Garden catch-up

image from Clipart Library

As per usual I'm very behind with my blogging ~ these photos were taken some months back, before Christine and John visited 😏

Last year we had really got the soil mountain whittled down, and this new area in the back garden set out.  I did manage to have a tidy up in the kitchen courtyard earlier in the year, and moved the raspberries into these very much larger containers.  The variety is Summer Lovers Patio Red and Patio Gold, and they are ideal for growing in pots.

This galvanised water tank had previously been in the front garden.  We replaced it and the two planters that are now in the kitchen courtyard with large wooden half-barrels.  We could have made a long raised bed along the boundary wall but wanted to make it easier to get to it if necessary, hence this container filling the gap beside the raised bed to its left, and the raspberries in their tubs.  The shrub is an escallonia that I moved from elsewhere in the back garden.  So far it seems happy in its new home ~ no doubt the generous handful of chicken manure pellets is helping it feel less resentful at being moved 😉

I'm really pleased with the little solar fountain, it's lovely to sit and listen to the gentle sound of the water.  At night the water stops but the fountain lights up.   I wasn't happy with the way the wind blew it around the container, though, as I was losing a fair bit of water when it came close to the edge.  I was able to solve this by winding some thin garden wire around two of the pieces of plastic tubing protruding from the sides of the fountain, and then wrapping the wire around a small piece of broken slate roof tile to anchor it in place.  

I'm really glad we kept so many of the old broken slates from when we had the house re-roofed ~ they've really come in handy over the years, not least for keeping the cats off the soil until we've got the new beds we've been making planted up!

All the plants in this raised bed (along with the bed behind) have been moved from elsewhere, from both the front and back gardens.  They were looking a little sad when I took this photo, but have really perked up now they have had some time to settle in. 

My poor hare has two broken front legs, so will need some repairs when I get a minute.  I recently bought a concrete epoxy resin stick but I'll probably leave it until the winter now, when I won't be feeling so inclined to work in the garden ~ I'll let you know how I get on with the "surgery" in due course!