Des res

 This is a group project, hubby did the building, I did the collecting, Molly helped with the filling, we have solitary bee holes in three levels, and a butterfly box at the top, the holes or shelves are filled with different stuff with hay added, I used hay as I thought it might be beneficial to the bugs, who I hope will move in. 

My plan was to pop it infront of the raised garden by the pond, hubby made it the same height, but there is just not enough room and I did not want it to go over the water, it could go on the side behind the blood red grass, I'm sure it would just fit in there. For now outside the greenhouse in this corner, where we don't often go, it's on a concrete base, so it's stable, it's also a sunny spot and the raised bed will protect it from some of the rain. 

We have corks from wine bottle, pinecones, bark and wood which is going soft, twigs, I have also popped a few broken clay pots in the hay for extra homes, everything is natural and untreated. The butterfly house I have had for years, I've never seen a butterfly close to it.

I have had this in mind and been working on it since the summer, it's bigger than I first thought, hubby decided the size, the frame is old decking boards, which should stay good for years, our only purchase was the front wire grid, it came in a bigger roll, I shall make a few cloches in the spring with the rest of it. 

Now as it's getting cooler is the perfect time to have it in place, another completed job outside, there is very little to do, I added half a bag of mushroom compost to my tiny broad bean shoots, I'm sure it will be better on the garden than in a bag all winter. I'm still picking up leaves, most drifting in from neighbours garden, I have a pile over my rhubarb crown, in hope it will help the crown grow next year.

I am really enjoying these sunny dry days, my mood has improved so much, it's good to be out in the sunshine, with nothing to do, I can spend ages outside. We have my sister and her partner here for a few days, so going to a garden centre later.

Families

Sunday I was outside for a while, I planted a small conifer from hubby's garden into a spare pot, it won't grow big, he is changing part of his conifer garden, we popped to our favourite garden centre and hubby got the grasses he wanted, shock horror, I got nothing for my garden. Hubby has space for a couple more plants, he's talking about getting some alpines, as they would suit the front of his bed.

With George starting school soon, life is going to be very different for him, unlike Will who comes out of school full of energy, we expect George to be tired, and therefore less likely to be able to go to the local parks. They had a slide in their garden, which was small and it cracked, so hubby and I decided they need something in their own garden. With daughter help with choices, this climbing frame with slide arrived last weekend. We have three happy grand children.

End of a era for George, last time at preschool nursery, and ready for school, with all the local support, his school have been fantastic, daughter is not as worried about him going to school. All we have to hope is his first week goes well, he is not great with too many changes all at once, he knows his 1to1 support person, and has been in the classroom a few times. 

We spent the weekend at home, daughter and children popped over on Saturday for a couple of hours, both Molly and George were asking to see us, I had a day not doing anything in the garden, I read and rested as did hubby, I have been making notes in my garden journal, noting each bed, what was growing, a couple of plants I am moving. 

September is a month of celebrations, hubby's birthday was on Monday, we had a quiet day home with a Chinese takeaway for tea and a glass of red wine. Daughter and Will popped in for cake and give hubby cards and gift, George and Molly were at nursery, Will was very animated, normally he's out done by his younger siblings. He wanted to check my wildlife pond, I was told its a good habitat, he was very happy with everything, I also got a huge compliment, he said our garden looked like a flower shop, he also raided the raspberries and blackberries, some things never change.

Today is wet and dull again, hubby has to pop out this morning for an hour, I'm staying in, not much to do, hubby wants some fleabane daisies for his front garden, he thinks they will soften the front wall, so I am going to take loads of cuttings for him.  

Wildlife pond

 Moving the bigger plants, both agapanthus and dogwood, has given me more space here, being smaller one end does present issues, the bed was raised by previous owners, so digging down was not too bad, the hardest part was sieving all the soil, the previous owners had stones on all this back garden, which I took most away, but there were loads left in the soil, if I'm doing this area, I might as well do a good job.

