A Leap of Faith

Hello Friends!

I have taken a huge Leap of Faith and now the border in front of my patio and French window that looks out over the lawn sports a gaping gap, almost end to end, where the Pieris, buddleia, and Frances E Lester rambler bloomed of late.  They are still there, but greatly reduced in size as they were getting out of hand, blocking my view of the garden and keeping all the late afternoon sunshine off the low, raised borders that mark the edges of the patio and the lawn restricting planting choices. 

It's a risk I've had to take, a Leap of Faith, for I needed to open up the space so that I can find the original edges to the lawn border to enable me to get in and clean it.  It's hard enough weeding on your hands and knees to begin with, but even more difficult when you can't see what you are doing because of leaf laden branches on shrubs, or worse, being impaled on dagger like rose bush thorns. 

I know the rambler will be fine.  Most roses, delicate though they appear, are tough as old boots and respond well to a good pruning.  

The buddleia, well, we all know that they are nigh on impossible to kill.

It's the Pieris that worries me.  It was a gift from Dad's niece.  I have researched it well, and apparently they, like camellias, can take hard cutting back, almost to ground level.  It was getting leggy, all top growth and woody stems, so I've made the Leap of Faith and cut it right back, hard.  Very hard.

 

Now all that's needed is to clean around them, feed them, and tidy up the remains to make good shapes as they regenerate and regrow.

I had planned on making the borders deeper and having a little less lawn, but now I have found the stone edging, which has been hidden for years, I realise it's the original edging put in place by my Mum about thirty eight years ago, and I like it more than I remember, so am leaving it as it is.

Finally, the small, raised border will have better light and fair play for me to plant out the potted and patio roses and lavenders that I so long to see from my window.

Storm Ellen battered us, followed by an unprecedented second named August storm in under a week with Storm Francis. On the day in between I got out and did as much post Summer tidying up as I could manage, and picked another 2lbs of blackberries.  That's four pounds in two picks.  I have already enjoyed an apple and blackberry pie, and turned the rest into juice for making jelly.

I successfully avoided walking headlong into these lovelies and although I doubt they survived the recent weather I know more will have already taken their place.  It might be time to cut those seed heads if I'm going to use them this Autumn.

One of the great comforts during lockdown life has been rediscovering bread making. What a joy it is, to create something so simple yet so immensely satisfying as a loaf of bread.  Here's one I baked the other day, a rustic Farmhouse loaf.  Perfectly crusty on the outside and delightfully light and soft on the inside.  Absolute heaven toasted and slathered in unsalted Welsh butter with Marmite and slightly softened cheese on top.  Of course, you may prefer a different topping.

Then, there have been several bowls of windfalls after the storms.

Sometimes, these apples are Snow White red all the way through.  So pretty, and often the applesauce turns out quite pink, but not this time.

My favourite way to use these up is to make applesauce, but think I'd like to make another applesauce cake again, or an apple topped cinnamon cake. Delicious.  This time, I kept it chunky.

In clearing some corners, I found these.  Mum and Dad were given some garden centre vouchers about twenty years ago, and picked these garden ornaments.  I had forgotten all about them but am so happy to have found them, and I love how they are weathering.

It's funny, I have never been a fan of garden ornaments, but now I cherish these dearly.  I've cleaned them up, not too much, for I love the aging affect of lichen growing on things, and now they adorn the lawn, along with my Ddraig Goch.  I wonder what he dreams of?

Do  not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup!  

He needs a small make over, and I think we can arrange that.

In honour of the turning seasons, I have brought out my Autumn Sunflower socks.  They're ever so comfy as well as looking pretty.  Almost too pretty to wear shoes with, but in the cottage of a seamstress, going barefoot, no matter how comfortable, is not a good idea at all.  

My Happy Socks! How can you not smile when you see Happy Sunflower Socks?

Until next time

Be responsible, and stay safe

Deborah xo

Berries and Fruit

Hello Friends!

The seasons slowly turn, whether or not the weather is keeping up, and high summer approaches, so does the season of berries and fruits that add variety to our harvest and table.

What is your favourite summer berry?  I can honestly say I always think that strawberries are my favourite berry, until I pop the first fresh raspberry in my mouth, and then my heart sings with my truth: that fresh picked, sun ripened, still warm from the vine raspberries are truly my favourite berry.

