Nearly Done Digging.

Welcome to some new followers, Susie from fold in the flour and radqueen1, lovely to have you with us. Susie hails from Cardiff and on her latest post was a recipe for a cake with cranberries. I love the tart, sharp taste and was thinking of trying to grow some. Then I read a post about the Barberry, fruit of the Berberis Thunbergi. It convinced me to search one out and I hope to be planting one soon.

I know that this will grow here as there are a few in the village, and they do not require a specific soil and as an extra bonus the fruit is at easy picking height.

Work is moving ahead at the top end of the garden, the natural barrier, that we needed to build, is almost complete. It does not look very pretty but there will be more soil added and then I will plant it with Ivy, Vinca Major and some honeysuckle. Between them they will consolidate the soil, provide total ground cover and climb up the trees providing a living screen. The soil is coming from this area behind the greenhouse, there is also plenty of rubbish and broken bricks coming out. Yesterday at around 3.00 pm

I took this one earlier this afternoon, the brick pillar is the start of the incline to be planted. There will be a wire fence all the way across here.

If I can find some I will fill this with cabbage plants, if not a bag of onion sets will go in.

Three of these were dug out and some well rotted manure forked into the bottom.

Today they look like this.

Well heeled in with a mixture of soil and manure halfway up the hole and sieved soil to the base of the turf, I will top up with a mulch of bark chippings. As these are small trees, and there is very little wind out here, I have not staked them. At the top far right the plum and damson trees will be on St. Julien stock and will be staked.

The trees are set across the garden rather than in a straight line, it is not meant to look like an orchard.

Further back I will have a rectangular bed cut out and will set this out in square feet, this will give me 27 little plots to fill with whatever takes my fancy from my selection of seeds. On the far right the wide bed will hold the last 2 trees and possibly a gooseberry, some autumn raspberries and a planted table of strawberries. No bending or kneeling to pick them.

At the moment it looks like this,

Piles of rehomed soil and a nice load of manure, I have tipped some into the greenhouse as well to feed next years greedy tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.

This walkway on the right hand side of the greenhouse gives access to the little shed, the Keter storage units and the bed behind the greenhouse,once finished it will have a layer of bark.

This is at the front right hand side of the greenhouse and marks where the land falls away. It will be built up and a step or 3 put in before getting a layer of bark. I will have room for a couple of chairs and a small table here, a place to sit and read when it gets hot. There is also a potting/pricking out area planned to fit in the corner.

Reasons to be grateful.

1.  A big wasted area fast becoming an important part of the garden.

2.  The ground clearing cost nothing but elbow grease and sweat.

3.  I am being taken out tomorrow to visit a nursery full of fruit trees.

4.  I was given a big bag of runner beans, delicious.

5.  The rain came as dusk fell so I will not have to worry about watering tomorrow.

The day was very sunny mostly, but every time the sun went behind a cloud it became noticeably cooler. I hope that it is warm tomorrow it will make walking round the nursery much better.

I have planted my little shrubs into pots and left them on the greenhouse steps for now, a  bit of a Ben barrier. I have to get out and buy the water butts now.

That is it for tonight, I have also cut a stack of 5" charm squares from the stash today and got 2 loads of washing done and dried. Not ironed though, I got distracted while looking for the best price of bark on line. I ended up watching about 10 U Tube gardening videos. Naughty but nice.

        TTFN                                                                  Pam

It ain't half hot here.

Oops, I missed a day again, yesterday went by so quickly that it was bedtime before I thought about writing a post.

I have finished the scrappy sewing part of the purses that I want to make.

I am going to quilt this before cutting out the purses, it will be easier than quilting small bits and pieces and I can make sure not to waste very much.

This small polka dot will be the top band of all the purses and these are the small zips that I unearthed, all I need to do now is make time to make them.

I weeded the central bed in the front garden and thought that I would share these,

There are several more getting ready to flower, once they have died back I will be digging the bed out ready to replant. I have not decided exactly what will go in there yet. Under the window there are some elderly roses, I will prune these back and give them a potassium rich feed next spring in the hope that they will perk up. Between the roses I aim to plant Flowering Quince, the blossom is very pretty and quite long lasting and the fruits are sweet scented and make wonderful glowing pink jelly.

I have been toying with the idea of training a lollypop apple tree in the front but think that the wind might be a bit much for it.

My lonely Courgette plant has given me a few fruits since it,s poor start, there were 2 plants but one just withered away.

The peppers are thriving in the sewing room window, I will soon be drying some chillies.

I have done a great deal of work in the back garden.

This was the view through the gate up into the top part after i had cut 6 feet tall nettles and other weeds down, the poor little cherry tree was barely in the soil and has been dug out and rehomed.

There is a tree the other side of the little shed that needs lopping back and behind that roll of fencing is a straggly hawthorn blocking out even more light.

Through the old frame and more nettles is a rubbish dump, old TV,s, satellite dishes, fire grates, flower pots and old compost bags and all manner of broken stuff all thrown in and left.

The tree has been trimmed back, there is just a branch stump to come off, and all the branches have been woven to make a barrier at the back. When I finally hacked my way there I found that the boundary fence had collapsed, I thought that this was a good use for all the waste branches.

The hawthorn is out and those branches have joined the others making a barrier that I hope is impenetrable. The light now floods the new space, the frame on the right is over a small pond, once I can get it cleared I will decide if it is staying.

The reel of fencing has been untangled and stretched out on the rear lawn, there is enough to fence the right side in completely. You will have noticed that I have had some help, it took both of us 2 afternoons to get this far and we will probably take tomorrow to finish off. I plan on having another storage unit up there and a greenhouse. I have been researching on line and as soon as the ground is cleared will be ordering my greenhouse, I can hardly wait. I have just realised that the photos do not show the unit that is already there, I will take some more tomorrow.

My new mini oven has been used and I am very pleased with it, a quiche for dinner tonight and tomorrow, a loaf of wholemeal bread and a Blackberry sponge were all made today.

All I have bought this week is a lettuce at 49p, and a head of celery RTC 25p. I will need milk at some point early next week but have enough fresh fruit and veg for another week.

Reasons to be grateful.

1.  Sunshine made the work go faster.

2.  A helping pair of hands made the work easier.

3.  I now have the benefit of almost twice as much garden.

4.  My new neighbour is very pleasant, there may be a barbecue in my near future.

5.  I have found some new blogs to read, like minded people.

I have stopped following a few blogs, some have not had new posts for several months so I could not see the point of keeping them on my list. There are many more that I would like to follow but do not have the time to read all the posts.

I know that I have some new followers, I apologise for the distinct lack of a welcome, my poor excuse is that I have been busy, I will rectify matters on my next post.

Now it is time for tea or maybe a hot chocolate.

        TTFN                                                                     Pam