All of the plants I already had, just moved them here, I did purchase a couple of big flat stones and the drift wood, hubby cut a spare paver into a basking stone, there is a hollow underneath for things to hide, I am much happier with this area now, there is more clear water to be seen, leaving the round container as a shallow pond makes it interesting. I have filled the bottom of the oblong container with loads of smooth stones and gravel, it looks natural as we can't see any plastic, the round tub has a different pale coloured grit.

I could not get a small lily, wrong end of the season, we got a plastic flower, just to give shade, but I don't like it, strange how something looks good in the shop and naff when you bring it home, I've used a different plant I already had in the middle. The water has cleared, it's filled with rain water, I'm hoping the bottom will become more like a river bed. The top back corner is slightly higher, so any excess water can run from the front corner, I don't want water disturbing the raised flower bed foundations. The plants should grow and cover most of the rim of the bigger pond.

My agapanthus has been split and put into a tub, where it has plenty of room to grow, two smaller plants are in tubs in daughters front garden. The tub can stay in this space under the Magnolia tree, plenty of room and I won't have to squeeze past when the blooms are out. I managed to get loads of fresh compost in, so it should thrive, they do like their roots to be confined.

It took a whole day to dig out the area, my agapanthus had been there for years and was huge and very stubborn to move, hubby dug out some more of the old willow tree root, removing everything gave me a lovely bigger space, I did not want the pond to fit neatly, I wanted an angle to create planting spaces. The second day saw me popping everything back, with a few different grasses, stones and other bits, including my green plastic frog (thanks Maggie). Today I will sort out all the tubs and tidy the veg section. 

The big pond has a few escape routes, I have piles stones and gravel in the back corner, they are to the top of the container, the drift wood has two points above the water level, and the plant  in the middle have leaves floating on the water. In the round container I have a wooden ladder for escape.

I am happy the big agapanthus is gone from this space, it looked good but it spilled over the path, not too bad until it bloomed and then I struggled to get by. I won't plant trailing plants next year in the raised bed behind, so no petals falling into pond, I am happy to wait for the grasses to grow and fill the surrounding garden.

Another job done, I do love a challenge and hard work never bothers me, I desperately want to see more wildlife in this back section of the garden, a frog or toad would be delightful and useful as pest control. We have noticed a few dragon flies this summer with the water features we already have. Our Magnolia tree shades this spot every morning, but is far enough away, so the leaves don't fall in the pond, it's not in full sun until later in the day. 

When sat in my chair, I can see right through the garden to this pond area, which is very satisfying, we have had a good rain storm which has bedded all the moved plants in.

Pond

 This area has been pleasing, but the water containers are small, I really want to attract frogs and other wildlife. I have overgrown plants here, which I needed to move, already a few has a new home to go to, the rest will go on facebook, marketplace.

Close up the containers are a bit small,

 with the plants in there is little space.

Out comes the paper and tape measure, I do love to plan, now plants have been removed, I can see so much more space. I know what would be my perfect pond area, but I don't have the space for that, I can't increase the space and there is not another good spot in my small garden.

Hubby and I have visited loads of local aquatic shops, and trolled the internet, most preformed ponds would fill the space with little space for planting my grasses. In our local shop they suggested I look at animal feed containers, as they are tough and a good size, they had large ones which would have been too big for us. This fits the area with external planting space, from Amazon and amazingly quiet cheap.

Now the work starts, the main thing is to dig down, which is not that bad as the agapanthus has left a huge hole, I have a few plants to separate, the grasses in my sink are huge again, so once separated I can use the bigger parts here, along with grasses already planted, I won't use any of the existing flowers, they can be placed elsewhere in the garden. 

The only plant I would like to purchase is a small water lily, we are planning another trip to my favourite garden centre, which has a good aquatic shop on site.  I am going to look for some big flat stones as well, all my small ones are in the bottom of the pond.

