A garden year 2025

 Hellebores gave early colour, these were my blooms in January, I adore the dark red almost black bloom, so many different shades.

Spring bulbs in pots were a success in February, I have loads of vintage clay pots, the cyclamen were still blooming. 

March and my triple acer was in full leaf, it's in a shady spot and looked glorious, plus my azalea below, so many things in bud. 

It's April and there were so many different flowers in bloom, loads of colours for late spring. 

The first picking of fruits, strawberries, it's May and summer was on its way, it was to become the best year for berries, with bumper strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. 

My first successful year with sweet peas, sown way back in beginning of the year, plenty to pick here in June, again I had a bumper crop, picking blooms most days. 

July is begonia time, I adore these blooms, they produced flowers until the frost arrived, most are grown in pots off the ground. 

 

These fleabane daisies had bloomed for months and look really good, they will stay green the whole year, August the garden is full of so many different flowers. 

Zinnias and asters are the stars in September, so many different styles and colours, plus my favourite begonia, full of orange blooms.

I always think of primroses as a spring flower but every October they bloom in our garden, I have them in 6 different spots. 

I grow veg all year round in the two raised beds and loads of bags and buckets, November had all the over winter veg looking good.

In December you can see the skeleton of the garden, bare trees, and shrubs, our fake grass gives the impression of everything tidy, this is the time when I am thinking of any changes.

Just 12 views from my garden year last year, I choose mainly flowers for their beauty, I did grow plenty of fruit and veg, I hope for another great harvest year, can you feel the sunshine on this wet grey day.

I love every part of our garden, any tasks are made easy by the layout, not too much stretching and bending, most of the flower beds have shrubs for structure and perennials filling with colour. The fruit beds are sorted and require little work other than cutting back and collecting harvest. The veg beds and bags keep me busy, if I am not working in them I am planning what will follow, no space is left empty for long. My herbs are all grown in pots, I don't have so many ornamental pots, as they break (most are terracotta), I don't replace them. 

I hope you enjoyed my little look back at my garden in 2025. There were many more photo's I could have added but I did not want this post too long. Just a break from all this cold weather, with loads of colour, now time to think of seeds, firstly sweet-peas.

Outside

 The pond area is looking good, the grasses work well, I love the tiny cyclamen infront, I can't see this from the house, my cider pot blocks the view. It's always lovely to pop here, there are primroses and hellebores in flower in the fruit bed, pretty pops of colour.

Whilst I was cutting back the old hellebore leaves to let the buds show, I found another almost black flowering hellebore, so I have two plants which is pleasing, I think I moved the parent plant to my square garden from the black pot. I do have two other pink plants, which the shoots are a bit later.

When we were in Lidl's last week, I picked up this trio of hyacinths, I did not get any bulbs last autumn, I'm using my hand painted pot, after they have bloomed I will pop them in the garden.

A couple of weeks ago, I cut back my gaura plant with white blooms, I popped 4 bits into water, so I'm pleased to see roots on two bits, I have read these plants don't live for years, so I will regularly take cuttings.

Friday was wet, all day, just steady rain, we did not go anywhere, Saturday was blue skies and bright, so I had an hour in the garden, I tied my broad bean plants higher up their stakes, I cut a small cauliflower and thinned some smaller carrots for lunch today. I cut a scrappy cabbage for our neighbours chickens and I raked the paths between my raised veg beds, I have a special plastic rake which makes the job so easy. Next I went in my greenhouse, which was nice and warm, checked my plants, re-potted a couple which were out growing their pots. It was warm inside, so I lingered long than necessary, soon I will start my sweet peas and other seeds, the new growing season is starting. The ground is still frozen so I can only sort stuff for the greenhouse. 

We have nothing planned for today, we are expecting rain all day, it does feel slightly warmer this morning. I am still reading, this time from my kindle, and I have started knitting another pair of socks, I prefer it when my hands are busy.

Blooming

My first amaryllis has two buds on, this will have bright red flowers, I can't wait for them to bloom. I have a second white one which has started to grow, and a couple more old bulbs which only have leaves so far.

I have left out my silk flowers from Christmas, 

I do love to see blooms, these all look real and add much needed colour to my room, tucked back far enough to look good.

I struggled with this book at the start, people on a aeroplane, lots of different characters, it felt very bitty, but it was worth sticking with it. This author has good and bad plots, I have before given up on her books. Would you want to know your future, when and how you will die, what will you do with this knowledge,  give in or fight it. Huge book 485 pages, book 2 read this year.

Hubby has been chasing the delivery of our new air-fryer, following the courier Evry, once the parcel arrived at the local hub, it sat there not moving, finally he contacted the seller, who did some checking and sent another parcel via DHL, which arrived the next day. Our plumber is due to replace the mixer bar on the shower next week. Wednesday hubby was using his desk top computer, it frozen and then shut down, it's too old to be repaired, so we have our local guy building at new model and retrieving as much data as he can. Hopefully that's the 3rd thing to break in the past two weeks. Pricy start to this year.

We are not doing much, my WI meeting was postponed last night because of the weather, I did pop outside earlier in the week and skidded all around the icy patio, it was pure luck I stayed on my feet. Even hubby has just hunkered down, it's warm here, we have everything we need. It rained most of Thursday not as hard as we expected, overnight the rain and wind was heavy. This morning is grey skies more rain and wind, but not so strong, our gardens are alright, no damage, I just hope where ever you are you are safe, dry and warm and have electricity. I've not spoken to my brother, I sent him a message, he has electricity and is home.

Thank you for all your comments regarding my printed blog books, just a couple things to think on, firstly you work at your own pace, the book remains on your computer until you upload it and then payment is required for the printing, secondly I always wait until there is a good offer, normally 50% off or a smaller discount with free shipping. the company send regular emails, not too many to be a nuisance, I always aim for November, at the moment there is a 40% off deal on offer. 

Just a sprinkle

 

I don't get to show snow photos often, normally it completely misses us, it stayed around for just one day. Not enough to call it lying snow, it is extremely cold here, we are popping the heating on for longer, I wish our electric wood burner was a real wood burner, just imagine being toasty infront of real flames. Last year we got fans for the top of two radiators, which help the rooms feel warmer, the small bedroom has not had any mould in the corners this year, which is a relief. 

Storm Goretti is due in our region tonight, we are not under any weather warnings, just heavy rain and gales, but there is snow where to warm air meets the cold front north of us, I am keeping everything crossed we just get rain, being so close to the coast helps with our weather. 

Grandchildren had fun at home outside, all three hoping for more snow, they have settled back into school, last night's bedtime was good both the little ones were worn out.

We are not doing much, too cold to be outside, I do check the garden and greenhouse, not opening the door, everything is as it should be. I am reading a huge book, it's been a struggle as there are so many people in the plot, but I trust the author and will keep going.