I had planted four varieties, but find I have two that I prefer so much more than the other two that I am going to focus on those and remove the others.  Usually over the summer months I pick more than enough to have a serving of fresh berries almost daily as a healthy snack, and plenty to freeze as well for making raspberry jam which brings warm memories of summer months to the kitchen during the long, dark winter.  This year, I am hoping preserving sugar will become available; at the moment I can get granulated but no sign of preserving sugar on the shelves.  Maybe I am looking too early?  However, I am making sure to pick the berries for jam while still slightly under ripe, for they have higher levels of pectin and are better for setting jam and jelly if you cannot get preserving sugar.  I think slightly under ripe berries also help offset the sweetness of the sugar.

I don't think I will pick many blackcurrants this year for the crop is tiny.  They were Dad's favourite but I have not the patience to pick, then top and tail hundreds upon hundreds of tiny, Vitamin C laden juicy jewels!  He picked them by the bowlful each evening.  My dear mother was constantly making him his favourite blackcurrant pie, of which he never tired and we always froze enough to make him a pie for his late Autumn birthday, instead of a cake {or more often as well as a birthday cake!}

The loganberry, which as we know in my garden may be a Tay berry, is yielding a small crop and I will definitely have enough to make a bottle of flavoured gin, with some to put in a Jumbleberry Jam, which is different every time I make it, and very delicious on toasted home made bread, or in a bowl of slow cooked porridge.

I love loganberry in my Jumbleberry Jam, it's acidic kick tempers the sweetness, and I like that sharpness it imparts to the mixed berries.

Something is wrong with the apples this year.  Despite copious watering during April, which was very dry indeed, as was May, all is not well and I doubt I will see much of a crop at all.  Usually, they seem to auto thin themselves in June, saving me the job, but this year everything stayed put, then I simply forgot, or shall we say due to inclement weather I didn't do it.  So, now, I have clusters of miniature fruit that will probably come to nothing, and a few that have thinned out to two apples per station {as they should be} but even those are of no size at all, still smaller than a tennis ball and already ripening so won't grow any more.  Sad, but true. No apple harvest this year.

The wild blackberry vines, however, are doing most splendidly, and I should see a bumper pick starting in a few weeks.  I love having real wild blackberries on my property, but the vines are thuggish and are taking over.  For several years now they have slowly encroached upon the land that once belonged to them before my late father cleared the ground to build the cottage.  Every year, they have reclaimed a little more, and every year three things happen.

First, I vow to clear them and reclaim the land for vegetables;
Second, I fall down on the job and curse my own ineptitude;
Third, I forget one and two, and joyfully rejoice in early to mid Autumn when I am harvesting the delicious little jewels of nature's fruitiness and bounty to make pies, crumbles and jellies.

Lots of vines; lots of flower buds; lots of flowers; and lots of fruits swelling ready to ripen!

The second flush of strawberries is now only days away I am sure.  Berries are forming, swelling and ripening, and once this rather wintry weather passes and summer returns, I know they will do their very best to catch up then.

Weather wise, we have sat under a blanket of grey, misty murk for what now seems an eternity.  I cannot comprehend that in July I still have the heating on.  It rains from time to time, sometimes heavy, so no need to water for now.  The wind have blown, heartlessly and without relent, and the rose petals now carpet the lawn, and many beautiful plants have suffered, such as the Lucifer crocosmia and Ladies Mantel.  Let us hope that by our next visit the weather will improve, maybe it is already starting to.  They will recover, I am sure, for Nature has a way of bouncing back.

Until next time
Stay safe, stay well
Deborah xoxo

Badgers, Blackbirds and a Robin

Hello Friends!

Thank you to all who left such uplifting comments on my last blog entry, so encouraging and kind. Heartfelt thanks from me to you.  With my back gone into spasms again, they have carried me through some painful days.

One thing I miss with our current state is friends dropping by for a chat and a cup of tea.  I know it will be a long time before I can invite anyone safely over my threshold again.  This saddens me, for I am of the ilk that as soon as I open the door and see a friendly face, they are beckoned in and, before they have taken off their coat, the kettle is on. When they are able to visit, it seems it will be during fine weather only and we will sit out, two meters apart, in the garden.  I don't even know any more about the safety of offering a cup of refreshing tea and slice of home made cake.  Do you?  Thank goodness for the garden!

Here's a wee visitor, always welcome, no social distancing required.  A Robin goes about gathering bugs to feed the chicks waiting on a nearby nest.