I am happily throwing myself into this work, I am so out of salts at the moment, feeling very down and almost tearful, which is not me at all, I have a wonderful hubby and daughter, hubby's older brother is still in hospital, they now think the metal inserted to fix the break is causing all the infections. I know things will settle, but there is so much family drama going on, life is exhausting and hopefully it will settle soon, both the younger grandchildren are picking up our stress and need more cuddles. 

Looking good

 My cauliflower plants are in one end of this bed, leeks at the other end, with space for winter cabbage, the seedlings are just coming through as are the second sowing of broccoli. My third sowing of carrots are just showing, I do aim to sow anther batch soon. The second lot of peas are now coming through. My courgette is thriving, I have one bag of potatoes to dig out. I have dug out the cucumber plant, it was not doing well, it's back in the greenhouse, I have sown a few more cucumber seeds, I don't think the plant will survive.

These blueberries are thriving this year, they love their new sunny spot, the plant is full of berries, which are starting to turning blue. My raspberries are behind, I think the broad beans shaded them from the spring sunshine, they are catching up. The strawberry tower is not in the best spot, they too are behind, fruits have formed but are not changing colour yet, I have a couple plants in a small pot elsewhere and the fruits their are almost ready for eating. I think I need to find the tower a better spot.

I love it when new plants flower, both the foxglove and poppy are new this year, they are at the back of my square garden, I am hoping for cottage vibes here, so far it is working. The hollyhock is starting to form it's flowers, it's a deep red colour, my astrantia I planted last year is almost ready to burst into bloom, I had thought it had died, there are loads of blooms in this spot to come.

It's a brilliant year for my hosta's, both look great, I moved the pots to our seating area, tucked them with the herb pots, they are loving this spot, later they will go to the back section of the garden. The plant with the green and white leaves I will split at some point, I hope to get three new smaller plants. 

My wildlife pond area is looking so good, all the plants are healthy, it looks as if it has been here forever, the plants are keeping the water clear, I am hoping this space will look after itself, I don't want to be messing with it much. I have a blood grass at the back which when it starts to grow will fill the back, next to it is a forsythia, lovely yellow blooms in spring, and in front another grass. I have sprinkled red poppy seeds along the side fence. 

Having said in late May I was concerned with my agapanthus not having any blooms, now I have counted 10, which is pleasing, this is the mother plant, I have separated bits all around our garden, the blooms grow away from the pond towards the sun, so there will be no issues there. On the other side (left), I have put my canna lily, it is already growing. The raised bed behind is full of bedding plants, so much colour. 

I am still battling slugs and snails, mainly in the one veg bed, I have netted the other bed, but the runner bean poles make it hard to have any covering. I am thinning carrots, which are making a lovely harvest for us, the final broad beans went into the freezer, we have 3 portions of them now. The initial six broccoli plants are huge, the heads are forming, most will be cut whilst small, as I don't eat them, I am hoping then I might get spears as a secondary crop. Both the beetroot and parsnips are growing well, they should need thinning again soon. Tomato plants are catching up, I have three this year, two are still in the greenhouse. 

These days I am not having so many failures, I am thinking more about space and conditions in my growing area, and matching plants, rather than going to a garden centre and saying I like that, and bringing it home to a certain death. Plus after 15 years of working a heavy clay soil, I have managed to keep the soil fertile, without the clay sticking together, it has been a slow process. 

I follow a few younger gardeners on Instagram, who do things so very differently to me, I follow my parents style of gardening, looking after the soil firstly, I do prefer raised beds, something not heard of in our childhood garden, the only plant grown in a container was mint. Most things were grown from seed, or purchased as bare root plants, is it gardening when you purchase plants to go into bigger pots, almost everything already done for you. 

Flowering outside

 This plant is years old, an agapanthus, it's really late this year, loads of lovely leaves, but so far only a few buds, normally it gives loads of blooms. I will keep checking. The nemesia in my raised bed behind are very colourful, I have more bedding plants to go in. I have my flat bird table against the raised bed, I am using a bowl on the stand, the bird table belonged to my mum, so I won't ever get rid of it. This is next to my wildlife pond, now a nice looking corner.

