Gardening Times

Alliums and Aquilega

After last year's terrible weather it's been lovely to actually get into the garden and enjoy the planting.  This year the alliums have put on a great show (we didn't see them last year) and the day lilies - Hemerocalis - are thriving.  I have replaced the Penstemons that died off from the bitter cold of last winter and planted Nepeta and Gladioli too.

Day lilies and Alchemilla Mollis

Crocosmia "Lucifer" and Valerian

Meanwhile, at the back garden there are peas, onions, parsley, lettuce, broccoli and more Gladioli crammed into the small veg patch.  Sadly, the courgettes have been a casualty of the snails and, although the remaining solitary courgette plant is flowering, the flowers won't set.

Veg patch

More pictures of our Yorkshire Garden HERE 

Sunny Saturday Afternoon

Forced Hyacinths

It's been really spring-like here in West Yorkshire today, makes a change from continual rain and look! My forced hyacinths have now decided to open - two weeks after they were scheduled for Christmas ...

I wasted a lot of energy before Christmas trying to get white roses for the hallway but couldn't find any so I settled for cream roses that were so old they were brown by Christmas Day. Now the shops are full of white roses, of course!

So, continuing the Spring theme I have a bunch of lovely pale pink tulips and gypsophila for the hallway, even though bad weather is probably on its way and there may even be snow. The reason I think this is that I've seen a lot of geese flying over the house during the afternoons, heading South West, although I'm not sure what that means. 

Luckily its not too warm or spring-like to stop me planting new roses and I have just bought a white climbing rose from David Austin Roses that I will be planting in the back garden tomorrow. 

Iceberg Climbing

Garden Improvement

At last our tiny garden is beginning to look more like a garden and less like a builder's yard with the runner beans, carrots, water cress and poppies romping away in the vegetable patch. The new lawn is growing well, despite the dog constantly rolling on it. It's a big change from the images I posted in May! Hello Sheddy.

Gardening on a budget means that we have to do thing slowly so I try to grow most of my plants from seed or donations from friends but I can often bag a bargain at Old Bridge Nursery in Ilkley.  I have bought a beautiful Meconopsis Himalaya Blue which should look wonderful in flower next year. 

Whilst cutting back the overgrown ivy I uncovered two objects that I had completely forgotten about, a mosaic I made over fifteen years ago and a Green Man wall ornament. The lizard mosaic was made from small coloured tiles and glass cabochons and, even after 15 Yorkshire winters, not one tile has dropped off. 

Now I'm saving up for a garden bench so that we can sit out and appreciate the garden before the summer is at an end. Then there's a potting bench, compost bin, water butt.....

Hello Sheddy!

A couple of years ago roots from the horrible eucalyptus next door broke through our sewage pipes causing lots of damage and smell and resulting in our back yard being re-concreted.  So, after much complaining that I need a new garden we saved up our pennies to have the back yard dug up and new flag stones laid in the Victorian tradition. 

Nasty concrete and our rotten old shed

Back yard in 2009

View from the back gate

The shed was so old and rotten that the only thing holding it up was the things in it! The way it listed to one side made it positively dangerous and a few bashes with a sledge hammer turned the shed into a pile of fire wood. 

Since the demolition of the old shed last year and the flagging of the back yard, we have been saving up for a new shed so our "garden" has looked like something out of Steptoe and Son for the entire winter. 

But I have great plans for our small back yard and Steve, our friendly builder, made me a raised bed at the bottom with slabs and a low wall.. My lovely Other Half has also made a wooden edged bed for growing vegetables. 

Now "Sheddy the Shed" has arrived (yippee!) and we have started to clear the garden of all the debris ready to get some serious gardening done. Hopefully, we will have a new lawn soon and we are saving up for a bench. More garden transformation posts coming soon....

Summer Garden

This year more plants have become established in my garden, despite the harsh winter.  Although I lost a penstemon and an oriental poppy my flag iris seems to have appreciated the prolonged cold spell and I am rewarded by a show of different poppies too.

These large peachy pink oriental poppies are too large for the garden now so I am going to split them and pass them on.  They are magnificent when they flower but I wish I could prolong the flowering until August. 

Most of these poppies have self seeded from the poppies I grew last year and I have taken quite a bit of poppy seed from field poppies but I did go a bit mad and buy some lavender poppy seed on eBay. 

I planted up a few pots too with pansies and verbena and nasturtiums (nasturtiums are about to flower) just to fill up some gaps and make a bit of a show on the doorstep. I love orange with hot pink. I also planted flowers up with parsley, coriander and basil and they seem to share the space well. 

My dianthus is really thriving this year and has established itself alongside a liatris so I am going to Skipton market this week to buy some more.  I planted it alongside the path and the dog keeps stepping on it but it doesn't appear to mind too much.