Speaking of sitting in the garden, I have now got a new Public Enemy Number One.  A badger.  My lawn is not the most pristine, it is more pollinator friendly than well manicured, but even so, the last thing I want to see when I throw back the curtains of a morning is a big pile of earth alongside a big hole where a badger has dug in the night.  There's not a lot I can do, and frankly I consider it a privilege to have a visiting badger, but also know this will cause big problems for me down the road when the vegetable plot is back up and running.

And so, I wonder how the rest of the garden grows?  Since I last wrote, the growing list of foes now includes blackbirds who do battle with me over ownership of the soft fruit, especially the raspberries and rstrawberries.  The raspberries are not so easy to protect, but the strawberries are now covered with a horticultural fleece while I search for some old netting.  Horticultural fleece is good but not great. It's great at helping to keep things warm, especially in winter, but it doesn't let the same amount of light, or water, in and has to be removed and replaced after watering which starts to get faffy.

This is the noise outside, all day long, from sun rise to sunset, when the fledglings have left the nest.

Blackbirds Warning Call

I did not expect a lot of strawberries, as the plants are new, but since I started picking a few occasional fruits this seems to have encouraged a whole raft of new flowers!  I can now look forward to more fruit in a few weeks and right now I have the pretty sight of ripening berries and those oh so delightful pink and white flowers!

Fresh picked strawberries camouflaged on a strawberry patterned tray for fun.

I have also picked a few raspberries.  Slow to begin, but once you start picking they come in thick and fast! The more you pick, the quicker the next fruits ripen up!  The more I pick, the more the blackbirds bolden and attack me!

This one didn't even make it into the bowl!

Each evening, around 6:45, everything comes to a halt.  Downton Abbey is being shown, from the very first episode, and even though I have them all on dvd, I still stop to watch.  In these current days of uncertainty, when those first, familiar bars of music from the opening credits begin, it's like coming home to an old friend, and the biggest, warmest hug imaginable.  Just what we need.

After Downton, I go out and water my pots if it is needed, which at the moment is nearly every evening.  I love watering.  Standing, as the evening sun still warms the world and bathes all in a golden light of gloaming, gently pouring the life giving water on plants that will nourish my body and soul, it is a time to reflect on the day as it says "goodnight", and a time for gentle and calming meditation.  Few jobs in the garden bring me such joy as watering.

My favourite Rosa Mundi

I work hard to be water responsible, and only water where it is needed.  I do not water the lawn, if it turns yellow, it turns yellow.  Grass recovers quickly enough with a light sprinkling of rain. I do not water the main borders either.  Most plants have a way of finding what they need, but occasionally, if it has been a particularly prolonged dry spell, or if I have planted something new, or moved things around, I will water just enough. The plants in my raised borders are pretty tolerant of most conditions and hardly ever need watering.  For pots and borders I try to recycle grey water, but sometimes a five gallon watering can full of water is a heavy thing to lug.

A few weeks ago, on Gardener's World, Monty Don said it was not too late to sow some tomato seeds, so I followed his lead.  Mine are not as far along as his, and I think this may be down to not having a green house, and also that we took a serious hit when the temperatures dropped by 20°F overnight.  Still, I am continuing with them, ever hopeful they will pull through and yield some fruit.  Few things are tastier than a fresh picked, sun ripened, still warm tomato in a summer salad.

I also threw caution to the wind and sowed the last few seeds of two varieties, Marquee de Provence pumpkin and Uchiki Kuri squash.  I also sowed an old pack of assorted ornamental gourds.  They have two chances, and cost only a few handfuls of compost, so nothing to lose, and if they grow then I will have some, hard~to~come~by in my area, ornamental gourds for autumn decorating.  I have not had those in years, as no one grows them locally.  I am still waiting for them to germinate, and I fear the fickle weather has not helped any.

What happened to Summer? Just as things should be warming up, and they did for a few days, we saw the unexpected return of winter with very unseasonably cold and windy weather.  This set back all of our plants and seedlings again, not just mine.  It rained, light and steady, all day and into the night, so the ground has had a gentle soaking, thankfully, and that may save the water for a day or two!  This year, everything was coming along well, and I had started to put things outside when that drop in temperature came , and now my front porch, as well as my back porch, is full of things I am trying to save!  Gardening is nothing if not a constant challenge of wits!  Today and tomorrow we have 45mph winds, and when I went out to pick a salad selection of leaves I couldn't keep them in the bowl the wind was so keen and strong!

Repurposed old freezer baskets to help move things in and out for hardening off when the weather is fine.

