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Tuesday 7 June 2016

Just pottering

well June has been marvellous so far.  Daily bright, beautiful long days filled with sunshine, though yesterday evening rain and thunder storms arrived and this morning all around us is covered in mist but it is still very humid.

As it was half term last week little sewing has been done , but lots of gardening, days out here and there to the beaches, and just sitting in the sunshine in the garden,  long cool drinks, lollies and ice creams ....happy days.

Outside our kitchen and dining room we have a small patio area and it was here I decided to
locate our little "kitchen garden".  The patio is less likely to be hit by the winds we get here and of course it is ideal to nip out of the kitchen and grab what herbs and veg you need when cooking.  This little space is still a work in progress but it is coming along.  We have lots of 70 and 50 litre tubs which are getting planted up as I go along.  Pots of flowers too of course  to attract the bees needed for the beans, cougettes etc.






I have taken lots of cuttings
as my flower border
plans have begun.
My little stand alone greenhouses, 
also in the kitchen garden 
are getting rather full.

&

From this 






To this 




This border will have plants
added as I go along as 
I want to have colour through the
seasons. 
I imagine it will take several years to 
"Grow" this border,
shrubs, bulbs and plants
will be added as I go along.
Back in Kent our lovely old neighbour gave 
me this advice which is how I 
planted my old garden and will do so
with this one.
He told me every month visit car boot
 sales, garden centres and see what is for sale in shops.
Look at neighbour and local gardens,
See what grows well,
what plants are grown in tubs
He told me this way I would get 
borders to enjoy all
year round. 
So that will be my plan 
again. 


The opposite plot to this is going to have a border cut out this week.
Chris is going to dig it for me 
and I shall do the planting.
A friend sells plants from outside his 
house nearby and he is going to 
bring me some shrubs and hardies.
I am very excitied about this.  
Like doing patchwork with plants.
I still miss the colour and mature garden I 
left when we moved ....

but little by little 
the gardens here are becoming 
"Ours"



All the apple trees 
and our single pear tree
have tiny fruit..


the gnomes are 
back in residence


I found this at a boot fair this weekend.
Now freshly washed it 
is so summery 
and 
will be used on
the garden bench when the
sunshine returns.

Until next time




25 comments:

  1. Lovely to have you back Maria and glad you, too, enjoyed the good weather over half term. That quilt is a real find. I love the gardening advice you were given. I shall try to remember some of that! x

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    Replies
    1. Best garden advice I had was from old George, he had the most beautiful garden..hope it serves you well too.

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  2. Oh how your garden grows! Have fun. I enjoy gardening very much also. Your quilt is lovely.

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  3. How exciting to be planning the garden and watching it grow. I do a lot of container gardening, growing herbs, salads, veg on a small scale and have some success with it.

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    Replies
    1. Fingers crossed it goes well, looks,ok at the moment.

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  4. So much fun planning a new garden x

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    Replies
    1. Lots of fun and a bit of hard work, but feels like "ours" now

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  5. Your garden is going to be beautiful - it is already looking really good! That is good advice about buying something in flower or that looks good each month then you should always have something nice to look at!

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    Replies
    1. That's the plan, something nice all year round is what I'm hoping for.

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  6. I have that same quilt, I bought it back in England around the time my youngest was born in 1990 so 26 years ago. I still use it today, it has been in England, Canada and the US with me. It is getting rather thin though as it has been used for so long and washed so many times. Your garden is looking great.

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    Replies
    1. How funny is that? I got married in 1990 too so obviously meant to come home with me.xx

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  7. the garden is really taking shape, i have reduced my amount of borders at this house but I now have plans to incorprate the main part of the field into the garden, I am my own worse enemy at times :-)

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    Replies
    1. But is is so much fun isn't it? I swore I didn't what to garden again when I moved here but old habits and all that.xxx

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  8. oh what a gorgeous garden! Makes me wish for summer again.
    2016 mug rug/dishcloth swap just posted :) (we've known each other for a year then!)

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    Replies
    1. Where has that year gone? Joined the swap and posted about it too.xx

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  9. Hi Maria, It would seem that the west had all the sunshine this half term, it was cold but dry here in the east. We too have been pottering in the garden but I'm having problems loading my photos from my camera to my computer at the moment so my good intentions to start blogging again at the beginning of June have fallen by the wayside again! That's brilliant advice about buying something each month I think i shall have to give that a go. Your kitchen garden is coming along nicely and is the rest of your garden. Hopefully i shall sort my computer glitch and post some pics of what we have been up to very soon, take care Tracy xx

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  10. Your old neighbour has given you the advice I was going to pass on from the late Geoff Hamilton. He advised visiting a garden centre or nursery each month of the year and buying something that was in flower, that way you have colour in the garden the whole year round. I did this back in 2013 and wrote about it on my old blog, you can find the round up post here if you want some ideas:- http://jo-thegoodlife.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/monthly-plants-2013.html

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Jo, my neighbour had the loveliest garden he was a great old chap.

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  11. Hello Maria.

    How lucky you are to find that quilt, enjoy it. Love the advice about visiting the garden centres etc on a monthly basis. Your garden is blooming.

    Happy gardening.
    Bev.

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  12. What a beautiful garden and yard. Love the gnomes
    xxx

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