Adding 'stuff' not plants

We went to an auction to sell stuff on Monday and left with a chimney and a head for the garden!  Think we lost our sense of purpose.

I did have a head something like this but much nicer which we bought in France, but it fell off the fence - the wire rusted at the back - and broke on the slabs below.  We got this one for a fiver so she'll do.  The chimney was £28 just inside my £30 limit so I am happy with that.  They cost more than that on sites like Gumtree and then you have to traipse to the end of the planet to pick them up.  On fancy-schmantzy sites like a reclamation place in the Cotswolds they are around the £150 mark!

I'll show you where they have gone and some of the other bits and bobs I have around.

this has lived in many of my gardens

chimney in place

new chimney echoes the larger one on the other side

she disappears well with a bit of dirt rubbed on her

I have two of these and a third on the way

I managed to buy a pot of plants to go in the chimney for just £6.99 (and  perfect fit) at lunch the following day.  It was all meant to be!  I forgot to look for an alpine for Marianne's hair - will do that tomorrow when we go back for another lunch.

There are a couple more bits and pieces around such as the bird table, some small 'rusty' ornaments and bug boxes.  I like a bit of 'junk' around so it's not too boring in the winter.

If you follow by email

I have just realised that if you 'Follow by email' rather than becoming a follower, you are probably reading the blog post which is embedded in the email.  You are actually getting a much poerer version of the real McCoy.  You need to click on the heading which acts as a link to the actual blog or you won't have access to photo albums or videos or a mass of other stuff. Not to mention that the blog just looks much better!  Obviously the choice is yours but do try clicking on the heading at least once and see if you prefer to read the blog as a fully formed entity rather than just in mail.

This discovery also answer queries from people who tell me they can't see the album link or can't leave comments and various other queries I have had over time and had never been able to resolve.  I hadn't realised they were following the blog from their email.

Keeping a reminder

I have had so many homes and so many gardens over the years which I have usually completely remade and now I can't really remember that many of them - all that work and love disappeared.  I decided when we moved here I would keep a record of what we did.  Eventually years one and two became nine - a very long stay for us - and I love looking at the changes over the years.

Every year, sometime in July, I go into the garden and stand in each of the corners and at each of the half-way points between those - like eight points of the compass -  and take a photo.  They are then filed alongside the previous one from the same angle so I can see just how many changes there have been.

These nine photos shows the corner which faces North East.  They begin in 2007.

2007 - built the patio and cut the border - decking in the corner

2008 - decking is now a summerhouse

2009 - we have swapped flowers to vegetables on  the right

2010 - still vegetables and the box hedge round the patio is appearing over the edge

2011 - forgot to do the photos this is nearest I could find

2012 - last year for the veg and I am working in the summerhouse

2013 - looking mature at last and back to flowers all round

2014 - the patio gives way to the conservatory

2015 - maybe things have settled down now

Lucky us

It is no wonder we are a nation of gardeners when you look at the riches of our countryside.  We have just spent a week in Northumberland and were knee deep in wild flowers along every roadside verge.

I took photos of seventeen different flowers all of them were in a few hundred yards of each other.  I saw many, many more from the car window as we passed by.  We are so lucky to live in such a temperate zone.  

Wallington, Morpeth

Just got home from a week in Northumberland.  If it is somewhere you've never tried I commend it to you.  The countryside is lovely and filled with small villages and towns offering all sorts of things to do.  We always seem to end up pretty much along the East Coast which is really lovely and unspoiled.  That said this is the first time we have visited in high summer and a couple of the popular beach towns were pretty crowded.

One of our outings was to Wallington Hall in Cambo near Morpeth.  Really do try to get there if you are a garden fan.  The walled garden is worth the trip on its own.  It is huge and rocky and many layered and utterly lovely.  There is a ton more stuff to go at - the house itself is interesting and has some lovely architectural features including a spectacular painted hall.  There is a dolls house collection of 18 houses which is a rare find for anyone interested.

Back to the garden - here are some pictures of the walled garden to whet your appetite:

Buying reduced stock

Over the years I have rescued many a battered plant from supermarkets, garden centres and B & Q - not only are they cheap I actually feel sorry for them - yes I know, potty.  It is generally successful for them and me.

Recently B & Q were selling off long-overdue-for-planting plants in root, corm, tuber and bulb form for a pound a go.  I bought and planted a packet containing two phlox called Classic Cassis another pack contained four oriental lilies - Stargazer and the third pack had 30 peacock orchids (gladioli callianthus).

The lilies and phlox have not appeared yet, but its early days.  Meanwhile look what the peacock orchids have done so far in just a couple of weeks.  Even if the others never arrive just look at what I have for a total of three pounds....

every one a winner

This is what they will do for me soon...

In the garden today

We seem to be at a point where all the white plants are coming into flower.  The white roses are now blooming their socks off and the astilbe and gypsophila are about to do their thing.

Meanwhile we have these today...

love it when the borders get frothy

this is the prettiest little star, wish I knew what it was

small white geranium used for ground cover

they smell glorious - a tiny noisette rose - even the pink buds look pretty

again no name, sorry, plant from a friend

Incidentally I do add these and other pictures to the 'The Garden 2015' web album, so if you want more they will be there - link over in the left-hand column.

Water butt

There's a bargain to be had in slim water butts right now at B & Q.  This was £30 and reduced to £20 and if you have a wrinkly card for Wednesday it will cost you £18.

We used to have one here and we took it to the allotment and it was stolen!  So I am happy to have one back home again replacing the Clampett-like structure of watering can on bricks.

Handy source of water for plants in pots - warmish if weather is warm so less shock to the system, rainwater rather than chemically treated tap water and free (after the £18 investment!!) and 'green' in all ways including the colour - win-win.