Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Has five days passed since I last blogged???? I seem to have been so busy, yet I'm not quite sure what I've done?? We took T to visited Birmingham Uni and it was an exceptionally long day which we are all still recovering from. We have another Uni visit next week and one the week after too!

My garden is currently annoying me!!!!! Can you believe that! I seem to solve one problem and another occurs elsewhere! Which needs alot of thought and back breaking work to sort!!!! I don't mind weeding and double digging etc, but stuff that requires lifting slabs, digging out trees is now getting a bit beyond me! Which also annoys me to pieces!

So take alook across the patio


lots of growing going on here, I've moved all my Brugmansias up here so I can see the lovely flowera and benefit from the scent. Then turning round you can see how the patio has filled up

all mu indoor succulents are now outside enjoying the weather and growing like billy oh!!!
Through the arch to the veg part

the peas on the right are doing really well,behind them I have sweetcorn planted and they are underplanted with Gem Squash, I grew these for the first time last year for hubby. They where so delicious I have planted five plants this year so hopefully will be inundated with them! The climbing french beans on the right are coming along slowly, with courgettes and potatoes behind them.

Now we come to the part that is annoying me

my flower bed area in the veg patch! My neighbours hedge, which grows over continuously (well they do don't they)the top of there already enormous fence, but I have to cut my side all the time otherwise it makes all my plants lean and fall over, which is exactly what has happened, all the alliums are lying down, as did the poppies and now the lillies.

the tree in the middle of the bed with the yellow leaves is an Indian Bean tree, these are quite beautiful and the leaves are enormous so I think in the autumn I will move it so alittle bit more sun gets to this bed. The main reason I planted it here was that it needed shelter from the wind, which it has certainly got. So I think I will move it further up the bed towards the camera so it offers shelter to the seating area but the sun can get to the rest of the bed.
Further down the garden

then over to the pond


which since we fitted the new pond pump and filter and added some new fish is looking sensational!
In the greenhouse the tomatoes and cucumbers are growing well. I also have my first ever aubergine flower

I'm growing aubergines!!!
A beautiful pink

I can remember mum growing pinks, she always had them and lots of them too, this one reminds me of a clump of hers!!!

I hope you are all OK, I will try and get round to visit you this week, but to be honest, I'm not sure I can blog for a few weeks as our diary is so full. So I haven't popped my clogs, just taking a short break!!

Fruit & Veg!

As you may know I am always on a diet. K wanted to lose weight over the hols so joined me. Everyone was tucking into Choc Ices and we felt left out so here is my recipe for a slimming ice lollie!!!
Weigh and wash 1lb strawberries

Whizz them up

add some lowfat yoghurt of similar flavour, I used Muller Lite

Mix until a marble effect

Pour into lollie thingys

Freeze, then enjoy

I didn't add sweetner but you can do if you wish!!

We had some of my homegrown potatoes on Sunday



they where so scrummy, then I got the Dobies catalogue through, telling me about the winter crops I could be growing, late potatoes, cabbage, cauli etc. Now my small plot is normally empty over winter but I think I may have a go. They also mention autumn onion sets, would I have to cloche them? How successful have people been with any of these?
I wish I had an allotment, did I tell you I'm having another go at growing cauliflower, we are big eaters of cauli, its basically the only veg T eats apart from peas and sweetcorn!

Summer Solstice

Today is the longest day! The beginning of summer! Woohoo!! Guess what? Its raining!

I remember as a child how the 6 weeks of the summer hols seemed endless and hot! We spent nearly everyday outside, playing in the garden, going for walks or even playing on the beach (we lived closer in those days), mum always had a paddling pool filled and warmed for our return from school! Dad loved the Bar-b-que so we had many! So whats with this global warming, doesn't that mean it should be getting hotter?
I planted my tropical/jungle garden as the plants I had where suffering badly in the hot summers.
So here we are today




Looking better than when I first planted but still behind what it should be!

It is time to order the coal for the winter all 2 1/2 tons of it and just to wind you all up its 6 months and 4 days till Christmas!!!!!!!!!!

Running off very quickly!!!!!!!!!!!!!................................

RE-Designing

I am so fed up with these suckers that are basically destroying what could be a lovely flower bed that I am considering some re-designing!!!
I have taken a group of pics of basically the same area to give you a rough idea of the plan!!!
I think the plan is to extend the chicken run out towards the bits of fence and trellis and wood you can see.

Move the plant that is growing up the obelisk!



and make a path around to the left of the fence using stepping stones and grass. That way I can mow off the suckers, (hysterical laughter!!)

The 'Down' side to this is you get to walk next to a grotty and very old fence! I lose part of a flower bed.
The 'UP' side is the chickens get a bigger run and I hopefully should beat the suckers by cutting them off every week!!!
Still to be decided!
I thought I would show you some of my baby Brugs that are currently thriving!

and a little friend who watches over the pond!

Good News!

My Brugmansias are fine! How brilliant is that! I joined ABADS-America Brugmansia and Datura Society and posted pics on there forum and the concensus of opinion is that they are healthy plants its probably the up and down weather temps we have in the UK!!!
Smiling broadly here!!!
I went out this morning and took pics of about 6 of my brugs that have flower buds on, but when I came in they where totally out of focus! I wasn't going out again as it was only 7C quite chilly! So far 6 seeds I bought from Ebay have grown, I shall let them get a bit bigger before potting on.
In the mean time K has been digging her heart out and has cleared all the suckers from the plant in my neighbours garden, that prefers to be in mine and because it is so rampant, we keep digging up my plants to make sure we get all the roots out so my plants never really get going!!!

you can see it the other side of the fence. This is the bags of roots and sukers she dug out

I seem to have a flying chicken in that pic!!!!
Further down she cleared out a plant that had been taking over

so now we or probably I will take the opportunity to paint the fence and even look into getting some, bamboo rhizome barrier then dig down about 2 ft and pop it in. Hopefully then the neighbours plants will remain in her garden. I have plenty of plants to fill the gaps, but today we are going off to the shops to have a browse and a bit of retail therapy.
K's boyfriend is coming for a week tomorrow, so may take the opportunity of using his muscle about the garden! Must remind her to remind him to bring some old trainers and not his white sparkly ones!!!!!!