apart from those I did manage to kill quite a few too as I didn't tend for the seedings as well as I ought to have done. A lesson learnt! I wanted this year to be different plus to make use of our greenhouse for the part of the planting process that happens at this time of year.

The further stage of seed planting began again last weekend. I had a moment of feeling a little middle aged late on Saturday afternoon, I popped on my wellies, grabbed a mug of tea and the radio and headed off to the greenhouse to make a start planting the seeds. Carefully reading the backs of the seed packets I started to work out what I needed to plant when and where. Many of the seeds need the warmth of our home to kick start the germination process and so our bathroom has become the dedicated seed germination space. I have limited space with warmth and good light to start seedlings off inside our home and so I've decided to stagger the seed planting process. In a way this feels like a good idea because each of the following stages after germination can be taken in small batches to plant out at a time.

Sitting in trays of seed compost in our bathroom are the following - courgettes, tomatoes, stocks, antirhinnums, sweet william, nasturtiums, petunias and marigolds. I wonder how I will get on growing these and whether they will flower and grow well. Fingers crossed!

September and October in our garden

We have had a glorious end to the summer with both the end of September and start of October experiencing sunny skies and a final touch of warmth last week. I'm wasn't too sure how much longer the weather would last so this weekend I headed out into the garden to see how things were looking. I'm glad I did as the weather has turned to rain and windy today. I realised that it has been a while since I updated you on our garden and what things have been growing.

I feel very lucky to have the garden and the space we have. The light is fantastic and becomes a little sun trap early afternoon. This summer I haven't spent as long as I would have liked in the garden however the time I have spent has been productive. I'm guilty of not keeping a pristine garden that is  perfectly manicured all the time but one that I let go of! Here is the evidence from back in late August...

Can you see the nasturtium making its way across the lawn? I couldn't believe that the spindly nasturtium plants I grew from seed, thad started to take over the raised beds and had begun searching for more space. One weekend I became so sick of them filling up the space that I decided to clear them out, harvesting the seed pods to dry and plant for next year, as well as keeping some of the flowers and leaves to use in cooking.

The tomatoes I grew this year were Gardener's Delight and Sungold and oh my goodness they were so delicious and bountiful. I popped the tomato plants into the greenhouse as soon as we constructed it in July, instantly the plants seemed happier and had all the core things they needed to grow., in particular warmth. The plants continued to stay relatively compact, in comparison to other tomatoes that I've grown, and out of nowhere came many flowers and then tomatoes. They were very juicy and flavoursome and as they say, there's nothing like a home grown tomato, I now now what all the fuss is about.

Both Gardener's Delight and Sungold are definitely going on my list for next years planting and I will buy more of them next time.

There were quite a lot of green tomatoes left when the plants started to die off. Over the past few weeks they have been ripening in a bowl on our kitchen table.

The garden bloomed throughout September and at last I saw our Montbretia flower. I had no idea that I had this plant in the garden, I must have missed it last year when we moved into our home. The unusual oranges and reds in the flowers were a little different than I've seen in other gardens.

The dahlia's flowered again during September. These mini dahlias recovered from a few snail attacks. Seeing these flowers has made me want to grow some larger versions next year in part of my raised bed.

When I removed the nasturtiums I unearthed the stocks that I had grown from seed. I had no idea if the stocks would grow when I planted them so I just stuck them into the bed to see what happened. Hidden underneath the nasturtiums they had starting to establish themselves but were suffering a little from lack of light. When the nasturtiums were removed they burst into life and flower buds started to form and over the past few weeks they have finally flowered. This is what they are looking like at the moment.

The stocks smell delicious and I hope to grow more of them next year.

The strawberry plant I bought at the start of the summer has continued to produce many runners and so I have started to encourage a few to grow in small pots. I'm hoping that they get established so I can plant up more strawberry plants and pass any extras on to friends for their garden spaces.

The herb bed is looking more established and after a late start the sage has burst into life. I moved a few herbs from another raised bed on our patio space to the main raised bed. I'm pleased to say that after a few weeks they are now establishing themselves in their new home. 

The honeysuckle in our garden became decimated by black fly early summer. I've never had to deal with this type of bug before so it was a little upsetting when all the flower buds were being sucked dry. Luckily there were quite a few ladybird type insects that put everything back to normal after a few weeks. It taught me to keep an eye on the plants more. I think that with the mild and sunny weather we have had recently the honeysuckle has managed to bloom once again.

