Going forward

With fingers crossed behind my back, I'm saying these are the last bulbs purchased this year, I got the two daisies for the new flower bed, the cucumber seeds are the tiny F1, earlier this year I had trouble getting them, so when I saw them I did not hesitate in popping them into my basket. We also got bark, which I have spread over the flower bed. 

I've used this as an ornament in the garden for years, I got it in a half price sale, it matches my blue pots, we have been wanting a water feature for ages, looking in the past few months we found nothing we both like. I had a throw away comment, we could use this, the hole is for water, we would need a sump, and a solar pump, we already have a grill and loads of stones, hubby is on the case, 

My Amaryllis has only leaves, which are growing better than in previous years, I am hoping there will be a flower bud soon. I have potted a second bulb, it's a couple of weeks behind this one, I really want these to bloom again. I have also potted 3 hyacinth bulbs, and re-potted my white Christmas rose from last year, it could be a full bloom Christmas if my timings and plans all work out. 

My house plants are all doing well, this Albuca Spiralis Frizzle Sizzle has doubled in size, it sits by my computer, so I can enjoy it everyday, and it gets as much sunlight as it can, soon the radiators will come on, the heat will help it grow as well. The flowers have all finished on my thanks giving cactus in the bathroom, it does normally flower again at the correct time. 

I have not done any crafting for a couple of weeks, I do need to get my sewing machine out, just two smaller task, but that will have to be later in the week, hopefully I will have a crafting post soon. I am hoping I still have you all with me, lack of crafting and not another garden post. I have had time to read, and we are watching more TV, we love Strickly, Bake off, Ghost, Gogglebox, Sort your life out in 7 days, Race around the world, and Graham Norton. This week Britain's best woodworker has started again, the drama's are mostly good as well. I can't be bothered with Gardeners World, I find Monty's garden much the same and it's getting boring.

I have promised myself not to purchase anymore bulbs in the garden, I have spent just over £70 on spring bulbs and cyclamen plants, I'm not sure all were needed, but we will both enjoy the blooms as they come, hubby is really good, he knows it's an important time of year, preparing for next spring. I only have the tulips to plant in a huge pot, they go in in November, and I have everything crossed a rhubarb plant will be gifted to me at the same time. 

In some good news, my fit bit stopped working, the screen went black, its 18 months old, I did a live chat, they could not help me, but, surprisingly it's still in warranty, and a new model will be sent to me, not the same model as they don't have any, so an upgrade. How lucky is that, just a quick reply to an email and everything is sorted for me.

We are away from home for a few days, back in Somerset with family, staying with my sister as my brother is decorating his bedrooms. Then on to Devon to see hubby's brother, it's their 25th wedding anniversary, we also saw our Taunton boys, so grown up these days.

Phase 1

These veg beds do look big, we cut a huge hole in the fake grass and dug it out back to soil level, keeping the paths as 'grass'. I used homemade leaf mulch, loads of green stuff and some spent compost, which was placed at the bottom of each bed. Hubby lined the insides with heavy plastic, he has used the same plastic on my other raised beds.

These look like veg beds now, it makes me smile to think of all the fun I can have, and very proud of hubby, who works hard and does not run for the hills when I say 'I have an idea'  I have planted all the veg from my previous post, already one bed is full. I used the top section of my new runner bean poles, covered with a wire net, keeps cats and foxes off the beds. Other than earthing up potatoes I don't need access to the other stuff before the spring.

We moved the blueberries, the tub looks much better here, I am looking for a rhubarb crown for the middle back, again loads of room for them to grow, they should be planted in November. Next to the post with the bird house and feeder, I have placed a huge pot, I am planting it with spring bulbs for early colour, then I will use the pot for a cucumber plant, it can grow up the pole, it's a very sunny spot. I have dug this space and added drainage and top soil, taking away loads of the clay, I have a small gooseberry bush to go in here. 