My back bed is now summer ready, I have popped 7 fleabane/ erigeron daisies, they will fill the front of the bed. The shrub on the right is a snowberry, I have had it a few years, it was growing in the back flower bed in front of the greenhouse, it has doubled in size since I moved it last October, and so many more berries on it. All I need here is more bark to bring the level up and stop weeds. This back bed I am hoping to keep simple, with the daisies growing and filling the space, I will probably put in some pansies in the winter months, spring is taken care of with all the bulbs, which I leave in the ground.

This square bed is starting to look good, most of the bigger plants are new this year, so many blooms to come, both my lupins have flowers growing, I'm pleased they are not the same colour, I have a dahlias to go in the middle, in the frame, I hope to plant it in the coming week. I am aiming for a jumble of colour here, with most plants returning next year, these should be more winter interest as well. 

This side bed again has loads of new plants, I removed the salvia hotlips as they grew far to large for this area, and swamped everything. I love all types of daisies, this one at the far end was even better as I only paid £1.25 for it, sadly it was pot bound and looking very sad, so I popped it into a bigger pot, cut all the flowers off, it's been planted for a week and is looking good. I will soon have loads of asters to fill the gaps and give colour here. The pink rose is growing nicely, the yellow ones in the garden will bloom soon, along with pots on my shelf, so much colour. 

My tub is again full of colour, some of these plants came from the bed outside of the back door, there are two different fuchsias one each end. The coleus in the smaller pot will grow huge and colourful, the deep red plants had 3 plants in one pot, so the other two are planted at the back of the big tub. 

I normally have a bigger pot with a begonia in on this table, it's still on the greenhouse, the bigger begonia is now under the table, last year it stayed just outside the greenhouse, that area is full of veg. These new pots with sempervivums do look good here, I have a couple more in small pots to add to this display.

I have in the past 14 years tried to be as organic as I can be in our garden, the balance has been really good, by adding the veg beds this year, I was concerned about our lovely balanced eco system. The only pest control I use are slug pellets, in my flower beds, I don't use them around my veg, slugs and snails are munching in the veg beds, I am trying to pick them all out, I look for both every day. Weeds again are not a huge issue, I do have more this year, mainly in the veg beds, probably from the top soil purchased to fill beds. I try and grow from seed, which cuts back weeds coming into my garden in pots purchased. I strongly believe it's better to be outside every days keeping on top of pest and weeds. I am hoping to have frogs in my wildlife pond, so far nothing much lives there, the aquatic plants are doing well and keeping the water clear.

I dug out my hotbin composter, the compost is lovely, but I have more woody bits in there, when I only had flowers, I often added woody bits to keep the bin topped up. This year all the woody bits are being added to a pile in a corner, for a bug sanctuary, I will have enough green waste to keep the bin full, I dig the bin out twice a year, it's closed and get warm inside which speeds up the process.

Wildlife Pond

 We popped to my favourite garden centre which has a good aquatic shop, I manage to purchase these 3 plants, hubby and I choose them together, these are bigger than I wanted, BUT, with me there is always a but, 2 of them I will separate into smaller pots, making 5 plants not 3. For now they fill the space.

The pond liner was not working, I'm not able to keep the water level to a decent depth, the plant pots are five inches and I would like them submerged, so change of plan, I had a nice tub which I had a spring display, but it kept waterlogged with all the rain. Humm I wonder would it fit, right size, not as wide as I wanted, the aquatic plants fit.

Hopefully I won't need to work on this anymore, I am very pleased, I have the depth I wanted and the top bowl runs into the lower pot, it's not as wide as I wanted, but still plenty of water. I added the grass from this tub to the back corner and piled loads of pebbles around and filled the gaps with pretty gravel.