The blueberry bushes that we have in big pots have had more fruit than ever before . Is so lovely seeing these plants doing what they should be. We decided to move the blueberry bushes into the greenhouse over the to protect the fruit from birds and to give them a little more warmth. At the moment the leaves on the bush are turning a pretty red signalling that autumn has begun, soon these leaves will drop and a cycle starting once more.

I've been spending a little bit of time in the greenhouse trying to plan out how to use the space for growing, where to position a small potting bench I hope to have, and working out if I want to create a brick path or raised beds inside the greenhouse. Here's how the garden was looking this weekend. I've been trying to tidy a few of the areas before the weather gets too cold.

Elsewhere in the garden I've been busy planting bulbs in the garden with a hope of having many beautiful blooms to enjoy in the spring. Having not planted bulbs in our garden before, I decided to made an investment in bulbs to fill the space. I selected a few different types of snowdrops, crocus and daffodil varieties and planted them scattered throughout the garden. I'm hoping for a deliciously colourful display in the spring and one I hope to share with you. I'm looking forward to seeing what they look like in amongst the plants in our garden and watching the bulbs inch out of the ground.

What are you doing in your garden or outside space at the moment?

We have a greenhouse!

After a few months of pondering and saving we have at last bought a greenhouse! It's been a while waiting (since April) but we took the plunge and ordered one. It arrived at the end of last week and Mr C and I spent Saturday building it.

I have chosen a Palram Harmony polycarbonate greenhouse, measuring 6ft by 6ft. It took some time to decide whether to have glass or polycarbonate but eventually we decided that polycarbonate would be the best option for us. 

On Saturday morning I opened up the boxes, finding the 52 page instruction manual and then realising that there were 458 pieces to put together (this included nuts and bolts!). I'm not going to deny it, I started to feel a quite out of my depth! I'm generally a really practical person and almost get a kick out of building furniture and following step by steps in whatever I do, however this was a little different in terms of scale and size of anything that I've made before.

I spent sometime online trying do some research and to find some advice of what to rest the greenhouse on. After watching numerous videos from a range of greenhouse manufacturers Mr C and I decided that we would position it straight onto the soil, rather than make a concrete base, and that the frame would rest on a sandy base, creating a level bed for the greenhouse to be placed on.

Mr C and I levelled out the site for the greenhouse and constructed the base so that we had a frame to work around. We dug a small trench underneath the frame and added a layer of ballast and then a layer of sharp sand.

We compacted the sand layer and ensured that the frame was square and level using a spirit level.

Piece by piece we followed the instructions to build the frame, slide in the polycarbonate sheets for the windows and roof, fit the window and lastly the door. After 7 hours of building we finally finished it, tired and a bit drained but immensely happy that the project was complete. During the process Mr C and I discovered the joy of team work, and how well we worked together. We managed to keep our cool when some of the pieces weren't fitting and when we misread the pictures in the instruction booklet and had to start again in some areas. It wasn't the easiest thing to build and we did struggle at times, I think that having that experience makes the greenhouse even more special for me.

I'm so delighted with our greenhouse and that we managed to build it from two boxes of flat pack pieces, it really did feel at times like a giant large set of Meccano and quite a challenge. The greenhouse has been properly put to test this week with high winds and thrashing rain, luckily we have two walls providing some shelter to the structure so we haven't worried quite as much. I've checked on the greenhouse each day, we don't appear to have any leaks and everything is still standing!

It's going to take some research and trial and error gardening to get the hang of growing under cover. I'm pretty excited and at the moment I am trying to decide on the internal layout of the growing space, planning a design for a hand built bespoke potting bench and deciding what to start growing at this time of year. I'll definitely keep you posted on my experience of having a greenhouse in a urban garden and let you know how I get on. 

July in our garden

It's been a busy month for our garden with lots of change happening each week. I'm loving being able to spend a few hours each weekend in our garden, pottering and tinkering with our space. It's starting to feel like a little haven that I'm gradually shaping into a garden that I love.

In the garden this month...

A handful of strawberries picked at the start of the month...

Bright lilies bring a zingy bold yellow statement to the garden...

I planted the sweet peas into the raised beds from a container. After two days this flower appeared, I hope for many more...

Dahlias fill a small space in the raised beds. I'm in love with the beautiful petals and pretty colours...

Newly bought lavender is bringing more bees to the garden and a glorious scent when I get up close...

A slow start with the tomatoes this year but now there are lots of little green tomatoes making an appearance...