I have cleared in front of the greenhouse, the huge pot I used for tomatoes this year now has a mock orange in its permanent home and a couple forget-me-nots. Our 3 statues are here for now, I will need to store pots here whilst the ground work is being done. Next year I will grow tomatoes in my raised veg bed, this path will be kept clear, I will need to get to the blueberries and rhubarb for harvesting, and it's easier to sort the raised bed from this side. 

Even behind the garage has been sorted, I gave the area a good sweep, it's much easier to get to the tap for rain water, all the containers along the fence can be easily moved, if needed, the 2 black bins are for leaf mulch. My raise bed which I use as a cold frame, just fits in here, I had struggled to find a place for it, the plastic home made lid is pushed down for now as it is empty. This area can't be seen from the garden, but I do like it tidy.

We sunk the flower bed frame into the ground, I did not want it to be too high, the veg bed frames sit on top of the grass, All my plants have been moved, this bed is much closer to our house, so we can see all the different blooms, my shrubs at the back I will allow to get a bit bigger, I have put the gladiola and other tall plants along the railings, this is a much better spot for them, any spaces can be filled next summer. I did purchase loads of  spring flowering bulbs rather than dig out from the old bed, no tulips, they all grow in pots. I will get some bark for this bed for over winter protection. Hubby's sundial looks good behind the railings, as does my big cider pot.

All our work is done, all the rubbish left hubby took to the tip, now everywhere is level, we have popped the strips of cut out grass as a path from the back door, now the decking is gone. We both work well together, I am so relived the big stuff is done, hubby will tackle anything, with me looking on hoping it's not too much for him, he leaves the planting to me, these days I do include him more, I was going to change the contents of a pot, but he said he loved the blooms this summer, so it stays.

We have spent a few days sat outside enjoying the warm unseasonal sunshine, with nothing much to do, other than enjoy our work, watching the birds, bees, butterflies and bugs around the place. It's cool morning and evenings, so it does feel wrong to have so much heat in the middle of the day, but lovely to have time to sit and enjoy our space. Both cats have enjoyed sitting out with us, lazy slow days, perfection. 

The best bit, so far we have spent less than £350, reusing the decking for frames and moving plants around, the railings I already had, I did purchase one more. The biggest expense was the top soil, we did look local, but any going free was full of stones and weeds, and not enough for our needs. We filled 4 old compost bags with the last of the top soil, I can use it in the spring to top up the veg beds.

As always one job leads to another and we are looking to get one wall of our extension rendered, we hope to get it done before the ground work, it's a need not a want, some of it is loose, hubby's not keen on doing it himself, we are now planning a restful few days. 

Changing seasons

I love these glass brambles, they catch the light and look very real, it's October, so I am packing away some of my summer silk displays, these I've had a few years, but because I don't leave them out, the joy every year is brilliant. 

This old jug has a crack, so it won't hold water, but it sits in my kitchen and has 4 different silk seasonal displays. My two bigger pumpkins are years old, they take tealights but I don't use any, the tiny one is new this year, I love the colours of leaves as they change, so another display I love. I don't normally do Halloween decorations, but I have knitted some pumpkins for the dining room table.

This book is set in Cork, southern Ireland, we have an Irish daughter-in-law,  so I understand the relaxed style of living. It starts with a murder, a senior partner at a solicitor practice, two investigations, one by the police, the other internal, the plot follows the internal one. The many twists lead to an ending I did not guess, this is her 2nd book, I did enjoy it. Book 32 read this year.

I got more bulbs, I really did not want to dig any out from other parts of the garden, I think these tete-a-tete daffs will look good, I am also hoping these snowdrops will grow. The new flower bed is filling up, so much promise, I need to keep it watered whilst we are having this sunny weather.

I'm really tired, I've not slept well for ages, which is surprising as I'm tired in both mind and body, I always take an age to fall asleep, some nights I can be awake for a couple hours. I'm not cranky yet, I'm trying not to be snappy, it's not hubby's fault. 

