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.

23rd February

Its been a bit warmer at night the last couple of nights. I haven't ordered the ferns yet though as i want to wait until after the frosts to plant them. Lots more plants arrived this week though - lily bulbs, bluebells and snowdrops in the green - so i do need to do some planting this weekend. I'll be doing that tomorrow.

More Daffs have started growing round the garden though. The soil doesn't look to good any where though. It has gone all dry and "caked".

Frosty morning - 18th Feb

Earlier this month there were lots of frosty mornings and it was falling to freezing most nights.

9th Feb - bulbs coming up

As expected the spring bulbs are starting to show.

A couple of the snowdrop pips have worked. I'll be getting some in the green at the weekend though.

Most surprising is the Tulip in the bed by the house!

More plants arrived by post this week - the dogwoods. So i need to start planning and planting the back bed.

The new flower beds are going to be made in March and i'll be having steping sones and a slate gravel patio put in then as well.

a hiding hellebore

I cleared up the rest of the grasses as I noticed some bulbs were trying to get through this week. I also finished tidyimng up the beds by the house. I'd kept the hydrangas as i thought the flower heads looked nice through the winter. I noticed the new shoots were staring to come out this week so cut them all down (although once I'd done that i read a label on one that said you don't need to do that each year).

I found this lovely little hellebore that had been hiden by the hydranga bushes. Its' so pretty. Unfortunetly i can't see it from the lounge window as its still hidden by the lavender.

Our grass is still very waterlogged. Mr L put sand down some holes to try and improve the drainage. It may have helped a bit - but i think we've still got a bit of a problem at the end of the garden near the house.

31st Jan

The crocuses are starting to come out. Lots of shoots of daffs and even the tulips are starting to show.

The christmas roses in the back bed have started to grow more flowers.

I had 5 little christmas roses arrive from Gardener's World offer this week. They seemed too little to put into the ground, especially as I might be planting more in that back bed soon and was worried that I'd squish them or they'd get dug up. So i've put them in little pots for now in the plant house.

I also got some geraniums. They were a cheap offer with the dogwood I ordered that should come later this month. They came as roots and I'm not really sure what to do with them either so I've put them in pots as well. I didn't know if any of the root was meant to be above the surface of the soil. I'm not even sure what they will look like when they grow.

Then later in the week some 3 miss lucy lilly bulbs arrived. I'm not sure about planting these in the ground or in a container so I haven't done anything with them yet either. I might be getting someone to create my new flower beds this month so I don't want to plant anything else until that is done.

First crocus

The first few crocuses came up on Sunday. Four little yellow ones in a tub on the patio (concrete).

I planted some more sweetpea seeds yesterday. I was doing it in the dark by the end though as I didn't start until a bit later than planned. The ones i planted in Autumn had been in the greenhouse/coldframe and had gone a bit mouldy on top. I repotted the ones that were OK but threw a few away. Maybe its to cold in there.

The grass is very water logged at the moment. We went and bought some sand to try and make it a little better. It was raining by the time we got back from the garden centre and so we'll have to put it on the grass next weekend.

Concrete path - gone

We've been busy in the garden over the holidays. We've taken up the concrete path that ran along the right hand side. Breaking up the concrete was one thing. Removing it another - and then digging up all the bricks underneath was quite another! But now we have no path. We do have a very big pile of rubble behind the shed.

We had hoped that the shed was sitting on a bomb shelter and that we could get into this and dump all the rubble under the shed. The day after boxing day we tried to break up the concrete where we think the entrance to the bomb shelter is. After quite a lot of drilling (with the pneumatic drill) and chiseling with pick axe we realised we were going to be disappointed and our idea wasn't going to plan. We found a weight from a sash window and some other rubble - it looks like someone might have had the idea of throwing all their rubble under the shed before. Of course maybe its not a bomb shelter at all but a drain or something.

We had managed to make a bit of a mess behind the shed though.

Plus we still needed to do something with all the concrete from the path.

So we decided that we'd pile all the concrete on top of the holes we made and then pore concrete over it and level it off. Then we could put another storage shed there.. or something like that.

So we spent two days moving the concrete and the bricks that were underneath that. The pile is a bit bigger than expected!

Today we picked up more stones and rubble from where the path was and then put manure down for the worms to mix in with the soil. Once we've decided the shape of the new flower bed we'll cut the shape in the grass and then dig over the whole area. The garden at the moment looks a bit like a builders yard though.

Christmas presents

For Christmas I got lots of nice gardening things. I got three books - one from my best friend and two from my mum. I got two lovely big blue pots for my acers from my brother and his family. I got secateurs from my husband and a hose and a strawberry/herb planter from my mum and dad.

When we got back to London my dad had planned to take me to a garden center but most were shut. We went to Homebase in the end and I bought myself some loppers and some more compost to plant the acer.

Amaryllis

I'm amazed at how quickly this grew. Its very pretty.