WHATS GOING ON!

With the weather! after our first decent weekend of the year last week, this weekend is like mid winter! Cold , rain and damp ! And it's nearly MAY!

Saturday all the bags of ballast were waiting for some dry weather , so Paul could lay the concrete !


This  weather is not helping with getting the garden in good shape!

This was what it looked like at 9 am this morning Sunday, freezing, grey and overcast, rain in the air !
 Even Casper was not impressed!

By 1 pm it had brightened , if you can call some of the grey going and a tiny bit of palest blue showing through, brightening! It was less cold , as in no longer freezing , so Paul had his lunch then made a start on getting the base laid.

and by half 4 thsi afternoon, Paul had managed to get it laid despite it getting colder and trying to rain !

So getting this down will hopefully give us the chance to get more done over the coming bank holiday weekend. Weather permitting!!

We also managed a trip to the recycling centre on Friday , so at least there is one pile of rubbish gone ready for us to make another no doubt!


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AT LAST

A weekend of reasonably good weather. I know I should not complain but Saturday was too hot for garden work in the mid morning to mid afternoon.
Since we have so much to do, the heat did not help and it did rain shortly in late afternoon , then we had thunderstorms overnight  which for today Sunday , was a help because it was cooler but still dry and bright.

Saturday we spent moving the shrubs that were at the side of the old Gazebo, one a Euonymous ( Spindle tree) which is very large I wanted to save because it's leaves turn a beautiful deep red in the autumn, so it's been moved to the back fence on the right. But before we could do so, we needed to buy a couple of new pieces of 12 inch trellis to place above the new fence and pull over and tie down the rose, The Rambling Rector which was running amok.
Once that was done we moved the bush. We then used some older trellis ( recycling) against the fence in two places which enabled us to move the two yellow climbing roses, The Pilgrim and Graham Thomas and place them there.

Paul spent this morning digging out the box hedge and digging out the area that now needs to be filled with concrete to take the new longer log cabin. He also , on Saturday , added a couple of the old but still in good condition decking boards along the bottom of the old fence.
This was to help strengthen it and help it last longer as it will be behind the new building.

The footprint looks lovely and big but I'll save judgement until building up and I'm looking inside!

While Paul was working on the extra base , I was clearing all the old rubbish , taking it out to the front , so it's available to take off to the recycling centre when we have the opportunity.

The large pile of wood and the pieces of shrub now taken out to the front and just the new concrete fence post waiting to go in. Along with the old washing line metal pole that needs sorting.

The awaiting pile.

Yet more to be added.

That large piece of  wood you can see in wheelbarrow was extra that was done. Over by the gate into the flower garden was a large shrub that had started to outgrow it's space. I started cutting it back and as you do when gardening, I decided that it was time for it to go ! So I landed up removing it all , with Paul digging out the trunk for me at the end.

Because I wasn't intending to remove the shrub completely I didn't take a before photo but this photo above from the other week shows the shrub on the left of the Venus Statue that's in the centre at the back.

 and in fact this turned out to be perfect as it meant we had a place for the small box hedge we'd dug out from the side of the old gazebo.

I was surprised just how much the bush had grown and as I cut it back and down the statue of Venus suddenly started to get some sun on her ! She'd been half hidden by the bush..


The Box hedging is in place and will help keep the gateway clear and there is a large shrub down the end of the garden that I may move here plus a red  Camilla , we were given, in a pot which I'm thinking would look nice in front.

Well having said all that I need to go and finish emptying the wheelbarrow and clearing out more of the rubbish.

But things are beginning to move forward at last.


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ON GOING..

Well it's basically rained all week with the odd dry patch now and then. But finally we did get some dry weather on Saturday! But alas I was working and Paul was unwell, so we are no further forward than last weekend.

The plants and trees, like this Acer , are beginning to get their leaves despite the lack of sun and the constant rain.

The Magnolia Stellata is finally in flower, having seen a little bit of sun!

We did manage to clear off the base and bag up the rubbish. I also cut back and dug up a holly which had grown at an angle and by removing, will allow me to move a shrub, which is to the right hand side of this photo in the middle, into the space now available. It's a Spindle tree which has the most beautiful red leaves in the autumn. The shrub is quite big , so we are hoping to be able to move it without causing it any damage.

The pile of rubbish gets bigger! and is just another thing that will need dealing with when time allows.

They are forecasting some dry and warm weather ! So if it arrives and Paul's back to full fitness, we'll be working on the garden this coming weekend and hope to make a big dent in what needs doing!


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SPRING?

The Snake head Fritillary are out and looking gorgeous! so maybe Springs arrived?

These are on of my favourite bulbs. I also love that you get the odd one which is more white with tiny glimpses of the violet.

These bulbs do not like to be disturbed and moved about, so if you find them the right place they will reward you with an ever increasing display in spring.

Other spring bulbs are beginning to appear.

and the Pansies are showing their colour.

Today after weeks of rain and cold finally we had a nice bright and warm day! So hopefully we'll be able to start getting work done in the garden.


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APRIL

So April's arrived and still the weathers cold but now with almost constant days of rain! They will not be able to say ,come the summer, that we don't have enough water in the country! We've had more than our fair share I would think.

Despite the rain we've managed to take down the gazebo over the last two weekends.

This as meant we now have a load of things that need getting rid of.

Rubbish now litters the house garden.

It opened up the garden on the left from the patio and although it looks so nice and big opened up, it's the only place the new log cabin can go, so will soon look smaller once again.

Finally the old structure is gone , we had one day of good weather and now it's back to raining all day.

The base needs extending by 3 ft to the right of the photo. so after cleaning the existing base, once the weather's dry! We'll move the shrubs and roses that are growing in that area.

Even though we've done two trips to recycling centre, we now have another pile of rubbish to take.

So once we get a good dry day, we can clean base, move shrubs , re-stain old fence and hopefully dig out and prepare the area for the extra base. Just a couple of dry days , or afternoon evening would do it!!

Here's hoping!

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