Mike C's Blog (6)

Well it didn't take long for those sparrows to move in.....they certainly know a good thing when they see it!
Enjoy their activity.

Omg Sparrows are in your Dolls House Already Mikec :O How wonderful i bet your rite pleased arent you & your rite that Herb Garden will look fab there :D

Everywhere you look people are building the fancy purple martin houses...I should be working on my birdhouse today but went to the library this a.m. and found a mountain of interesting stuff and a Stargate DVD ...so maybe tomorrow for the birdhouse.. Anyway...what I started out to say was: I think sparrows are the most interesting birdhouse tennants of all...I love watching mine and now feel I have a family connection...Jacky. Hence I dare to call them "mine". I'm going to build my birdhouse as a copy of the old one... it was very popular with the birds and decided to make nesting ledges for robins..also making a bat-house (bathouse sounds like a totally different thing...but not a bad idea...a la Shogun) ..yeah .
Congrats on being able to get out and work...your design has great potential... Good Luck
Keep posting!

Hi Mike,
It sounds like you have been working very hard despite the chilly weather. The walkway through the arbours should look lovely. Have you thought about which plants to grow over the arbour frame?
Good luck with the project, and let us know how things progress.
Best wishes and happy gardening,
Grenville.

Thanks Nancy, Jacque and Lori. It's going to be fun putting the herb garden together. I'de love to be able to be out there right now transplanting.

Hi Grenville, On the arbor in the photo I have a Kiwi vine growing. Beneath it is an Acebea vine that was also growing on the patio cover. On the other side of the arbor is a Red Blaze climbing rose and a purple Clematis.

great minds think a like Mike - i have a rose arch with the same colours, only the other way around 'blue moon' rose and a bright red clematis - can't remeber the variety off the top of my head! i love these colours together very rich and vibrant! i love the way you have planned this area, - it has a bit of an informal court yard feel, is that what you were going for? i bet it will look stunning in summer when you have it all in flower and your herbs going strong - look forward to the pic's.

Hi Angie, I liked the way you described it as an informal court yard. Informal is good. Everything looks so bare and drab right now but that will change when things start to geeen up. I love arbors and trellises with at least two different color climbing plants on them. Three is enven better. I smiled to myself when you wrote " I love the way you have planned this area ". I never really plan anything. I just keep adding as I go and It has been that way from the begining.

I can't work with plans either, Mike. Your herb garden will look fantastic - can;t wait to see it planted up.

you know what me too, i have never drawn out anything before planting i just like to see how things develope, changing, moving things when needed - all part of the fun! i genrally have a picture in my mind of how i want the overall look to appear - eg informal courtyard lol, or referring to my garden, my woodland area! - you could hardly call it a woodland there are 2 trees! lol but that is just the look i want at the end of it - this is what i mean by planning! and yes i do love a trellis or rose arch, i only have a small long garden but i have used them to try and create a bit of secresy i love the idea that you have to go up to the end of the garden to see what is hiding! - but like you Mike it all looks quite bare at the moment - being a new garden done on quite a small buget even the shrubs are still very small, but in a few years time i am hoping my guests - as and when we have them will not be able to sit on the patio looking with out walking all the way up to the end for a better look!

Hi again Angie, We do think alike. When I first started my garden I had a vision and that vision was that when I walked into the garden, I wanted it so that I wouldn't be able to see the whole garden at once. That's why I have so many pathways and arbors, trees and bushes. My garden still has a long way to go until my arbors are completely covered and the bushes and shrubs tall enough to conceal what is on the other side of them. It al is coming along well and in the meantime it's fun watching everything filling in. Another thing that I wanted was a focal point on the other side of an arbor. Something that catches your eye and wants to make you walk through an arbor. That's what I like about my new herb garden that I'm putting together. In one of the photos that I posted, as you walk from the patio heading towards the house, the first thing you will see through an arbor is the large keg with the evergreen that I put in the center of the garden. I really love the garden room or seperate area feeling in a garden. I have to mention that I love Treesandthings garden. The way you have to walk through a hedge doorway which is hard to notice in the first place in order to get to another section of the garden. I think thats GREAT

What herbs are your thinking of Mike?