Its getting there...

As we get older the halcyon days of summer are soon over and it's planting time again. There's something satisfying about starting over again as the gardening year starts now, for me anyway. I like raised beds, what have you made yours with? I expect your garden will look verry tidy for winter when you've done the fences and tidied up.

I do like tidy borders and a tidy garden, and I enjoy planting and moving plants about! I have built the raised beds with buff coloured walling bricks topped off with coping stones. I am not a builder so they dont look perfect but I am very proud of my work. I use my own compost mix: 50% peat free compost, 40% top soil, 10% horticultural grit. I compact it down, leave it for a couple of weeks or so, then plant. I have always liked slate, so I have large peices on the raised beds. In the borders I use tree stumps and logs just to break up the beds and provide a habitat for insects which the birds like to eat.

It sounds terrific Geraniumdad, a pic would be nice. I too an very fond of slate, I like the feel of it too. In North Wales, a place I often frequent, slate is used for yards steps and all sorts, even fencing.

I hope you get lots of jobs done. I'm going to make a list of mine. I think I'll need a few sheets of paper lol

i have started the big tidy up now and moveing plants about.

I have a long list of jobs to do but the house is still getting decorated very slowly due to work commitments and budgeting money, and juggling jobs around 4 kiddies. The house was a tip when we moved in 4 and a half years ago: dog mess all over garden, cat mess under the laminate flooring, fleas, blood and urine stains, holes in walls, dangerous electrics, a gas leak, drainage problems (toilet backing up even when we didn't use it!) hole in the roof, and a leaking water tank.
Only 2 bedrooms and the bathroom to do now inside then its done!

omg wot have you moved in too. hope it sorted now /lol sounds like ours wen we moved in ,we still doing

It is a beautiful 5 bedroomed semi with some extra land at the side now; it was a hovel when we bought it but we bought it for the location (edge of the estate over looking the countryside) and the price was right after I haggled it down to £77,750. Oh, and the garden was covered in so much dog mess, I hired a skip and took off the turf and covered the lot in jeyes fluid! Stunk for a while but like my neighbours said, it was better than the smell on hot summer days......

swounds like a lot of work hope to see some pics soon hun x