Little words of wisdom

 

Rhubarb and roses...

and a whole load of weeds, too!  This photo of stuff for the dump was taken way back at the beginning of July, and it was actually cleared away.  Sadly for us, we very quickly gathered up just as many more  bags full of weeds ~ which I, of course, forgot to photograph 😏~ but let me assure you that it was as bad as the pile above!  What is a teensy wee bit disheartening, despite the latest load having gone to the dump last week, is the sure and certain knowledge that we will have many more such piles to clear away before we've finished all the garden alterations 😒 

You may remember that we got the rhubarb bed from the front garden emptied out a few weeks ago.  We were able to move it round to the new, very much smaller, kitchen garden area in the back garden fairly easily and Adrian gave it a few coats of wood stain before setting it in its new position.  He then wheelbarrowed the rest of the rubbly soil that was left from the last bed we relocated in the front garden ~ which means there is now one less place out there for the cats to poop in 😉

He was hoping to make more of a dent in the little soil mountain to the right of the bed, but in the end not much was needed to top up the bed.  This was because he had to empty out the soil from second black wooden planter that was to be moved from the kitchen courtyard to the new patio.  By the time I'd put the rhubarb plants back into the bed, I didn't really need much more soil to fill in around them.  Still the mountain is further away from the stone chippings area now so that's some progress, and I shall need a fair bit of it to refill the wooden planter once it's been stained and is in position on the patio.

I needed "something" for said wooden planters, and there just wasn't anything I liked the look of that I could shop from the garden.  And, to be honest, what I really wanted was more roses ~ I do love roses 😍  So I treated myself to a couple more from David Austin, my go-to rose supplier.  I've had a number of plants from them over the years and can honestly say that I have never been disappointed.  

The three that I planted in the wooden barrels to the left of the wheelbarrow are doing very well, and so I thought I'd fill the patio with more beautiful roses 😊  I've only been able to get one of my new purchases planted but the other should be fine in its pot until the second wooden planter is ready for it.  The one in the photo above is The Poet's Wife, which has rich yellow flowers and a strong, fruity, scent.  The rose for the second planter is called Desdemona, which has white flowers with a pinkish hue, and has a strong, old rose fragrance.

The roses in the tubs have been fine through winter, up to now at least, so I'm hoping that these new ones will be okay as well.  If I feel that they are suffering at all I will wrap either some horticultural fleece or windbreak netting around the planters to give them some protection.

Phil and Adrian took away the huge pile of stuff that was piled here ready for the tip last week, so I was finally able to reach this bed to clear it out ~ hence yet another full bag of weeds already to the right of the photo there!  It's only a small bed but it took me bloody ages to clear it out, and I know it won't be too long before more of the dratted buttercups come back to taunt me as I couldn't get them completely out from where they have embedded themselves right at the back 😒  I'll have to just keep on top of pulling the buggers out!

The ivy was being swamped by all the weeds, so hopefully it will feel better now that it's got some space around it.  The little plant to the right of the bed is a fuchsia, Pink Galore, that I'd forgotten I'd planted in there!  I don't know if it will survive to be honest as it was only a seasonal bedding plant, but it's been in there a couple of years now so we'll just have to see how it gets on over this coming winter without all those weeds for protection 😉  The rest of the bed will be planted with a small selection of herbs, which I've ordered from Shire Plants.  

These were all in the kitchen courtyard, so I just moved them across to finish off the new herb bed whilst we decide what we're going to do there.  I think we will probably just have a bench, or perhaps a couple of garden chairs, where we can sit and catch the sun as it works its way around the house 😊

I don't often post photos of myself but thought I'd show you my new hairstyle ~ not sure quite why I appear to be gurning so much in this photo😄  It's been years since I had my hair coloured and now that it is so white, I thought a bit of colour would make a change 😉

More done than it seemed!

Last week was a pretty mixed bag, weatherwise, but despite feeling that we didn't get much done, more was actually achieved that I had at first thought.

I think I mentioned that I was going to relocate the old wheelbarrow from the other side of the garden across to the new patio?  I got it moved ~ no easy task as the front wheel is bent to one side! ~ and emptied out, ready for new plants to be installed.  I've ordered a selection of alpines (along with a few herbs for the back garden) from Shire Plants, as I'm going to make a mini rockery in the wheelbarrow.  I also wanted a couple of low-growing plants to finish off the black wooden planter on the right and I really didn't have anything suitable I could "shop" from the garden. 