I do not have a greenhouse, so all my indoor sowing and growing on of plants happens in my utility room.  It has a lovely big, sturdy shelf and a big window that should let in plenty of light, but neighbouring tall Sycamore trees in full leaf lessen the light by some considerable degree and my plants are often leggy until I can put them safely outside.  Still, it is all I have, so I work with it.  I am grateful to have it.  Now, though, it has to be cleared away every couple of weeks as it doubles up as my grocery sanitising area.  Who would ever have thought we would be talking like this?  All the more reason to focus on getting a small greenhouse, or garden shed with a suitable shelf for potting up, protection, and growing on!

I sent to Suttons for some more seeds, all things that can still be sown, and which will harvest this year.  I read here, Marks Veg Plot, that he grew carrots in pots.  I have a lot of these Long Tom style pots sitting around {it's the consummate Pack Rat in me}so I am giving it a go.  Nothing to lose.  I have some fresh carrot seeds, along with two more types of lettuce, Little Gem and All Year Round, which should provide lettuce into October; parsley; dill; garlic chives; and borage.  I am replenishing all my out~of~date seeds.  There is low availability right now, I guess lockdown has got people out in their gardens, which is no bad thing at all!

I will be looking like a lettuce, but then I do love, and enjoy, a delicious salad bowl every day.  I love to make a main meal salad, with a couple cups of leaves as the base, then add whatever I have: parsley, spinach, tomatoes, diced onion, spring onion, shredded carrot, shredded courgette, diced cucumber, beetroot, a handful of thawed frozen peas, kidney beans, cheese, home made croutons, some seeds, and a home made dressing.  Yum!  It's a favourite meal in the cottage.

Do you have a favourite vegetable or fruit you love to grow and could not do without?  It's hard to pick just one, isn't it?  The superlative flavour of home grown, plot to plate in minutes, how do you pick just one?

Until next time
Stay safe. Stay well.
Deborah xo

Gardening to Nourish and Feed Both Body and Soul

Hello Friends!

I don't know if anyone else found this, and it's probably just because we had such lovely, summery weather following on from such a summery merry month of May but yesterday morning, when I was watering my pots, there was that old, familiar smell in the air, quite unexpected, hinting that autumn is slowly creeping around the corner.  Like I say, probably all to do with how fickle the weather has been, very hot then plummeting by ten degrees Celsius overnight to feeling very cold, and nothing more than that, but when you find yourself putting your vest back on and turning the heating on in June, you begin to wonder whether or not you imagined it.

A garden is a source of nourishment.  The very act of gardening nourishes the soul as you care for, tend, and nurture seeds and plants to maturity and their intended purpose.  Then, if you grow an edible garden of any kind, even just a few simple salad vegetables on a windowsill, you are not only nourishing your soul but also your body with produce you know you can trust to be the best it possibly can be.  What can be better?

If you garden, you do not need a gym, or a therapist, and you get flowers, fruit and vegetables.

One of the things I used to do several years ago, working alongside my father, was to grow most of the household food for about eight months of the year, I did my best to continue after he passed away, but in recent times I have been overwhelmed and I had to stop.  As a full time care giver, it was as much as I could do to keep up with the mowing, never mind weeding, digging, sowing, growing on and maintaining a vegetable garden.  Something had to give, and we all know it takes no time at all for nature to regain a foothold and turn even the most well tended garden into a wilderness.

This year, I had planned to get on top of things, beginning by hiring someone to come in and help with the heavy digging and moving of trees and shrubs, and to generally help get things sorted to a point where I can manage, but we all know what happened next, and it put a whole tool box full of spanners in the works for everyone.  Now that the only gardening company in my village is able to work within very strict guidelines, he's up to his eyes with seasonal mowing and won't be available for many months for the kind of work I need doing.  So, I am puttering along, doing what I can until he is available at the end of mowing season.

There is a long, narrow section along side the south facing pine end of the cottage.  It gets full sun in the summer for about eight to ten hours a day, so gets very warm and seems to me an ideal spot to grow things in pots and containers.  There was an old shed tucked away in the corner, it had to be dismantled last year for safety's sake, especially with the windy west Wales winters, but the chap who took it away didn't come back to finish the job, so it's quite untidy right now, and even as I work to tidy it up, a lot of the rubbish is of the ilk that can only be taken to the tip {Civic Amenity and Recycling Centre} and right now it's not open to trailers, which is what I need.  I may end up hiring a skip in a few months, when we are able to do such things again.

