We did it!  What you ask?  We managed to get the garden sorted.  Sunday we got some plants put in and did some tidying but the weather was not with us and we had thunder storms and heavy rain.  Fortunately yesterday was better and warm but cloudy which was ideal for gardening.  Later on in the afternoon the sun appeared but we had got most of the work done by then.

Here are some pictures of a walk around the garden to see what we have done.  Quite a few pictures here.

The vegetable planter, things are starting to grow and we put the summer plants into the pots.

These are the new plants we put in and surrounded them with a new organic barrier to hopefully stop slugs and snails eating them.  At the moment it is working but I don’t want to tempt fate!!!

This mass is growing along our garden wall and contains a hardy Fuchsia, flowering, a Lonicera “Sweet Sue”, Wisteria “Lawrence” and the Rhododendron which is just beginning to flower. 

We tidied up this area which is a favourite of Treacle.  She loves the shade made by the conifers and loves going underneath and hiding in there!

The steps up to the top part of the garden had become a little overgrown so we got all of the weeds and plants out and tidied up the edges.  We need to get some more decorative stone to put down on them.  This picture does not show how steep this bank actually is.  On the right we tidied this area up and are going to transplant some of our Primula to here as they will like it underneath the existing plants.

The above is Weigela Florida busy flowering.

We trimmed this Berberis as it gets out of hand and cleared underneath.  Again we will try to grow some Primula underneath.

We cleared these areas and around the Boys Den.  We are again going to put some week suppressant down and some stones around the Boys Den to stop the weeds growing.

This is the biggest change and where all of the work was done by DH.  There was an old Forsythia plant on the right next to the Boys Den.  It had grown out of hand and was only carrying flowers and leaves on the top most branches.  We had cut it down before but it was just too far gone to make it behave properly so DH decided to cut it down completely.  If it decides to grow again we can then train it properly. 

We have decided to put some new plants in and are looking for a hardy rambling rose to grow along the fence and then put in a couple of my most favourite plants Rhododendrons in the gaps between the ferns.

Below is what we cut down and it is on the top deck waiting for our brown recycling bin to be emptied next week for it to go in there.  It is very, very full now with all the rest of the gardening we did.

This is the other side of the garden and as you can see there is not a lot of weeding to do but it will all need trimming in Autumn.

As you can see this Rhododendron is flowering well.

We did tidy the deck before we put all of the old Forsythia on it!!  We need to get some more stones for under it to cover the weed suppressant.   A pair of blackbirds are nesting in the conifers to the left.

Finally we got the patio sorted and tidy after the rain the day before which had made a mess!

Treacle spent all day with us outside and had no sleep, so was very tired last night.  We also spent a lot of time throwing tennis balls for her!!!  It was amazing how many we found under the bushes!!!!

We didn’t get anything done last year and it was great we managed to get all the jobs done in a few days and it was not as bad as I had imagined.  When we get the new plants in and stones etc it will only take a couple of hours to keep it looking as great as it does now.  Autumn will be a good time to get everything else sorted and trimmed before we go into Winter and hopefully it won’t be such a big job next year.

It was a  long day and I must admit I was very tired at the end of it but so pleased with all DH and I had got done.  I hope you liked the walk round and I will show you how things develop over the summer.  I am hoping if the slugs and snails don’t put paid to them to be able to show you some more flowers in the summer.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend whatever you were up to and going to have a great week.  It is a short week for us but plenty going on of course.

Hugs, Susie xx

What a great wedding and although we were only invited via the media I think we all enjoyed it.  I loved her dress, I thought it suited her (please mind the pun!!!!) down to the ground.  I am sure that there will be a little one on the way before long.

On Friday after running errands I went to our local garden centre for a couple of plants and some other bits.  As you can see from the sky it was so hot the sky is just a very pale blue.

I also went up to our local farm shop, Croots, where they have horses and sheep.  Here is the new foal who is a month old now.  It was so warm he was asleep!

The lambs are growing fast and were busy grazing despite the heat.

This is the view from the farm shop across the valley.  It really was a beautiful Spring day.

In between watching the wedding DH and I managed to get a few jobs done in the garden, although it was too hot at the top of the day to be outside. 

The furniture came out and the umbrella, after a good clean we set it up on the patio.

I got some more seeds put in the my grow house and gave it a tidy.

I emptied the pots and put new compost in and planted the summer bedding flowers.  They will take a little while to fill out but will look good soon.

DH tidied this corner next to the shed and wall and put some new gravel down.  It is where we store the compost and sticks and the watering can.  We found the frog hiding behind the compost bag but he moved to behind the vegetable planter.

This pot has sweet pea seeds in and will hopefully get going soon.

Here is my vegetable planter with a couple of tomato plants in and some cucumbers and lettuce and also some herb seeds.  It will be interesting to see what comes up.  All a little bit of trial and error at the moment. 

It is a lovely warm day again today and the sun is shining, unfortunately I have a basket of ironing to do as well (!) having finished my work this morning.  One benefit of becoming a new Duchess is that Megan will never have to clean or iron ever again unless she wants to!!  

Tonight I will be working on my super secret quilt.  My machine came back from its service and it was all okay just needed a lot of clearing out of bits of cotton and fluff.  I have been told I need to bring it in sooner rather than later next time!  Oops!!!

Don’t forget to take my picture Mom.  (I love this picture as we have an Airedale shadow!!!)

Have a Great Monday and fabulous Week.

Hugs, Susie xx