Sunday 28 February 2016

The Last Days of Summer ......

Hi Vintage Lovers,

Summer has almost disappeared ....... while I am looking forward to autumn, I will miss the long summer days and spending the evenings pottering in the garden and planning time for what I will plant and do come autumn in the garden.

My garden has done well over the summer period ........ I have not lost any plants (touch wood) and I have had growth on most of them. I think the new rainwater tank has some thing to do with it !!??!!

 I have even planted a few bits and pieces over the summer, which normally I would never do. Apart from the two wisterias and the bearded irises I planted in the dry stone walled area, which are growing fantastically.  I also took cuttings from our neighbours glory vine and popped them in on either end of the carport, to grow up and along to have a nicer view from the kitchen and the girls bedroom which look out onto the carport.  I wasn't expecting them to do much as I didn't have any growth hormone at the time, so I was half expecting I was wasting my time. But ........ they took off and haven't looked back.



We have also bought another window box for the girls room (the same as the one we bought for the kitchen window) so that they have a nicer view from their window rather than looking at the cars and carport. I have planted some french lavender in all the pots, that will smell devine.




The best thing about autumn, apart from the cooler weather and being able to spend more time in the garden is planting and putting in place the changes and plans I dreamed up over summer.

Bring on autumn.

Mel xx

Sunday 21 February 2016

Less lawn, more garden ........

Hi Vintage Lovers, 

As part of the "dry stone wall around the outdoor entertaining area project" we also decided to remove all the lawn in between the tanks and the outdoor area.

Now, I am not a great lawn lover at all and my plan is to eventually replace all the lawn with garden. We have already removed half of the area between the tanks and the outdoor area about a year ago to plant a veggie patch and now the rest has been removed to make the veggie patch bigger.  We also have placed stepping stones from the paved area to the outdoor area that the veggies will grow around.



The area has now been turned over, fertilized and mulched with pea straw ready for planting later this year.




I just have to be patient now, and gardening is all about being patient, isn't it???

Mel xx

Sunday 14 February 2016

Our dry stone wall………
Hi Vintage Lovers,

Wow, February already and half way though too !!!!!!!
Where is this year disappearing !!??!!

Lots to catch you up on with our old lady, so I will start with the dry stone wall and then I will catch you up on the front room progress.

Ok ......... We have just finished the dry stone wall around the outdoor entaining area .... it looks fantastic. We are really happy with how the whole area is turning out. It centainly was a big job and took a while to complete, but was well worth the work and wait. 

So, just to jog your memory, as it was a little while since I blogged about it ...... we have widened the garden bed next to the outdoor entaining area, moved the steps up to the lawn area and created a circular bed area incorporated into the dry stone wall area. It now is  joined to the dry stone wall around the lawn area so it is now one continuous wall the whole area. 








Only one one problem now ........
I have to wait until April to start planting !!!!!!!!!

Although ( I couldn't resist ) ....... I have already planted a few bits, a pink and white wisteria to grow up the posts and around the edge of the outdoor area, as well as transplanting some bearded irises from other parts of the garden. 

I already have an idea of what I want to plant ....... a weeping maple in the circular area, bordered with box hedging and bearded irises around the edge of the bed.
Bring on April !!!!!!!!

Mel xx