So here's my garden. All of it - the good bits and the bad. As the months go by I'll post a new photo of each area below. It will get more interesting I promise!
The Veg Patch
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| February - winter veg still there, new season garlic and overwintered broad beans in already |
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| March - Kale flowering, potatoes in, still a bit bare though |
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| April (well May actually, but who's counting). Spuds looking good. Corn in, spinach at back is well shot, but behind it the broad beans have done well, and we're eating them right now. |
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| June - growing like crazy! Courgettes coming up on the far right. Strawberries cropping nicely. |
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| Late July - potatoes in foreground harvested, but everything else growing like mad! |
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| Late August. Some winter kale drooping in foreground after a transplant. It's picked up since. |
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| October - I missed September! Everything still very green though. Kale in forground very happy now. Look carefully and you can see a cat above the water butt. |
Veg Patch and rose border
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| February - pre-prune for the roses in the far border. |
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| March - Roses in the far border hacked almost to the ground, potatoes in foreground, along with perpetual spinach and chard. |
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| April - potatoes shooting up. Spinach in foreground, courgettes at top left next to the strawberries (looking good, but need a bit more rain). Corn is just out of shot on right - planted with climbing beans. One rose in the far border removed and replaced with a raspberry! |
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| June - not a huge amount of difference really, apart from courgettes in the far left, and corn coming up top right. |
The Perennial Border - prime position for my favourite plants
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| February - cutting back needed, but not quite yet. |
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| March - Greener, but still with gaps. Persicaria and a geranium in foreground, grasses, Echinops, and Peonie behind. You can just see tulips at their best in a dustbin behind. |
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| April - it's all shot up at once! Although with the dry weather the rhubarb on the left isn't looking happy. Pyrocanthus in flower behind looking and smelling nice. |
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| June - spot the difference... echinops in centre are a lot bigger now. The drought has stopped everything else in its tracks. |
The Birch Border
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| February - Rhubarb up, artichokes and cardoons looking nice. Everything else looking tatty. |
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| March - Forget-me-nots and the two clematis make this border look its best in the spring. Rhubarb and cardoons on the right. |
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| April - dry weather means the spring flowers are long gone, and even the hydrangea on the left is wilting. Cardoons on the far right are romping away. |
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| June - looking a bit less bedraggled, but again, not much growth because of the drought. Some of the perennials are taking over nicely from the spring plants though. the rhubarb to the right of the birches (which should be huge by now) has just about given up. I think it may need to be put out of its misery. |
The Cherry corner - dry and tricky
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| February - looking very bare in this corner before the persicaria emerges |
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| March - not looking much better! |
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| April - filling out, and the Ceanothus top left is in full flower and loving the heat. Need more rain though! |
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| June - the persicaria on left is filling out nicely. The hydrangea in the middle just isn't flowering properly - again I think because of the drought. |
The Climbing border - sunny, but bone dry because of the roots of the big tree behind the fence
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| February - bare apart from evergreen honeysuckle and clematis |
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| March - looking greener thanks to the Snowberry and rose leaves above |
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| April - Snowberry plants not minding the dry weather |
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| June - not much changed. Apart from some litter. |
The Herb bed
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| February - burnet in the back provides some welcome green. Golden marjoram on the left is incorrigible. |
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| March - Lovage at the back already shooting up (watch it - it reaches nearly 2m eventually). Salad Burnett at the back is evergreen too. A small new winter savoury at the front. |
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| April - dramatically greener, the lavender is very happy, but the lovage at back has brown leaves, and is deeply unhappy. |
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| June - looking green and full. Lovage is now so big you can't see the top of it in this shot. Lavender on the right in flower. |
The Shady border - like a bog in winter, bone dry in summer, shady all year round.
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| February - Euphorbia on the cusp of flowering. |
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| March - Euphorbia flowering, but this border just never looks any good! |
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| April - filling out. Eurphorbia will be for the chop soon. |
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| June - once again, its the persicaria that's really romped away |
