More concrete removal

We've taken up the crazy paving concrete by the house and shed today. So that will give us another big bed. I was going to leave until until next year and make it in to a raised veg bed, but we're having the concrete removed in March - so we might as well have it all taken. Also I wanted to put the tomato grow bags on soil so thought they could go on there. For now I've just put some pots in the soil. I think I'll be able to fork it over and add manure and it will be OK though.

We also put up some green stuff at the end of the garden to protect the plants in the back bed from the wind that comes from the back field. I'm going to plant some ferns in that bed but i didn't order them for today as i thought it might still be frosty. I did plant some of the snowdrops, lily of the valley and the lily bulbs in the bed though as they have arrived over the last couple of weeks. I also put the dogwoods in. I put in 2 lily oriental stargazer and 3 Lily oriental Miss Lucy. The other 3 lily oriental stargazer went in a pot.

The light got to me before I finished planting the snowdrops and lily of the valley though - so I'll have to do those next week. I've left the hellebores in the plant pots for now as well. I don't know whether to keep them in pots or plant them out.

I also had some Alstroemeria tubers that came free with one of the orders. I don't really know what to do with them as I'm not sure what they will look like. So I've just put them into pots for now.

I'm having the landscaping done at the end of March. That is when the new flower beds will get laid out so i don't want to plant anything along the two sides until they've been done.

Everything was quite dry this morning. The soil was cracking it was so dry. So i gave it a water. Then it rained all afternoon!

Lots of daffs have come out in the garden now. But it got dark before i took any pictures today.

My new squirrel feeder

I proudly put up a bird feeder last weekend and watched with delight as birds came to it straight away. The seeds have been going down very quickly and so I really filled it up today. Being a Sunday I had more time to watch today and realised the reason it goes down so quickly is that it is actually a squirrel feeder. They were queuing up to eat the seeds. So I've put a suet pudding out for the birds. I went back to the garden center to get a squirrel proof feeder today but they didn't have any. So the squirrels are doing quite well from my garden - I'm already concerned about the number of bulbs they've eaten. They've dug up most of the crocus pots over the last couple of weeks.

My husband did buy me some lovely new secateurs as a Christmas present though. So now I can neaten up the bushes & shrubs in the garden. The apple tree is what really needs pruning. I have been reading my pruning book but I'm still a bit nervous about what to cut off. I'm going to need the loopers and a step ladder for that though.

On Friday my friend who works for the RHS was in London visiting and so I got to talk plants with him for a while which I enjoyed. I'm hoping he'll come and help when I need to plant up the new flower beds. Plus a promised visit to RHS Wisley.

I ordered some dogwood today plus some more Helleborus Niger/Christmas roses that were on a offer in a magazine. The dogwood is going to go at the back of the back bed. The christmas roses I planted before look really nice at the end of the garden and I'll put the others nearby but in a new clump.

Over Christmas I'm hoping to finish off breaking up the path so that we can make the greenhouse i got for my birthday and put it up. I want to move all the concrete away from where it is sitting so that the soil underneath can start to break up.

These pics all look a bit dark - I hadn't realised how foggy it got whilst I was outside!

Happy Christmas.

December - and I'm dreaming of how my garden will look next year (hopefully)

I've been mentioned in my dad's christmas letter and now feel the pressure to keep up the photos of the changing garden!

I recently planted three Christmas Roses (Helleborus Niger) at the back of the garden and they look very pretty. I had an offer in a magazine for 3 more which i might send off for soon. I also moved the nicotina plant further back - although I'm not entirely sure whether its a annual or perennial. I made a shelter for the two new laurel bushes to protect them a bit from the wind that comes across the back field.

I saw some dogwood in a magazine which i think would go well at the back of that bed. My uncle thinks i should stick to the bamboo plan. I think I'll do both at the different sides. All still fits in with the "forest" theme. ish. Also now that back bed is just going to be blue and white flowers. And then the greens etc from the evergreen bushes. Plus the red from the dogwood when i plant it, which hopefully I'll do over Christmas - or maybe i should wait until February. Not sure. I'll also plant some snowdrops "in the green" in that back bed in Feb. Mum is going to take me to a special place to buy some! I did buy the trillium and Paris bulbs - so they're in that back bed near the ferns. Let's hope they work at it was probably a bit late in the year to be planting them.

The themes for my two new flower beds are going to be "jewels" and "pink". I want to put two climbing supports in the pink bed for Clematis and/or roses. I never used to like roses but I've been eyeing them up recently. I'll get a late flowering one for next year to provide colour at the end of the year.

Anyway - here is a rather misty pic of the garden taken on the 9th December.