Garden Takeover!

Argh!!  I surrender.  My garden has won, it has beaten me into submission.  I never thought I would say this but I am beginning to tire of gardening every spare minute – yes you heard it here first!!

Why is that, you may well ask??

Well I have a large garden, 3/4 acre, which surrounds my house so looking after it is rather like painting the Forth Road Bridge – as soon as you’ve managed to go around once, where you started is overgrown with weeds!!  I confess, however, that this past year or two I have been my own worst enemy.  Seeing ideas on the telly or at Chelsea or on the web has heard me saying – ooh I can do that or we can change that or I’ld like one of those in my garden etc etc  You get the idea – I am becoming a greedy gardener.  I want to do it all but time does not permit and so gardening becomes just another chore – dangerous indeed!!

So I have stepped back, viewed the estate, seen where some better planting will keep the garden looking lovely all year through – I do like a bit of colour – done away with some of the many planters I had – I still have at least fifteen scattered about and they all need watering. got some more help in and am telling myself not to be so tempted by the fabulous display of plants at my local market – I must be his best customer as he gave me a FREE Acer this year!!

The first thing I am going to do is clear one of the raised beds and plant another plum tree giving me a nice little orchard area, two eating apple trees, one cooking apple and two plum trees.  I shall also be planting another marjoram nearby to encourage bees and butterflies etc to the garden as I noticed how much they loved it.

Then I will need to sort out a large bed at the back where my rhodos are – that definitely needs better planting with possibly introducing another acer to give added colour and form – that would make three acers and should look good.

I’m going to plant a strawberry bed, move the blueberry plant to a bigger area and promise myself that I will not grow quite so many veg crops next year – just Charlotte potatoes, some onions, runner beans, mangetout, asparagus, a row of carrots and a few tomatoes and ONE courgette plant and maybe some leeks for winter.

I know that still sounds like a lot of work but somehow having sat down and written about it, I feel energised again about the garden.  I do love it but realise that I have to do things my way and not be so influenced by what’s in the media.  It’s a beautiful garden and I am determined to enjoy it more in the following months.

So my advice to you is this- keep it simple, do it your way and don’t let your garden take over your life!!  We women can’t do it all whatever anyone says!!

Wishing for Warmer Weather

Well it’s not exactly been great weather for gardening recently but I have still managed to do a few bits and pieces in between the snow flurries, ice and gale winds.

I am very lucky to have the ever handy Andy who has now made me a new black planter which I am filling with a pyramid box and box hedging with yellow Crown Imperial – all bought from the fantastic plant stall on Hitchin Market – Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  This is work in progress as I started it on one of our slightly warmer days!

Handy Andy has also made me a new mini polytunnel and rejuvenated raspberry cage.

I have also managed to get out and cover up some of my raised beds with fleece in the hope it might warm up the ground (well it’s worth a try isn’t it!).  In addition I have added some of our new products to my very own garden.  These new Eco bird feeders have gone up in my garden to keep the birds fed during the snow.  You can feed fat balls, apples, cheese etc with these feeders which are made from recycled plant pots.  A very innovative product that can be used over and over again to keep those birds well fed!

Like the rest of the UK I am wishing for some much warmer weather so I can get outside and enjoy some sunshine whilst doing a spot of gardening.  I have to say I wouldn’t have attempted any gardening at all without my gardening gloves as my fingers seem to be instantly numb in the chilling winds!  We have a super selection of ladies gardening gloves available so depending on your gardening tasks to be completed, we have a super stylish pair for every job, including the designs below.

Fingers crossed it won’t be too long until the sun is shining and the plants are growing- here is a lovely photo I took in my garden this time last year, bit of a difference to the colours out there today!