Wednesday 25 May 2016

Sunday was a very long day...

...and I was absolutely pooped by the time I managed to drag myself away from the task at hand!


So here is the area next to the house, rearranged yet again.  I think it may stay like this now ~ for a while, at any rate LOL

The planter at the back is the one pictured sitting on the butler's sink in my previous garden post, which is now being supported by an small old table that I've had for ever.  The table is painted in Annie Sloan "Graphite" chalk paint, which really helps it to blend into the background.  I'm still not sure what to plant in it, to be honest, but have decided to at least keep the creeping jenny and sweet woodruff that was already in the outer section.  In the centre I have placed a sturdy plastic pot upside-down with a piece of tile on it to create a stand for the terracotta herb planter.  I'm still mulling over options for what to plant in the inner section and the herb pot!

I've put Matty's water bowl and stand in the back ~ easy for him to get to and convenient for refilling from the outside tap.  The big pot is the one which was temporarily placed between the two chicken houses.  The small pot is filled with a variety of sedum, which I've had for a number of years and which just keeps on growing!  The wooden planter will be restained but I possibly won't fill it up until we have had new slabs laid, hopefully later in the year. 

I have ordered some alpine plants for the butler's sink and the concrete pot on the lower step has been planted with yet more of the sempervivum offshoots.

I am thinking of buying an outdoor rug to lay outside the patio door as the mat that is there at the moment is looking decidedly tatty.
  

The weeds in this area sure were tough to get out!  The soil was very hard, too, and I actually had to water it in order to fork it over.  I am sure that the dwarf conifer must be sighing with relief to finally get some light and air, as must the terracotta fairies and brass frogs :-)

To the left of the conifer you can just about see a couple of bergenia plants, which I moved from elsewhere in the garden.  The little plants in front of the nature pool are veronica spicata.  When I pulled the weeds out I could see that the soil along here had really sunk, so I had to add a pretty generous layer of compost to build it back up again.


I moved the obelisk from the border as I felt that this bed needed some height.  I didn't want to plant anything tall, though, as the thyme in the top bed is now really well established and obviously enjoys the sunshine.  The obelisk fits the bill perfectly (even though it is less than "perfect" itself, as it got rather squished when we had some strong winds earlier in the year!) as it gives me the height I wanted with no loss of light to the bed behind.

The two green plastic pots are meant to be stacked, along with a third white one which I am going to use indoors.  They are filled, as you may have guessed, with yet more of the houseleek offshoots and I placed them on bricks to raise them a little. 


All three of these raised beds need more plants in them, which I will do gradually over the course of the summer and autumn no doubt.

The lavender has settled really well here ~ plenty of sunshine and a little shelter from the shed ~ as have the two thymes.  In the centre, at the front, is another thyme which I moved from the bed with the obelisk.  I'm hoping it too will settle into its new home.  Beneath the lavender are some armeria which have lots of blooms and buds.


Like the lavender, the rosemary also seems to like living here.  Again, I think it is a combination of sun and shelter.  The plant is actually a couple of "growing herbs" that I bought from the supermarket.  They didn't really seem very happy living in my kitchen, even though the windowsill is very sunny ~ perhaps it was just too humid for them when I was cooking.  It did say on the pots that the plants weren't suitable to be planted outside but I decided to take a chance anyway.  I stripped off the lower stalks and twisted the two plants together ~ this is the result after about three years!  I keep the lower stems bare so that plants will grow beneath the rosemary, and regularly trim it back.


I moved more plants into this raised bed from elsewhere in the garden, so it is almost planted up now.  I have taken a bit of a chance with the pinks as they are full of buds.  I wasn't happy with them in the wooden raised beds, as they were taller than I wanted.  I noticed yesterday that some of the buds are actually starting to open, so hopefully the plants will be okay.  

I grow the chives for the pretty flowers more than for their use as a herb.  This clump has been here for quite some time now.  You can also just about see the fronds of the fern starting to uncurl at the back :-)  


Spot the differences between the photo above and the one below!  There is still work to be done here but, again, it won't be finished until the paving has been replaced.


I still have lots to do in the garden but it's always going to be an ongoing process anyway, isn't it :-)  Which is all part of the joy of gardening, don't you think, my loves?  

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