Today, I have been mostly....

[garynortheast]

Gardening. Actually, that goes for the last few days.

And I'm quite pleased with the results so far. Pictures will follow.

[garynortheast]

Having already tackled the front garden (which I forgot to take "before" pictures of) and with the er... reluctant help of my daughters, dealt with the chopping back of all the Rosa Rugosa on the side of the drive, I thought it was time to tackle the growing mound of grassed over cuttings and assorted vegetation on the drive.

Getting there....

Getting there by garynortheast

I was left with this very useful pile of compost from all the cuttings that had rotted down over the previous 6 or 7 years. There is more there than it appears. I had 4 very large barrow loads which were spread over the front garden and border.


Getting there by garynortheast

In fact, over this border once I had uncovered it!


Getting there by garynortheast

I uncovered this while dealing with the cuttings mound, an unfortunate victim of our cat I suspect.


Baby bird skull by garynortheast

Up next to look at the sorry state of my terraced veg beds after 8 years of neglect.


Veg beds by garynortheast


Veg beds by garynortheast


Veg beds by garynortheast

[garynortheast]

The side and the front bits now look like this. All the bare earth won't be bare for long as I've scattered wild flower seeds over it, good for the bees! The Mahonia smells glorious and already has quite a few bumble bees visiting it.


Side patch by garynortheast

It's hard to describe how overgrown the front had got. It'd been invaded by pampas grass from somewhere and most of the rest needed a serious pruning - which is what it got!


Front garden by garynortheast

The little border and small end bed out the front now are clear. I've dotted a couple of plants in which had been sat in pots for several years looking very sad, a Euphorbia and an oriental poppy. I also put a sedum in last night that came from the in law's garden.


Border by garynortheast

I have several tubs of flower seeds, many still sealed up but dating back quite a few years. I thought I'd see what came up if I planted some of them so there's a row of sweet peas in that border against the wall, a row of marigolds in front of that and then, right at the front a row of pansies. We shall see what happens.


Border by garynortheast

Next it was up onto the veg plot and first to be tackled was the cooking apple tree. Unpruned for 8 years, it was an unholy mess. I decided to forgo and decent crop from it this year an give it a pruning. Most of the canker is now removed and it looks a better shape.


Pruned cooking apple tree by garynortheast

So now I'm onto the digging bit. There are lots of other jobs still to do but I need to get planting space prepared as I'm going to order a load of veg seeds from Garden Organic in the next couple of weeks. A friend up the lane is doing a joint order with me as neither of us alone will be able to use all the seeds so it makes sense to split them.


Digging the veg beds by garynortheast

I'm getting a collection of pallets together as well, to use to repair the veg bed supports and to make new compost bins. I have some seriously overgrown bits to tackle still as well but they will have to wait till I have veg planted and compost bins in place.

I can't begin to tell you how enormously satisfying and calming this project is.

[Adam Ef]

Good work. Might be aching a bit the next few days!


We're having a dramtic cull of plants in our garden this year. We've realised that we don't actually like the plants that were left here when we moved in a few years ago, that we need to spend a few days trimming and pruning twice a year. So they're going, which will save us a lot of work.


Actually preferring being able to see the walls behind them with a few simpler plants in their place.

[shiftin_gear98]

Good Effort Gary, I too love spending time in the garden. Clears the mind focusing on what others think is mundane. Unfortunately this having to go to work lark gets in the way of most of the things I enjoy doing.

Don't forget to post up a pic in a few weeks when your seeds grow!

[garynortheast]

Actually not aching at all Adam, not a twinge! I suspect all the running I do has kept me fit enough for it not to have affected me.

[garynortheast]

It has the same calming effect as my running Martin, seems more real than all the other pointless crap we tend to surround ourselves with somehow.

Seeds will be started off in a couple of weeks, but nothing much will be planted out till nearer the end of next month once the risk of frost has passed.

Had a very pleasant half hour yesterday sat with my friend and a couple of cups of tea, going through the Garden Organic seed catalogue choosing what to grow this season.

[Sir Trev]

I too enjoy getting out in the garden for exactly the same calming reason. Might well get out there this afternoon as I'm waiting on two recruiters at the moment to get back to me on potential new contracts and the waiting is driving me NUTS! A bit of weeding will bring me back down to an even keel.

[garynortheast]

I think a few pictures of peoples' garden labours might be good then. I always like seeing what other folks growing efforts look like.

[maviczap]

For the record I hate gardening