Garden 2014 no 2

Garden 2014 no 2

My garden is changing this year, I’ve decided on my priorities, and much as I love my blue fenced garden, I need to prioritise painting time above gardening time.
So far this year I’ve done virtually nothing. I’ve pruned a couple of flowering shrubs, tied some bits back into place, had a general tidy up and cleared away the rubbish. Now I’ve run out of time to do anything else because; it’s almost time for the annual trip to France. In a couple of days I leave for a month in France and when I get back, I’ll have week or two organising my garden.


I went out there this afternoon to take a few photos and do a bit of tidying up before I leave. Some of the spring flowers are in bloom, I have periwinkle, daffodils, wild currant blossom, and rosemary all in bloom. The fruit trees are in bud and even the little yellow pond flowers are in full bloom. I can’t remember the name of those little pond plants but what ever it is, the frog seems to like it. He has returned for about the third year in a row, So far he hasn’t honoured me with any frogspawn this year but I remain hopeful. I have had frogspawn in the pond in previous years but this time I don’t think Mrs Frog accompanied Mr Frog, looks like he’s going solo this year, maybe she’s just been delayed and will turn up soon
.

The snow drops are all gone now, I had loads this year and they did last quite a while, but now the warmer weather has arrived, they’ve all died off.   I think I’m going to miss the tulips and the start of the bluebells this year, I can see loads of foliage and tulip buds, but I think by the time they flower, I’ll be away.

This year my garden is  destined to become a less time demanding, less labour intensive place and a more,  ‘sit and chill and watch the world go by in-between painting sessions’ sort of place. The veggie plot and its grass verge is all getting rotavated, raked, seeded and turned back to grass. The veggi containers will be emptied and stored, the herb pots are going to get a serious talking too and those that have become too overgrown with grasses and weeds may have to be sacrificed. I think I’ll be fence painting again as well, I painted most of my fences last autumn but we have had so much rain, they all need doing again. I think the excess rain over the winter added about three normal years worth of wear and tear to the paint work out there.

So, this is the view of my rather neglected garden that I’ll see as I drive away, but as soon as I get back, it will be gardening in earnest time.

Garden 2014 no 1

Sunday, 23 February 2014

Garden 2014 no 1

The spring flowers are blooming and what better way to spend the first semi decent Sunday afternoon of the year than out in the garden? Not that I did an awful lot. I had already decided to cut back on the garden this year and spend more time painting, but it still needs a little TLC.

Today I cut back the flowering shrubs ready for summer. The buddleia was so tall last year I found dead heading difficult, after today there is more of it in the garden waste bin than there is left on the tree. Hope I wasn’t TOO enthusiastic.


Apart from some vigorous pruning, the only other task I tackled was a general tidy up. The garden was swept clean of leaves and general debris the wind had blown in plus some bits of broken wooden boarders that I found scattered around.

I noticed the rhubarb was sprouting so I covered them with pots, if the weather holds I’ll get the first of this years crop with in a month or so.


Oh………..and I couldn’t help noticing all the buds on the cherry tree.