 I'm not worried if the sides can be seen, this is the working end of my garden, hopefully the plants will grow and soften the edges, I would like some drift wood for a bug bridge, but for now it's done, the water should settle and clear.

This lovely plant I have had for years, it sits in a plastic bowl, no drainage holes as it loves to be water logged, it's a huge plant, the curled long leaves fascinate me. I have already popped a cutting into one of my ponds, I do love these plastic washing up bowls, being square with handles, this one is three years old, they are a perfect addition to our garden.  

Hubby is in the process of making me a huge bug house, which I want for the back section of the garden, he has cut 6 blocks and drilled different size holes, I can get one on top of the other on these shelves. The butterfly box fits in well, we are sorting other things to go in before adding a wire front. This is huge at my request, he has made a bird nesting box as well, he does love to make things, these with other bug areas should be fun with the younger grandchildren, as well as making our garden diverse. 

The pond is finished, it has cost me just under £40, for the liner (which was discarded) and the plants, I already had the containers, and stones which I had used in another part of the garden before we made our changes. It's been huge fun to put it together, looking around for things to use, I had 4 grasses, for someone who is not fond of grasses, I was surprised as I also have 3 in my butlers sink, two of the grasses had been split a couple of years ago, every gardener loves free plants. 

Later I will get floating weed to help keep the water clear, it's ready for anything to move in. I am hoping I have enough green cover outside the pond, it's nice to get a section completed, nothing much grew in this corner, not sure why, I have lost so many plants over the years. 

I'm not reading or crafting, all my time is outside, if it's raining, I have bits to do in the greenhouse and / or the garage. It feels good to growing things again. 

Gardening

 I have been working in the back section of our garden, firstly I sorted all the soil needed for my carrots and my tomato plants, these are all in the greenhouse to help warm the soil up, hopefully I can plant a bit early. The red tub has carrot seedling growing, the orange bucket are for the next sowing, there is coir mixed in to make the soil lighter.

The walk way in front of the greenhouse by the fence is now sorted, the bag of top soil has been used and the bag washed and packed away, in the two green bags are my seed potatoes, one bag is about 3 to 4 weeks further along. The brown pot is my little lemon clematis and in the green tub is my cranberry plant, the grey pot behind has my mock orange plant in, which I am hoping will get huge this year, it's the only permanent pot in this space. 

Again I am showing you this pot, different blooms, I'm so pleased, the hellebore is huge, and the flowers are getting darker. Next to this which is not in my photo is my gooseberry bush, loads of lovely green shoots, and our 1st blueberry bush has loads of flowers, the 2nd bush is a later cropping one. The rhubarb is huge, but we can't pull any in this it's first year.  

I dug out my pond, and some of the plants behind, the peony is in hubby's front garden, it is perfect for a spot he had, and saved purchasing another plant. I have made the pond wider, and popped loads of little plants along the edge, I had 3 different grasses I used, giving loads of cover for any wildlife, along with the huge agapanthus, which will grow away from the pond. I need to line the sides of my pond, with flat long pebbles or slate, to hide the plastic, and now I can get a few plants for inside the water, this is still small with the bigger bowl sat just above. 

Sunday was a perfect day, dry and sunny, we went outside at 11am and stayed out until just after 4pm, we had lunch in the garden, a perfect day to get up-to-date with our task. We got the table and chairs out, hubby has refreshed the bench and chairs, I'm not sure what he will do with the table, our furniture only needs to last us this year, I have not as yet uncovered our Olive tree, I aim to leave the cover on for a couple more weeks.  

I have sown runner beans, leeks, loads of french marigolds, calendula and snapdragons, all in the greenhouse, I still have loads more to sow, but it's a good start, I hope to be outside in the greenhouse this week, it does not matter if it's raining. Most of the veg seeds will be sown straight into the ground, I have covers on my second raised bed, the soil should be nice and warm. Our broad-beans are full of flowers, but something has ate my broccoli plants, I will get another tray and pot them on and put them out once they are much bigger. I have found a huge plastic tub, so I think I am going to get some pea plants and grow up a wigwam, I have a perfect spot for them. 

