Clean and tidy

We finally got the patio repaired on Sunday. Not a bad job for two people who have never laid any concrete! So yesterday I tackled the yearly job of pressure washing the whole thing. It was worse this year with the mess and everything all disorganized. The pressure washer wasn't working properly either, normally I use a sprayer/scrubber attachment but for some reason it wasn't rotating. So I had to do it a bit at a time with just the sprayer. It takes about 3 times as long that way...... I re potted some plants as I went along, things that were too heavy to move very far. Now comes the even bigger task of trying to figure out where things are going to go this year!! I have a basic idea of what I want to do but it's going to take some thought and a lot of shifting things until it looks right. I think it will be safe now to get my water gardens out and planted up too. There sure is a lot to do!!

First t-shirt day!

Today was the nicest day of the year so far, quite warm and the sun came out in the afternoon. I got quite a bit done today and am pleased with my efforts. The black and white garden is looking better, just need a few more plants and some bark mulch. I pruned roses, potted some lily bulbs, moved my rice paper plant ( hopefully it survives! ), divided a grass, planted a fern and 2 hostas, cleaned the bird bath, planted some iris, and started getting my west border ready to plant up. I've been through 140 ltrs of compost already!! At this rate the 280 ltrs I bought on Monday is only going to last a week!! There is so much to do!! We could use a month of beautiful days like today.

Getting started

Today was my first " real " day in the garden this year. It's been too cold, too windy, and too wet until today to do much. I started revamping my black and white garden today since things are starting to wake up it couldn't wait. I moved a Japanese maple and a black elder from some tubs and put them in the ground, which was quite a heavy job. I also moved a fern and a white bleeding heart to hopefully show them off a bit better, and planted some lupins and foxglove, both white. Some raking, general tidying, removing dead bits here and there,

and put some wildlife friendly slug pellets down around some things to keep them from getting munched. I still have more to do. I want to lift my eyeliner lily bulbs and move them and shift a couple more plants around. I may have to pot the lilies up until I can figure out where to put them. I also found a red lily beetle just laying in wait for them to come up. Consequently he got SQUASHED! The battle has begun!!

Newest project

While I'm waiting to get my patio back I've decided to start on my driveway bed. It's very long and narrow and doesn't get much sun. It runs north to south but with the houses in the way it's quite shadowed and the wind funnels down through it like a canyon. I'm going to plant it in different shades of pink, purple, blue and white with plenty of scented plants to waft through the air. There is already an old hydrangea with white flowers tinged with blue and pink and a berberis which wants a bit of cutting back. Also a fern which I transplanted a couple of years ago. I bought 4 more ferns of different types and 16 small plants such as lupins and foxgloves and am looking at getting a few more manageable shrubs and some clematis to fill it in. The end where the rubble is gets the most sun so I have a rose going in there in front of the fence panel. I will take the gravel up as well since it would cost too much to do the whole thing. Fingers crossed it will look really nice all year once it gets established.

Early February

Haven't done much outside for a while. Between looking for a water leak, the snow, and the freezing weather it's not really been possible. The water leak has now been sorted and it's just a matter of laying some concrete back down and getting it cleaned up.

I'm just REALLY glad this didn't happen AFTER I'd already gotten it all nice and cleaned up! These pics were taken on the 5th of Feb.