I digress.  The space is paved, no earth; it isn't big enough for anything other than storage out of sight; it's also a sun trap, so too hot to sit in; it's not visible unless you are standing in it, so I can't see the point in filling it with flowers.  So, I have filled a few recycled containers and pots with compost, sown seeds, tended, watered and weeded, and have had a few small harvests already, turning it into a food producing corner.

I have very basic things, such as mixed leaves, lettuce, beetroot, watercress, salad onions, courgettes, strawberries and hopefully tomatoes.  It's not a lot, I would starve if I was relying on this, but it's something positive and nurturing to do during lockdown, and getting my hand back in to growing food again.

I am keeping these trays as baby leaves, not planning to let them get large.  Successive sowings will be key to keeping them tasty.  I love salads, and a fresh picked bowl of leaves is my idea of heaven.

Radicchio, Chicory, Mixed Leaves

It's made me realise, once I have reclaimed my two former fruit and vegetable areas that I now have a whole new area!  It's so warm I think I may be able to grow peppers, chillies and even aubergines along side the cottage, especially if we continue to get good, warm days.  It will be an excellent spot to put one of those small wooden upright cold frames as a place to bring on seedlings.

Salad Onions

It's also made me think of how to use a similar area, but much bigger, along the north facing side, which although shadier still has good light for five months of the year, plenty enough to grow salad crops in raised beds which then frees up the other areas for all sorts of things, and who knows, maybe I can grow enough to keep me in vegetables for most of the year?  However, if they all germinate as poorly and slowly as the spinach and salad onions I will not have much to show.  I sowed two lots of salad onions, and only one lot germinated.  Only one, single spinach seedling to show so far too.

One thing I have had a problem with is cats.  They seem to think I have kindly put out some nice, new litter trays for them, and I lost my beetroots twice.  I used tent pegs and twine to make a net that I hoped would deter them, but no, it didn't, so what to do?  I went into the garage to search out some chicken wire or old netting, that should do nicely, but I found three old, rather rusty, wire shelves left over from one of those little plastic greenhouses.  Absolutely perfect!  They fit over the two target boxes as if they were made for this purpose alone.  No more cats, and beetroot and watercress now growing nicely.  Sometimes, it pays to be a pack rat hoarder!

I hope those miniscule green specks are the Watercress

Beetroot and repurposed wire shelf to protect from marauding cats

I have three courgette plants that will be ready to put out under cloche cover in a couple of weeks, so I must prepare three large containers.

The fruits are looking as if I will have something to harvest too, naturally I would like a bit more, but anything is better than nothing as I get my hand back in, and I am establishing strong, healthy plants for next year too.

First of the raspberries

Blackcurrants

Before I go, I have to share with you the small helper.  Treasure loves to help, especially if it means he gets to dig around in the wet earth, the muddier the better; after all, he is a small bear, and if small bears do anything better than anyone else, it's playing in the mud.  We do need to get him some more appropriately sized tools!

Until next time
Stay Safe, Stay Well
Deborah xo

What's Happening in the Garden?

Hello Friends!

It's a strange week, for ordinarily I would be immersed in the annual event that captures my attention every year, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.  Like all our favourite spring and summer events where crowds normally gather in celebration of gardens, music, or sport, it is cancelled. It is soul destroying to think how much hard work and planning is now lost, but the consequences of such gatherings is unthinkable.  However, if you click on the link it will take you to a virtual Chelsea, and I am enjoying the week by watching the television presentations that are reliving the best of the shows of previous years.  It's not quite the same, but it brings a small sense of normality in a world where normality is anything but normal.

oriental poppy

I haven't really spoken much about my garden of late, so I will bring you up to date.

On the whole, following a very dry April, May has been a decent month weather wise, although cold and windy, and I have been trying to busy myself with gardening projects, which are bringing me immense joy and satisfaction.  At long last I have the time to begin sorting out my long neglected garden.  It's taking much planning and thought how to best proceed, but I am forming ideas that I hope will work.  I will reveal them slowly as they take shape, but I change my mind a lot.