It feels so good to be outside, dirty hands, starting things to grow, I am feeling so much better and a day gardening is always a tonic for me, dear hubby did loads of bits, and has done more to my huge bug house he is making. Most of my jobs can't be seen from the house, but it does feel so good to have them done, my shower felt fantastic, I normally watch how much water i use, but for once I stayed much longer. 

This morning is wet, heavy rain overnight,  its cooler and dull, so after a quick walk to the village, a day inside, maybe some crafting time this week.

Normal is....

 On Friday afternoon, we had our favourite pair of little people visiting, they are both full of fun and laughter, here they are trying on hubbies new gloves, huge but enough fun for giggles all around. The house looked like a toy shop, but who cares when there is so much to share. George was very happy, he does get sad days, which we find hard to work out the reason, he can't communicate too well.

I am very pleased with outside my greenhouse, this is a working area for the garden, but I do like to see it looking good, this set of shelves I purchased at our last house, so they are over 15 years old, They sit in this space, and are very handy for odd pots with plants in, I've been outside and not moved anything around, so area sorted. I can still see my big black tub from the house, it's good to see these shelves being used again. 

I have played with the wildlife pond, it does not need to be pretty, just useful for any wildlife I can attract, the lower section has gravel in the bottom, it's quiet deep in places, I need to sort the sides to hide the pond liner, I have planted more ground cover plants, I got 3 for a pound each in a reduced section, the top container has bigger pebbles and my 1st plant, it's leaves curl as they grow, I hope to get a solar pump in this section to have moving water, I will also need ramps for the wildlife to get out of the water.  

I picked this book up because I loved her previous book, Before I go to sleep, this book is just as good, as a journalist film maker, she has come back to her childhood village, she has changed and no one knows her, she has no family left. She is making a film, which quickly becomes about missing girls, I guessed some of the plot by the middle and guessed the twist before it was revealed, still a brilliant read. Book 19 read this year. 

Did anyone watch The Jury on channel 4, I found it very interesting, knowing it was made for TV and heavily edited, I still found the concept truly clever, to have 2 sets of 12 people, each unaware of the other jury. Watching how someone can change another's opinion, I would have loved to watch them deliberate longer, it helped having such an interesting case. It was on for 4 evenings in a row, I could not wait to watch the next episode. 

Molly slept over on Friday and was good, fast asleep by 7pm, a bit later than normal, she woke once but went back to sleep, she then slept until 7.30am, which is unheard of, normally she wakes just after 6am. Hubby took her home, whilst I sorted the spare bedroom, mummy had put up their play tent, so with Will and George they had plenty of games to play.

This weekend we had a simple normal for us weekend, both Saturday and Sunday were blue skies, dry and on Sunday warm, I did not do much on Saturday, I was tired and still feeling yuck, we did have a glass of red wine with a Chinese takeaway in the evening, I slept the best night sleep in weeks. 

We woke up late on Sunday, hubby got up just before 9am, he opened the curtains, lovely blue skies and popped the radio on, love songs on radio 2, I relaxed, snoozed and listen to the radio until 10.30, then a long lovely shower. We had coffee and biscuits in the garden, it was so warm, I then pottered for a couple of hours, hubby gave our bench a coat of clear varnish. We had lunch outside for the first time this year, and sat chatting, later we walked to the village shops, our neighbour was in the local tap bar, so we popped in for a quick half, they sell wonderful ciders. Later we read and relaxed some more, for the first time in months I feel well and good, I was tired after time outside, but it's a good tired. 

I've still not sown any seeds, but I have sorted my potato growing bags and the tubs for my carrots, another step forward, I can wait another week or two. I was also able to tidy my side of the garage once the bench was back outside again.