Monday I spent the day cleaning, it was needed, it's funny how I enjoy hard work outside but not cleaning inside, everywhere is looking good, so I'm happy again. We did get time to relax later, I cooked Paella for tea, its my dish I always make. Tuesday hubby came with me to a different garden centre with the sign group for our coffee trip, we did have a look around, I resisted all the plants. We popped to The Range on the way home, just a few things I wanted, I stuck to my list, they are in full Christmas, we did not bother to look. I did spend an hour in my greenhouse, moved a few things around, I can now see flowering plants from the house.

Wednesday, our extra top soil arrived, plus the bags of compost from our local shop, I dug out all the plants I wanted to move into the new bed, I also dug out the bed where I will place the rhubarb, here I added drainage and loads of the top soil. With the main flower bed, I added home made compost, and chicken poo pellets, once the bed was full of top soil I replanted everything including most of the spring bulbs. I then sorted a few pots, again with spring bulbs, I will plant tulips in my cucumber pot, I can use a big potato bag, which happily fits inside the pot, which will save me digging them out and I can reuse them next year.

Growing

I have potted my first Amaryllis bulb for this season, I have tried for a few years to regrow these wonderful blooms, only to have leaves and no flowers. In early summer I took all the bulbs, removed all the compost and popped each bulb in a paper bag, they were all placed in a cool dark part of our garage, I had no idea if this was correct, but it's what you do with other bulbs. I recently learnt how to get second blooms and my instinct was correct. So now it's wait and see, I have another 5 bulbs in paper bags, I am hopeful for loads of colour to come.

 We popped to a favourite garden centre, the two items here was not on my list, I just loved the colours in this cyclamen and the bulbs are just different blooms for me. My garden spend has been much lower so far this year, I have added these purchases to my stash list, anything which will grow is added, all hard landscaping items are part of the refit. 

I was super pleased to see there were still onion sets for sale, there are more than I wanted, but as I could not get red onions, I will plant more of these. I won't use them all, I will pass the extra sets to my neighbour. The broad beans are for sowing now, they over winter in the ground, hubby choose the potatoes, it would be nice to have some for Christmas time. So my veg beds will be working the whole of the winter months, it will be good to see things growing early next year. 

Our local pet shop has started selling bulbs, I got these hyacinth bulbs, in hope I can have them in bloom for a Christmas inside display.  I also got 2 bags of compost, 1 for shrubs and another enriched (no peat), which will be delivered on Wednesday,  with a bag of mushroom compost if he can get it, I will mix the compost with the top soil for my pots.

This is the second book by this author I have read, it's a sequel to her first, both can be read as stand alone books. Another good story, years have passed, the daughter who was a young child, is now grown up with her own family, I guessed the baddie but not the final twist. I found this book in the works, as was the 1st book, they are selling really good authors. Book 32 read this year.

I have a paper bag with green tomatoes in, they should ripen over the next few weeks, both plants have been cut back and used in the bottom of my new veg beds, we also put the leaf mulch from my black bin, and loads of chicken poo pellets, topped off with lovely enriched topsoil. It was a beautiful day on Friday, our topsoil was delivered before 9am, so both veg beds are full, we had to order more topsoil for the flower bed, which will arrive on Wednesday, hopefully we can finish all the new beds.

Saturday I worked on the section behind the garage, I dug out the composter and hubby moved it for me, it was a bit too close to the water butt, I have struggled to fill my watering can, I did toy with the idea of have a 2nd butt here, but decided there was not enough space. We moved things around and made space for hubby to build a wood store, he has kept loads from the decking base for our wood burner.

Sunday I should have been cleaning inside, but was drawn outside again, the days are warm and sunny, I spent loads of time sorting my side of the garage, I used fresh soil and compost to redo both hostas in pots, and have 2 small babies potted up. We did get time to relax on Sunday, we both enjoy sitting  outside whilst we still can. I will post later in the week with photo's of the finished section of the garden. We finally found the permanent spot for hubby's sundial in the new design, we don't use it, but he does love it.

Today, we are having a lazy morning, hubby is out this afternoon, I can do some overdue cleaning, the evening will be rest, read and look out at the garden, I love what we have created, it's just now a case of waiting until the landscaping is finished.