Garden Tales

Its taken months of procrastinating and hard work over the weekends, but we have finally done it. We have turned an over-grown weedy patch outside our bedroom window into the beginnings of a garden. Its been a project in the pipelines since spring in fact, that is precisely when we bought the grass seed that we planned on sowing.

But then the ‘weeds’ turned out to be poppies and it looked really pretty. We didn’t have the heart to pull out the poppies, so we let it be.

When the poppies faded away and we started to notice other plants springing up that were beginning to produce pesky seeds, we took action. It was time to be brutal. It would be a simple enough job we thought. Two weekends and it would be done. But garden jobs are never quite as quick as you think because there is still the lawn to cut weekly and beds that need turning over to keep the weeds at bay. So our 2 weekend job ended up taking 8 weekends.

This past weekend we finally sowed the grass seed… doesn’t it look fabulous?

I have to say we were growing slightly concerned with the length of time that it was taking to clear the patch. Autumn has arrived and is that really the best time to sow grass seed?

Well it turns out that it is the optimum time to sow it – YAY! Nature has played ball this week and watered our freshly sown seed throughout the week. Each morning I search for signs of germination. I can’t wait to see the lawn grow in.

As you can see there are two prepared beds. I plan on planting hellebore’s and lots of spring bulbs among other semi-shade loving plants. This little plot gets shade for a good portion of the day so some careful plant planning is needed. Ferns might do quite well here actually.

I spotted this nasturtium flower while weeding on Saturday, isn’t it just so pretty? None of the other flowers are like this. They are all block colours, either yellow or orange. I love how nature throws in a surprise to delight the observer. This one looks like it has sprung right off the pages of my daughters nature journal. 

This passed weekend was also a bit of spring clean in readiness for autumn. I spent most of Saturday cleaning out the laundry and garage – still much to be done but it’s clean, washing windows and planting Hydrangeas and a Virginia Creeper I ordered a few weeks ago. Whilst tiding up the patio I came across a pot that had been blown over in a storm and split in two. I have used half of it for crocks in the bottom of my pots and had forgotten about the other half.

As I looked at it it suddenly dawned on me that it would make a very nice hedgehog home. This is certainly not where it’s going to be, I simply turned it over and snapped a shot although…a home under the ivy and blackberry bramble does sound rather a sweet dwelling place for a hedgehog.

Anyhoo, enough garden rambling from me for today. I hope that you are all having a lovey week and have enjoyed the ushering in of a new season. I did manage to get my autumn decorating done in-between all the cleaning and gardening. But that is for another post. Have you decked out your home to celebrate autumn yet? This is such an atmospheric time of the year isn’t it? Do let me know what autumnal plans, knits, makes you plan on doing…I always love to gain some inspiration so please do share, perhaps through a link or picture on my blogs Facebook page. 

Blessings to you all today…