peony

I am trying to do it myself, but as some of you know I suffer with recurring back issues and arthritis, and these limit the amount of work I can do.  At some point I will have to bring in help, however, I am doing my best to push through, carefully and cautiously. I am determined, if nothing else.  On one hand I am frustrated, for if I did not have these physical limitations I would not be so dependent on good weather, and I would be out every possible moment, in almost all weather, all day long, doing much more than I am able to now, and the work would be so much further along than it is.  On the other hand, however, I am getting exercise and fresh air for a couple of hours a day, doing something I love, in twenty minute increments to protect my body, and I am learning patience, for these jobs cannot be hurried, and I now accept that slow and sure will win the race too.  Gardening is good for both the mind and the body, and if you garden you need neither a gym nor a therapist!

native fern

I have spent days painstakingly starting to cut back wild brambles that have taken over what was once my soft fruit beds.  Painstaking in more ways than one!  It is not a job I want to hurry, as I want to, and must, do it thoroughly, which means maintaining the area I have already cleared as I move further into the patch. The vines are notoriously tenacious and seem to start sprouting back overnight. It is also literally painful, for I firmly believe there is no such thing as a guaranteed thornproof pair of gardening gloves!  If you know of such a thing, please leave details in the comments below!

{I am not going to show you photos of the brambles just yet, for I am ashamed at how out of control they have become.  Thicket is a word that comes to mind.  Just take my word on it, and maybe one day I will happily show you.}

Blackcurrant flowers

I could go in with a strimmer and be more invasive, and quicker, but there are things that I am trying to save, such as my existing fruit canes, and strimming is indiscriminate. So, I plod on, slowly and methodically pruning out each individual bramble vine by hand.

osteospermum Purple Sun

The bramble patch, the former soft fruit area measures 40 foot by 10 foot.  It is surrounded by a low wall, and I once had my compost bins here, along with blackcurrants, gooseberries, loganberries, and four types of raspberry {which I love, and these four varieties were supposed to give up to five months of staggered harvest from June to October}  Once reclaimed, my intention is to grow the two raspberries varieties I favour best of all, Autumn Bliss and Glen Clova; blackcurrants; gooseberries; give the loganberry one more chance to prove itself; and put in raised beds with strawberries.  As I am cutting back on the overall number of canes I am considering some native trees, such as a bullace or wild plum, maybe a crab apple.  They will have to be grafted on dwarf stock.

strawberry flowers

These strawberry plants, from Suttons, came with three varieties that give the prettiest flowers I have ever seen on strawberries, and merit them a place in my garden regardless of the fruits.

I have also made a start on sorting out weed ridden borders.  I have begun with the two raised borders that are directly in front of the cottage, and which separate the patio from the lawn.  This job is painful and I can only tolerate to do a little at a time, but again, every little helps and this is one job that is nearly complete.  One border is about 10 foot by 12 inches, the other is 14 foot by 12 inches. The entire length of both borders was full of the freely seeding Briza Maxima, or Quaking Grass, which is slowly being eradicated from the garden.  It was a gift from a cousin, many years ago and gets in everywhere. It is the epitome of a White Elephant!  At the moment there is a lot of bare soil, but I have some new lavender plants on order, and I have patio roses and plenty of Ladies Mantle to fill in any gaps.

Taken in 2013

I find the above photo quite depressing, for although not wonderful, it is picturesque by today's standard.  I am hopeful, I have to be, that it will one day look better again.  It is not helped at the moment in that I cannot get a hard rubbish collection.

The lawn, currently more bee friendly with Hawkbit and dandelions than grass, is roughly 36 foot by 18 foot, but not a perfect rectangle, and it is surrounded by borders that are about two foot deep.  I plan to dig out the two cartwheel sized beds in the middle to make mowing easier, and the intention is to make the borders deeper to make less grass to mow.  I do not need a huge lawn, just enough to sit on.  There are camellias, pieris, roses, clematis and euphorbia, as well as a yew tree and patch of Japanese wind anemones to work around.

Golden Wedding rose

To the north side, there is a low walled section about 20 foot by 16 foot which gets full sun most of the day, and once reclaimed that will again be my vegetable plot.  I have plans for small raised beds and it is well drained so a good spot for my herbs, which previously thrived there.

libertertia peregrinans wandering iris

So, my friends, a brief guided tour, and I look forward to sharing the improvements as I can make them happen.  Those of you who have followed me for some time will know the heartache I have at seeing my once lovely and productive garden in such a poor state of repair, but I am a hopeful gardener, and I love my garden, despite it's currently parlous state.

Last night, we had some much needed rain, and despite all it's shortcomings, the garden is sparkling and gloriously refreshed this morning. Nothing beats a good drop of rain!

Until next time, may the sun shine on you as you stay safe and well
Deborah xo