Growing in the Sunshine

What a lovely sunny Bank Holiday (for once), I managed to get quite a few jobs in the garden done which have been waiting while work and other life stuff got in the way.

I finally got Rich to drill a hole in the new big garden table made from our old scaffolding planks, they are really great to build stuff with, nice and strong and everything but man drilling a hole in a heavy duty plank of wood thats 2 1/2 inches thick is a bloody nightmare! Even when our carpenter next door neighbour lent us some tools!

Anyway it all done now and at least we can have some shade when eating out...

I super pleased with how this little area is coming together this year, this funny little space has always been slight awkward and when we moved in 3 years ago we simple dumped all out pot plants from our last patio on the lawn and left them there. We inherited the box hedge, it was about chest height and about 3 foot thick having been neglected for years then when the previous owners put the house on the market they got some rather shady looking chaps in to 'do it up' which basically meant paint it all magnolia inside and chopping everything outside off at ground leave including 3 sides of this 40 years box hedge.
When we moved in it was some very fat stumps with some tiny shoots, over the last few years we've let it grow up to about knee hight then kept it trimmed as it edges this little patio space nicely.

We always intended to pave this area as it gets pretty muddy after the rain but lack of funds has knocked this idea on the head for the mo, so in the spirit of making the best of what your given I decided to take a leaf out of Alys Fowlers book (too many hours watching her tv series...its brill if you haven't seen it yet!) and mix my herbs and flowers in together. I took everything out of its pots and planted a loose border inside the Box Hedge, jumbling wilds flowers and herbs all together, then keeping the lawn spaced mowed well back so its lovely and soft to walk on. So far it all seems to be working well together and the Bees are going crazy for it.

I edged this boarder with Chives so they should look really pretty when in full bloom, this had been great having them so close to the house and has meant we used they quite a bit in cooking. I've also mixed in lots of wild flowers seeds and some Thymes we got for the supermarket last week, it looks nicely full now with lots of shoots coming up in-between stuff.

Heres my make shift bench made from some salvaged oak resting on two heavy concrete plants (again inherited with the house), I've filled the planters with soil and dropped more seeds in there, the idea being stuff should (hopefully) cascade out the back of the planters. Along the more shaded hedge line I planted my 8 Agapanthus which had been in pots and now seem happier in the ground, fingers-crossed they will look great when they flower. The vast majority of these plants have been supplied over the years by the ever helpful Victorian Nursery and I must say they seem to be the hardest plants surviving not only the bizarre weather but my hamfistedness!

I do also pick plants up from the carboot sales and the supermarkets usually because the price is so good,  over the weekend I got a few little daisy type plants for 50p each, a Marguerite for £1.50 and a Mint for £1. Alidi are also selling seeds for 38p a pack so I stocked up on Rocket, Spinach, mixed salad leave, Little Gem Lettuce and a verity of outdoor Cucumber.

I mentioned a few weeks  ago that I had moved my collection of Belfast sinks to under the living room window and would be using them to grow salad stuffs, this seems to be going ok although its a fight to stop Stella going to sleep on them when its sunny. I have pressed into service a collection of old 30s leaded windows we brought at a boot sale last year, Rich had planned to make me a cold frame but this has yet to happen so they are now being used like this...

So far so good, this has stopped the cat squishing and the rain from pelting the seedlings to death. One day I will make these windows into a cool little greenhouse but until then at least they are coming in handy.

The rest of the garden is also looking ok, the espaliered fruit trees we planted last year are looking happy, healthy and blossoming like mad, the wild flower bed under them has also suddenly come to life, it getting slightly rampant but its so pretty I'm reluctant to cut anything back.

The Willow fence is a raging success (almost to the point where I find it hard to believe it was me that made it!), my neighbours have all be very complimentary which is a relief, as the houses are all so close together up here its pretty imperative you get along with everyone, so its always slightly controversial if someone does something unusual and your never entirely happy till you've had the nod of approval from all!

The willow has settle in well and seems happy, its all leafing and budding so Im taking it as its happy. I've finally bent the tops over and woven them along the top wire, this looks neater all round. I wanted to wait a little to do this as I was afraid to much manhandling might kill it! Although from everything I've read on-line willows seem to be very forgiving.

So a busy bank holiday weekend, right must get back to work now, although all these pics are tempting me to go and do a spot of weeding in the sunshine!