Blueberries are starting to appear on both bushes, it's the biggest crop since we bought them...

The apple tree has so many little apples...

Here are the raised beds gradually shaping the space with newly planted container plants.

I'll be popping back later this week with more gardening updates and to tell you how we made the raised beds and what I've planted in them so far.

April in our urban garden

At times our garden feels pretty bare, we're in a stage where we are clearing space for new plants and a new garden design whilst trying to spot what plants are part of the garden we have inherited. I hope to be able to keep as much of the current planting as I can moving forwards and just add to it. Here are a few of the plants currently making an appearance in our space.

Bright yellow crocus making an appearance...

A blossoming apple tree...

Our acer returning greenery to the garden...

The seed grown geraniums from a few years ago still flowering...

A delicate poppy appeared from nowhere...

Our pot grown hosta is growing once again...

One of our pot grown blueberry bushes covered in flowers...

Each time I step outside into our garden space it makes me smile. I've been spending time outside when I can sitting in the sun dreaming of how we will be changing the space, measuring the garden and starting to sketch out a bit of a garden design. I'll update you over the next few weeks with our progress in the garden. 

Garden plans - How we will use our urban garden

Last week was National Gardening Week and for me it meant spending time with a few new books and working out a few more things in our garden. I thought I'd tell you about our garden and the plans we have started to make for our space.

With the weather warming my attention has once again become focused on our garden. For us our garden space is perfectly sized for us and what we want to do at this point in our lives. Mr C and I work full-time and so we wanted a space that meant we could give it the attention and time it needs to be maintained as well as being able to sit alongside our other interests.

Our garden has already seen a change from this...

to this...

There's lots of work to do but as you can see we have removed a lot of plants that were filling up a space within the garden and have created the space for raised beds.

Before we made the changes Mr C and I thought about what we wanted the space to be used for. I knew that I wanted to have raised beds to grow herbs, vegetables and cut flowers but there were also a number of other things I wanted to consider and be part of the garden project.

I want to use our garden to...

Grow our own - there's nothing better than cooking with freshly picked herbs added to a dish. Home grown carrots and potatoes with butter and herbs are just delicious. Picking salad leaves, giving them a wash and creating a delicious lunch is something I got huge pleasure from in our last courtyard garden. I don't expect our garden to replace all of our food shopping but I hope it will help in a few areas and will teach us even more about seasonal cooking and growing our own.

Be a space to relax and entertain in - I love entertaining friends and as Mr C has a huge passion for cooking what better way to combine using an outside space for growing as well as entertaining. I envisage summer evenings with tea lights in jam jars, the chiminea or bbq providing heat when the sun is setting, daytime lunches with pretty napkins and big platters of home grown salad to share, and a space we want to sit in and enjoy. 

Reduce the impact on the environment - For us it's important to consider where our food comes from. We regularly shop at farmers markets, our local independent shops, and will go to supermarkets for a number of things, but we do our best to buy what is in season and as much as we can buy food grown in the UK. I would love to reduce our reliance on things that can easily be grown at home, for example rocket, lettuce and herbs that we regularly use. It means we buy less and have less packaging to recycle.

Help nature - We want to attract and encourage wildlife as much as we can into our little space in the city. In time we will add bird feeders, a bird box and a bee house/hotel and think carefully about the flowers we grow. At the moment a bee hive isn't really an option but something I would've loved to have done if we had a flat roof space.

Grow a cut flower patch - I adore having cut flowers in our home but it upsets me when you realise the distance the flowers have travelled to make it into our homes. I try to buy British where I can but from time to time I do buy from supermarkets where the flowers have been flown a long distance.  I would prefer to have home grown seasonal flowers in our home instead, it's a little mission I have. Plus how lovely would it be to visit a friend with a small posy of home grown flowers tied together with a little piece of garden twine or ribbon as a gift!

Create a cycle - I'm keen to find out more about how to recycle our garden waste and home waste. As we plan our space we are thinking about whether we can have a compost heap or wormery. Creating our own plant fertiliser will mean less waste will be taken away to be recycled by the council. I've still got a lot of reading to do on this but I hope that later this year we will be able to set up one of the options.

Reduce urban run off and conserve more water - As we will be changing the use of the garden space quite dramatically, I have on my mind the impact it may have to the ever increasing problem of urban runoff. We are planning to take out the lawn, add pebbles and stepping stones/path to the end of the garden, and grow more things in containers where our lawn once was. Our garden design will plan to reduce urban run off by having hanging baskets, more containers on patio spaces to absorb the rain, more water butts storing excess water from the house roof and plant more plants to slow urban run off.

