Slum your improvements are looking wonderful. Not progressed much on our plot. Been busy getting essential home improvement jobs done but have managed to take some photos. Have four beautiful roses in bloom. I think they are climbers but they have nothing to climb up yet!!! When I get organised I will share the photos and as you have done will update them every so often. You are truly an inspiration to me. So a big thank you.
Thank-you both. Mags, I've been called many things but I think that is the first time the word inspiration has been used! I'm looking forward to seeing your photos and how you progress. I understand though that home improvement takes priority over garden improvement - it did here for some time.
The new dahlia bed I planted up this spring is doing OK. We're going to use them for cut flowers for the house but I'm sure plenty will be left on the plants as we only have so many vases. I'm really pleased with how well they've grown. The soil was fairly heavy clay that had had turf and weeds on it for years. I dug a bit of manure into the planting holes and crossed my fingers. To save scrolling back through pictures, this is what I started with...
Which turned into...
It is the front rectangular bed the dahlias went into and it now looks like this...
There are lots of buds so with a bit of sun and warmth it should really sing with colour. A couple of current highlights for me are Eveline...
A month on from my last update and the garden has had to deal with high winds and a lot of rain. Next year I'll be improving my staking of some plants and hoping some will have bulked up to improve their wind resistance. The cut flower dahlia patch is still going strong...
Next year I'm going to give the dahlias a little more space to make tying them in to the supports easier. I'm going to plant a few of them into one of the borders in front of a large spring flowering lonicera bush. Once it has had its late spring prune the dahlias can then be planted in the section of the border that gets trampled during the pruning.
Something that hasn't done well this year is sweetcorn. The first seeds I planted didn't germinate and the replacements were slow to get going. I'm not convinced we're going to get a cob to share between us.
Last week-end I split some crocosmia that had become overcrowded and put some back in the garden, put some in pots, gave some away and chucked yet more on the compost heap. I found this yesterday...
I guess one of the badgers was not happy with the planting position I chose!
Thinking ahead I took some rose cuttings a couple of weeks ago. I've done it before in pots and it worked well but this time I'm trying it in the ground. Hopefully they'll be a bit more self-sufficient in the ground. One has already started growing a new leaf and there are signs some of the others are about to. Luckily the badgers haven't objected to these but I have caught our cat digging close by.
It's just an old terracotta pot that I found with the bottom half of it missing. I stuck it in the ground, put some soil in the top and a bit of trailing lobelia. I love trailing lobelia as a pot plant. It flowers from spring to autumn and never needs deadheading. I'm also quite keen on the moss that has covered the stone next to it.Speaking of pots, I've just bought this one as a local garden centre had a sale on.
I'm thinking of putting a climbing rose in it to grow up the north facing back wall of the house. Not sure which rose yet but I'm thinking about Madame Alfred Carriere or Crown Princess Margareta. Both can apparently tolerate some shade but the spot is also very exposed to strong winds.
Posts
...and so you don't think it is all aesthetically pleasing...here is another recent project for my daughter to play with...
She loves hanging upside down and spinning around on it. Not sure I'll manage to make it pretty though
It's looking great, l love seeing old gardens being brought back to life - lovely!
Slum your improvements are looking wonderful. Not progressed much on our plot. Been busy getting essential home improvement jobs done but have managed to take some photos. Have four beautiful roses in bloom. I think they are climbers but they have nothing to climb up yet!!! When I get organised I will share the photos and as you have done will update them every so often. You are truly an inspiration to me. So a big thank you.
Thank-you both. Mags, I've been called many things but I think that is the first time the word inspiration has been used! I'm looking forward to seeing your photos and how you progress. I understand though that home improvement takes priority over garden improvement - it did here for some time.
The new dahlia bed I planted up this spring is doing OK. We're going to use them for cut flowers for the house but I'm sure plenty will be left on the plants as we only have so many vases. I'm really pleased with how well they've grown. The soil was fairly heavy clay that had had turf and weeds on it for years. I dug a bit of manure into the planting holes and crossed my fingers. To save scrolling back through pictures, this is what I started with...
Which turned into...
It is the front rectangular bed the dahlias went into and it now looks like this...
There are lots of buds so with a bit of sun and warmth it should really sing with colour. A couple of current highlights for me are Eveline...
...and Bishop of Auckland...
Some of you may also recognise this rose...
Any guesses?
For Your Eyes Only?
It's looking really good, Slum.
Thanks Lizzie, and good spot, it is For Your Eyes Only
A month on from my last update and the garden has had to deal with high winds and a lot of rain. Next year I'll be improving my staking of some plants and hoping some will have bulked up to improve their wind resistance. The cut flower dahlia patch is still going strong...
Next year I'm going to give the dahlias a little more space to make tying them in to the supports easier. I'm going to plant a few of them into one of the borders in front of a large spring flowering lonicera bush. Once it has had its late spring prune the dahlias can then be planted in the section of the border that gets trampled during the pruning.
Something that hasn't done well this year is sweetcorn. The first seeds I planted didn't germinate and the replacements were slow to get going. I'm not convinced we're going to get a cob to share between us.
Last week-end I split some crocosmia that had become overcrowded and put some back in the garden, put some in pots, gave some away and chucked yet more on the compost heap. I found this yesterday...
I guess one of the badgers was not happy with the planting position I chose!
Thinking ahead I took some rose cuttings a couple of weeks ago. I've done it before in pots and it worked well but this time I'm trying it in the ground. Hopefully they'll be a bit more self-sufficient in the ground. One has already started growing a new leaf and there are signs some of the others are about to. Luckily the badgers haven't objected to these but I have caught our cat digging close by.
A little thing I'm pleased with is this.
It's just an old terracotta pot that I found with the bottom half of it missing. I stuck it in the ground, put some soil in the top and a bit of trailing lobelia. I love trailing lobelia as a pot plant. It flowers from spring to autumn and never needs deadheading. I'm also quite keen on the moss that has covered the stone next to it.Speaking of pots, I've just bought this one as a local garden centre had a sale on.
I'm thinking of putting a climbing rose in it to grow up the north facing back wall of the house. Not sure which rose yet but I'm thinking about Madame Alfred Carriere or Crown Princess Margareta. Both can apparently tolerate some shade but the spot is also very exposed to strong winds.