Gardening Calendars

If you are anything like me you won't have the first idea about when to sow anything.  Last year, I went to the garden centre on a whim and decided to try and grow potatoes for the first time.  I was obviously far too late as practically all the seed potatoes had gone and I ended up buying six small and wrinkley potatoes that were already starting to sprout tubers.

I didn't even have anything to plant them in and had to hastily buy some potato barrels for them.  They turned out rather well, with no help from me.  The largest potato was bigger than my fist and that was with me forgetting to water them most of the time!

Anyway, I can't remember the variety (they were red potatoes) and I can't even remember when I bought the see potatoes and planted them.  (You can see why I am now writing a blog for myself!)  I suddenly realised what I needed was a quick access gardening calendar.  I could trawl through my gardening books but sometimes you want a quicker answer.

A quick search on the internet and I found Garden Action's website.  It is perfect!  A real mine of information, including the all important vegetable gardening calendar.  According to that, I am fine for now but need to plant my potatoes in March.  All I need to do now is remember!

If you want to take a look at the site, the link is http://gardenaction.co.uk .

Signs of Spring

It may still be literally freezing outside but at least a warmish spell a week ago melted all of the snow.  The garden is looking pretty bedraggled now though.  You forget how much damage the snow and cold weather is donig to plants.  A large shrub beside the garage has had a branch snapped off from the shere weight of snow that it was trying to withstand.

Other plants which were not winter hardy anyway have finally given up the ghost.  The fuschia was still flowering in mid December.  Having taken a look yesterday, all of the leaves have died off and the ends of some stems also don't look too good.  We'll have to see what the warmer weather eventually brings.

On the plus side, there are buds and shoots appearing all over the garden.  Daffodils have well and truly broken the ground and the Japanese Maple has got small red buds on the ends of twigs.  Another shrub, whose name I can never remember, is also throwing up lots of shoots already.  It seems to have more and more shoots every year.

The winter flowering pansies I planted early December have survived relatively unscathed.  They still managed to flower under 25cm of snow which amazed me.  They add a small splash of colour to an otherwise fairly bleak looking garden.

Roll on spring!

Winter Wonderland

It started snowing about 5pm yesterday and at midday today it still hasn't stopped! 

They are forecasting snow for the rest of the day as well with more later in the week.

The garden has completely vanished and has been replaced by a winter wonderland. I have to admit it is really pretty though.

The poor birds don't look too amused although some have made it to the bird table for breakfast.

In The Beginning

To be honest, in the beginning there was nothing, no garden, no even a fence!  We bought the house in 2003, brand new from a developer.  Before we signed the deeds, the garden boundary hadn't even been sorted out, so we didn't actually know how big our plot would even be.

When we moved in, the fence had been put up and turf had been thrown down.  Literally.  When I lifted an edge, I found a brick and a large tree branch underneath!  The turf was so badly laid we had the developer take it all up, rake the ground and lay it again.  The second time around was better but not brilliant.  There was also a paving slab path running to the back gate.

In short, it was a blank canvas.

I planted some daffodil bulbs and put up a few hanging baskets.  Not being much of a gardener though, we called in a landscaper after the first year, to lay a patio and make the garden a bit more interesting.  The work took a few weeks and I have to say, we were really pleased with the results.  I have never seen anyone take so much time and care pointing a patio.

I didn't want straight lines and as you can see, the patio was given a curved edge with a winding path to the back gate.  With a small garden, I think the wavy path makes the garden seem longer as it takes you eye longer to travel along it. I love the red bricks which edge the light patio stone.

As the end of the garden sloped, the area was dug out, with railway sleepers used as a retaining wall.  A small concrete base was laid as the foundations for a garden shed.

Now, five years later, shrubs have grown, the garden is maturing and I am definitely still learning to be a gardener.  I have decided to write this blog really as a diary of my garden for myself.  I have a tendancy to plant shrubs and then have no idea what they are!  Hopefully, by blogging my activities, I will have a permanent record.

That's the theory anyway!