Include reclaimed or sustainably sourced materials where possible - Mr C and I have started building raised beds over the past week from recycled scaffolding planks (I'll show you soon!) and have used wood from a wood recycling project in the city. We are planning to remove the lawn and will use this upturned into the raised beds with compost being added on top. To fill the raised beds we are planning to use the existing compost heap as well as compost from Mr C's family farm. I hope to only need to buy peat-free soil as and when we need it, but I am aware we need to get our soil ready for the best growing conditions we can and this year may mean investing in more soil. Where our budget will allow I want to make sure that the materials we select are sustainable and I look into where the materials come from, or recycle and make our own.

Be a space to escape in - Over the years I've been gardening I've found that it is an incredible form of therapy. When I've had lots on my mind being able to escape into our outside space, dig, sort and tend plants has given me a fresh purpose and a real focus. I want to continue that in this space and see our garden as something we are very much responsible for, that is an attractive space to escape to and enables me to continually learn about growing seasonally. I'd like to create a mini haven in the city that I can sit in and enjoy.

I hope that this gives you a little insight into what we are planning to do with our space. I'm off now to continue reading my gardening books and researching greenhouses! I'll be back soon with an update on our raised beds and what the garden is looking like at the moment.

Enjoy the sunshine and enjoy your outside space, whatever size it may be.

Getting outside in our garden

It's March already! Where did February go? For me it went by in a bit of a blur, with busy times at work surrounding a fortnight of being unwell with a flu-like virus. It's been month of trying to catch up on tasks. I'm pleased to say I'm almost back on top form, I'm still feeling a little tired at times but at last I really do feel like myself again. Woo hoo, I'm back! With the return of my energy and a clear head, I have felt a renewed enthusiasm and desire to make a start on a few key projects for the year.

Over the weekend I was planning on preparing our spare room to do some re-decorating but the allure of the mildish weather on Saturday took over. At last after months of waiting, it was time to get out in the garden and take the first step to kick start our garden project.

Gardening is one of my real loves, it's a hobby I adore and one that I can happily spend all day outside doing. Last September we moved house, leaving behind our unique sunken courtyard garden and a life of container gardening. We now have a lovely south-facing outside garden with soil, plenty of light, more space, and a garden surrounded by three walls that create a great feature of the space.

The space at the moment is looking a little unloved and we have planned to overhaul the garden we have inherited from the previous owners and make it our own. At the back of the house we're planning on replacing or refurbishing the rendering on the back of our house, laying a new patio and making the garden more functional that fits more closely to our taste.

I've been wanting to get out in the garden for a while but the cold weather has really put me off. It's been so hard seeing the garden so sad and unloved, I didn't get round to planting any bulbs at the end of last year so all my pots are empty but there are a few crocuses starting to appear in the beds already in the garden.

Overhauling the garden space is a big job and you have to start somewhere. For me it meant starting to remove the overgrown plants that have started to take over the space.  

This is what our garden looked like before I started:

And here it is a little later...

and by the end of the afternoon it looked like this...an almost blank canvas!

I am so pleased with the progress I made in just a few hours. I've still got to dig out the roots and stumps of the plants I have cut back, but it's a great start to the project.

Once the garden was cleared I had the chance to measure the size of the space and see what room we have to play with. I've started drafting a few plans for our garden that I will share with you soon. Over the next few weeks I'm hoping to get stuck into some research and create a project plan for the garden. I can't wait to see this project progress over the next year or so.

I hope you'll pop back and find out how I'm getting on. 

November in our garden - Winter window boxes

Our window boxes needed a new set of plants after the geraniums eventually finished flowering a few weeks ago. This year I decided to try again with cyclamen to see if they would survive in the window boxes in a different location. These little plants can be a bit temperamental and can have a tendency to die if they don't like the conditions.

I went to our local garden centre and selected bright red and white cyclamen to fill our three window boxes. I love these colours together for winter flowers, they feel really Christmassy. I planted two red cyclamen and one white cyclamen into each window box, and added a few pieces of variegated ivy to each window box to add an extra element to the arrangement.

Each morning I open the blinds in our lounge and see these window boxes, they make me smile from ear to ear. It's so lovely to have these flowers outside the front of our home welcoming people with a bright pops of colour. Over time I will add more potted plants and colour to our front garden but for this autumn and winter these window boxes are a perfect feature on our bay window.