Summer garden

It's much duller these past couple of days, we have had heavy rain no thunder, the gardens have had a good soaking, it's looking good everywhere. Shame my 2 water buts are still disconnected, but then we are in and English summer.

Grace is out watching what I am doing, just taking photo's for this post. 

Again these pots have been tweaked, no major moves, just using one of the pots from outside the front door, upside down it make a perfect platform, I'm loving the mixture of pots and plants here. 

These long pots have had many different uses, they were purchased for strawberries, in the hope the fruit would hang over the side and not be eaten, didn't work. Then I kept them for French Marigolds, hubbies favourite flowers, this year the seeds did not grow, the spring was too cold, so I have filled with colour, which make the bottom of the raspberries behind look neat and pretty. 

I love my pots, I can grow so much more in them than in our heavy clay soil, I also love different pots, there are so many buds, blooms are just a short while away. Bottom right hand is my little lemon clematis, it's a shrub rather than a climber, this is it's 3rd year and it's best show.

The fruits are doing well, we had our 1st pick of strawberries on Wednesday when Will visited, we never get a big crop, as Will arrives just as they ripen, most don't even get into the kitchen. He loves the garden, watching things grow and ripen, we check to see how many bees we have, he loves bees and bugs, perfect place for a young boy. 

This is my 1 spot in the garden which is not working, my birdbath turns green very quickly, and scrubbing these pebbles are a pain. I did try cider vinegar as suggested on the net, it did not work, I need running water, which is not going to happen, so I have ordered bigger pebbles, so when I clean it, they should be easier. 

This is our 11th summer in this house and the back garden is just how we want it, this is my area, I get to choose most of what is here, I do think of hubbies likes as well, it's much smaller than I would like, but I can't change that as our house is just how we love it. 

Hubby is busy painting the outside of the bungalow, he is tall so no long ladder required, just a pair of step ladders, then he get the fun of replanting the front garden. We have placed an order for compost, top soil, large pebbles from a local nursery, who deliver once a month, it was started in lockdown, but he has kept it up, I love it, no lifting bags as they bring them into the garden, no delivery charge and the prices are the same as elsewhere. 

I have just ordered a bigger composter, my worms are lovely, but they are not big enough, I send garden green material through the council collection scheme, which in the new year is changing, we will have to have another big wheelie bin and pay a yearly cost, neither of which I want to do. Most composters are too big for the small space I have. But I have been reading about hot composting, these thinner square bins heat the contents and produce compost within 3 months, they have a bottom so no issues with mice/rats, the one I like has a liquid fertilizer collection point, it is sealed, so no smells and it looks nice. it's not cheap, but if it works as the reviews say it will be perfect for our garden, I am also going to get a black bin with a lid, so I can use our magnolia leaves to make leaf mulch. I will pop my empty cleaned wormery on a few sites to sell on, with the saving on the yearly cost and selling my wormery, I should recover the cost within 3 years.