Jan 2019 - Garden Update

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Hello fellow GOY’ers. It’s been a while, but as i had an email through today advising that there had been 17 replies to some of my blogs i thought it about time that i did a bit of catching up.

To be really honest, i haven’t actually done a lot more work on the garden since i last blogged but there has been some.

I have cleared the second raised bed that was beside the Koi pond and built a taller raised sleeper bed which makes it easier for OH to do a bit of gardening. Well that was the theory anyway. I ended up planting out the flowers that are currently in there.

It’s inside our garden marquee because i am getting ready for the OH’s 70th birthday party in late Feb and if i hadn’t put it up now while the sun was shining by late Feb it could well be snowing – it certainly did last year.

As there was a hole where the rest of the L shaped bed was removed i laid a bit of crazy paving in the area to give us a bit more room on the patio.

When it came to putting the marquee up i wasn’t sure that it would actually fit into this garden but with a bit of pushing and pulling i managed to get it skywards – (on my own i might add) – and at 71 that’s a task i never thought i would see completed without the help of my son.

So during last summer i managed to get the cement mixer working again and laid some paving slabs the complete length of the side of the bungalow and up into the back garden, creating a dry runway for a wheelbarrow to get to the compost heap which i created at the back of the garden.

We suffered really badly with swamp like conditions all through last winter with the deluge of rain that we had so i had to do something to combat it for this winter.

Still got a couple of slabs to lay along side the greenhouse but otherwise it’s job done in that respect.

I started to lay some gravel from the back gate that we installed last year alongside where i park the car as i was constantly walking mud indoors from the soil on the garden at that point. Not quite finished that yet as i have some more gravel to put down and also tidy up the edge of the weed membrane so that it no longer shows.

I decided to lay scottish cobbles alongside the path going up the to the back of the garden just to give me a slightly wider pathway. It took an absolute age setting them all into cement but the overall finished product isn’t too bad.

We/I also managed to plant three fruit trees in the back lawn as well so we now have a pear tree, am apple tree and a plum tree. The plum tree gave us 15 plums last year but the other two have yet to fruit. Fingers crossed for this year.

The rocks that you can see in the long raised bed and at the front of the house i managed to get from my son who ripped up his garden in Llandudno to put some new fencing in.

It took me two trips at 45 mph from Wales to Winsford to get them home all laid out in the converted to flat estate boot of my motor. I reckon there must have been around 2 ton on each trip.

I have included some photo’s below of the work achieved so far but they were taken today at around 4 pm so quality not too good. The ones i took of the work as i progressed it all seem to want to load sideways so they are work in progress.

Well that brings me up to date for last year and hopefully this year i will have a bit more time to take photo’s and blog.

I have managed to join a pretty decent dance/pop band since i’ve been in Winsford which has taken a bit of my free time away.

If you want to have a look and a listen to us, visit www.harleyndutch.co.uk where you will be able to see us in action with a load of videos that i have put up there.