However, the thorn in my side is my neighbour's overgrown hedge which has taken all the nutrients from my strawberry bed and blocks the light out too. The only things growing here now are herbs in pots and a few poppies.  I need a plan for this bed.

I am already planning for the autumn and I am going to risk planting a blackcurrant (ribes) in the front toward the back which will hopefully begin to fruit next year. Although I will probably have to share the fruit with the birds!

To see more pictures of my front garden visit my images on Flickr. 

It's Spring....

in my little garden!

Last of My Summer Garden

It's feeling quite autumnal in the mornings now. The air is definitely crisper and cooler. I have planted a lot of dwarf daffodils, including Jetfire and Quail, and plenty of blue and purple alliums for next spring. I have even ordered some pink narcissi which should get people looking when they pop up.
So I got the camera out to take a few pictures of the remaining flowers before the frosts get to them.

The garden furniture has been put away in the shed to protect it from frost damage. I will be wrapping the Buddha Head in bubble wrap soon.

There has been a late display of field poppies and I have plenty of seed for next year - including some lavender coloured poppies.

Because of the amount of rain we have had this year my nasturtiums have been free of greenfly. I guess there's something to be said for a rubbish summer...

This Liatris looks very pretty mixed with a coral coloured carnation.

I need to buy lots of winter flowering pansies and polyanthus now to fill those empty pots.

If you like gardening you'll love this website -Blotanical.

August Garden

Around mid-August my garden seems to have a bit of a "swan song" when everything blooms and then dies off suddenly. Every year I promise myself that I'm going to plant something up for autumn interest and every year I forget! If you have any suggestions of plants that will extend the flowering season (but not too tender) then please comment below.



Alchemilla Mollis just before the heads turn brown. Next to it is an Apricot Sage - a bit of an impulse buy as it won't survive outside in the winter, but it smells fabulous.



My Mum and Dad bought me this deep red Geum last year from Parcevall Hall and it has really flourished.




Lilium Longiflorum in a pot to protect it from the b*ggers, the slugs! Pots are great for filling in bare spaces.

Bright orange Day Lily which is spreading quite rapidly. The colour zings against the green.

Crocosmia Lucifer. I always wanted one of these and the first one I ever planted came up orange (!) Obviously it was mislabelled. But placing red, pink and orange together looks like Guatemalan woven textiles.

I'm digging up my strawberry patch soon as I am replacing it all with lavender. The neighbour's hideous laurel has made the soil so poor and shady that I think only rosemary and lavender will
give the patch some colour. I quite fancy wild strawberries in a pot next year.

There are still some plants in my garden that are flowering - I have a very nice apricot coloured Dianthus and a purple Liatris and an assortment of wild poppies too. Unfortunately, I haven't had ANY success with my three iris as they never recovered from the chomping they got from the snails earlier in the year. But I'm considering replacing them with alliums and also getting a few varieties of Delphinium. Almost time to get the gardening books out....

The Great British Summer

Am I the only person in the UK NOT complaining about the hot weather? I know it's humid, I know it's sticky but, come on guys, it doesn't happen here too often! Remember last year?



In celebration of the good weather I decided to treat my front garden to some furniture and I have been looking out for two fold up metal chairs and a table. So I was pleased to see this set in B & Q and, even better, reduced by 30%. I didn't know that just SEEING it was going to be the easy part.
I then tried to buy it.
But I couldn't buy it because it wasn't in stock and there was a possiblity that it was discontinued. But I couldn't buy the display furniture because it might not be discontinued. But I couldn't expect anyone to call me and tell me if it was either discontinued or not because "we don't do that". When I pointed out that it was probably illegal to advertise something that was no longer for sale I was told "hey, I only work here 2 days a week".
So I paid for the item (that might be discontinued) because that way I could guarantee that someone would eventually call me - or so I thought.
Nobody called.
I called them. "Yes, the computer says it's in stock".
So I go to B & Q. The computer says No. But I can come in on Wednesday because it will be there.
I call on Wednesday. "The computer says it's in stock but I'll check the warehouse and call you".
Nobody called.
I call the next day. "The computer says it's in stock but I'll check the warehouse and call you".
Somebody called.
"I can't see it but someone will call you tomorrow".
Nobody called.
I called. "The computer says it's in stock but I'll...."
Stop! Do not say you will check the warehouse and then call me back. BECAUSE NOBODY CALLS! I want to speak to the manager.
"I AM the manager". (In the words of my daughter - oh crap!)
Please help me, please, please, please because I am trapped in Goundhog Day. The next day someone calls. The furniture is here - come in and collect! Hoorah! I get there, I sign for it, someone brings it on a trolley, the trolley is too heavy for me to manouver to my car. Nobody offers to help. I struggle out of the door, ramming stationery objects and another customer kindly helps me to get it into the car.
So here it is. Rant over - here are a couple more pictures of the front garden