However, I was able to use what I already had to finish off this side of the long raised bed.  Unfortunately we've had to put some of the netting panels from the old kitchen garden beds around some of the new ones as a cat (most likely Mr Grumpy from next door 😒) has been digging in it.  As I said, I got this side planted up and then topped off with bark chippings.  Although it's not a fool-proof topping, the cats don't seem to like to dig in it as much as they do in nice fresh soil!

The dwarf buddleia and erigerons were temporarily being housed in the planter on the patio.  The little variegated shrub (which has lost its label, unfortunately) to the left of the hypericum was in the back garden, in a bed which I am going to plant up with herbs in due course.  I was worried for a while about the little rowan tree, in the centre of the bed, that I had uprooted from the other side of the front garden.  It was looking very sad and dropped all it's leaves, but I'm happy to report that it is looking much better now and is putting out fresh new foliage 😊

I also relocated another hypericum from the planter on the patio, which has now planted in the other side of the raised bed, next to the hypericum which has been there for a little while.  The fencing is still in place around this side of the bed as I can't really get any more plants moved into it until I've dug up another rowan ~ which is still on the other side of the garden 😖

I moved another plant from the back garden, which I can't remember the name of, to replace the two wooden blocks that I'd put there to try to keep the cats from digging.  Needless to say, they took advantage of the freshly turned over soil and have dug in there again 😠  Much as I don't like to crowd out my plants too much, I think I will have to put in a fair few more to try to fill the gaps as much as possible.

We finally got the old wall border emptied out ~ of course, I've forgotten to take a photo of it in its bare state 😄  I really wanted to keep the lupin plant that was growing in the corner next to the escallonia and Adrian managed to dig it out with a fair bit of root still attached.  I drastically cut it back, just leaving these small, fresh, shoots.  I was amazed at how much liquid came out of the stalks when I cut them!  I didn't know that lupins retain such a lot of water.  The plant seems okay, though, so fingers crossed that it will survive being treated so brutally 🤞

The rosa rugosa, which we inherited when we bought the house, is going to have to go I'm afraid.  Lovely shrubs as they are this one was such a terrible thug, sending up new shoots all over the place.  I got it all cut down ready for Adrian to dig out at some point soon.

I had a "supervisor" whilst I was cutting back the rosa rugosa.....

it sat on my leg for a good couple of minutes before flying off.  I guess it just needed a little rest before carrying on with its day 😊

I also repotted all the new pond plants, something which I should have done when they arrived to be honest but didn't really have time right there and then, so I just plonked them into the water!  I was glad to finally get the job done, and I'm happy to report that the water is also starting to look much clearer now.  

I turned my back for a couple of seconds and found that another butterfly had taken advantage of somewhere to have a little sit down!  Good job I noticed before I sat back down on my gardening stool, otherwise it would have been a squished butterfly 😄

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)  

Little words of wisdom

 

Hazelton

 

new blog post at Hazelton ~ tales from a miniature town:

Meanwhile...

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)    

No much going on

😉

It's been hard to get back into the swing of things since we've been away, not helped by the amount of wet days we've had.  Not that I'm complaining too much about that, to be honest, as I think the cooler, damp weather is helping the plants and shrubs that I've been moving to settle in to their new locations with a little less stress than they might otherwise have had. 

Adrian has managed to get the fourth bed in place, though.  Once again it's been positioned much more by eye rather than the spirit level!  As I've already mentioned, this may be the last bed we get moved this year.  It all depends on the weather (of course 😏) and how well we get on with replacing the old sleepers along the front wall border.  

Adrian was also able to get the pile of rubbly soil beside the bed shovelled into it before rain stopped play.  It's very slowly coming together in our revamped garden area, and we can most definitely see where we've been! 

 I managed to get some more plants moved into the third bed but still need to put a few more in there.  The wood blocks are a temporary measure to make it at least a bit more difficult for the local cats to poop in it 😒

We are planning to lay sleepers from where the second and third beds meet, running across the garden to join the path from the front gate.  This will give us a good solid edging to keep the stone chippings separate from what will eventually be the new grassed area.

Still plenty to do out there, as you can see, but I'm hoping that we can get a fair bit more done before the winter weather sets in 🤞

Little words of wisdom

 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)   

Hazelton

 

New blog post at Hazelton ~ tales from a miniature town:

So much thinking and planning!

Hazelton

New blog post at Hazelton ~ tales from a miniature town:

Puttering about