EVERYTHING IS COMING UP GREEN IN MY NEW GARDEN

Good Morning to you,

It is roughly 3 months since we moved into our new home and one of our biggest tasks was getting to grips with the garden.

Do you remember how it looked when we first moved in?  Goodness me, there was so much to do.  I have to say that both George and I did not feel phased by the amount of work which was needed to bring this garden to life, we both saw the new garden as a wonderful challenge. 

Its not to say that we haven't been tired at the end of our gardening days, because we have, but it has been a good tiredness and we are so pleased with what we have achieved.

Now before I show you the progress we have made, I have to tell you, the following photographs are not the style you are used to me showing you. My previous garden was a beautiful, mature garden, whereas this garden needs so much basic work to be done before we could even consider any planting.

One of the first jobs we had to do and when I say 'we' I mean the royal 'we'..... George. He had to pressure wash both of the decks.  They were covered in algae and quite honestly they were a danger as they were so slippery. I came out of the house one morning to hang out my washing and I almost slipped and fell.  Luckily I managed to hold onto the side of the door, otherwise I would have landed with a nasty bump.

So George set to and both of the decks were transformed.

George pressure washed the deck by the kitchen and also the deck at the bottom of the garden.  You can see the deck drying in the sunshine. The difference when George had finished was amazing.

As you can see, during July/August, the grass began to grow. We had considered re-turfing the lawn, but Phyllis suggested we wait, as given time, the lawn would recover and she was right.  Initially when Gary our friendly gardener, cut the grass, the garden looked more like a hay field, but after a few days we could see a light green haze forming over the garden, just little dots of green here and there. We were so pleased when we realised the lawn could be rescued.

Whilst we waited for the grass to grow, we decided to dig our new borders.  I dug whilst George,

removed the turf and weeded.  As you can see, George is a man who knows who he is and is not afraid to wear pink gardening shoes.

After a lot of laborious work removing so many weeds, the first border was finished.  As you can see our plants were waiting in line ready to be planted.

After digging the first border, George decided to paint all the fencing surrounding the garden.  I chose the colour green because I felt the fence would blend into the background once our trees and shrubs were planted.

So we now have, the fences painted green,

the grass as you can see is turning a beautiful green. We have fed the grass it's autumn feed so we are hoping that it will clear any weeds which are lingering in the the lawn.

The decking has been painted green.  A more bluey green, than the fence, but we needed anti-slip paint and we could not find a matching colour.  When all my roses, jasmine and clematis have been planted, you will never notice the difference. There are a couple of fence panels that seem to need a little more paint, but that has to wait for the next sunny day.

As you can see, I could not wait to begin planting, so I have added a few winter pansies to give us a little colour and focus in the garden.

.... and do you remember the decking by my back door.  Not very attractive is it.... and this is after it had been power washed.

George being the man of action that he is, once again, sprang into action wearing his pink gardening shoes,

and transformed the unsightly decking into a thing of beauty.  I realise it is a little extreme to describe a decking as a thing of beauty, but quite honestly, the way it looked before, to me it really has become a thing of beauty.

I've just noticed the beautiful pink dahlia petal on the decking. Doesn't it stand out well against the green.... ooh I cannot wait to begin my planting around this deck.

As I mentioned earlier, none of these photographs are gorgeous, but they are photographs of our hard work.  We have to do all this boring work, before we can turn our attention to the planting, although as you saw earlier, I couldn't help myself, I just had to add a few plants to the garden.

I have decided that each month I will show you what we have achieved in the garden.  We are working hard because we want to have all our daffodils, tulips, snowdrops, bluebells and whitebells planted before the middle of October.

Before I leave you, I wanted to say that I am sorry I have not visited and not replied to comments as much as I usually do.  The garden has taken up so much of our time, that I have not even sat in front of the computer until today.  As the winter approaches, there will be less to do in the garden and I will have much more time to visit.

So for now, please forgive me, I promise I will get back to normal very soon.

Take care and I will catch up with you next Thursday.

As Always,