Every year I decide I’m going to really get in to gardening, I will deadhead all my flowers and remember to water my plants. Every year I fail miserably.
In 2015 I’m not going to promise I’ll have a courtyard resembling Monty Don’s but I’m going to give it my best shot. My husband James and I have resolved to spending more time at home in this year. We have few weekends in our own pad and though we love our busy social life, everyone needs some R&R once in a while.
The above images were taken at the end of the Spring and already the courtyard was becoming very full. When September came to an end the area was fit to bursting.
Towards the end of last year we made a really good start on smartening up the garden by clearing and weeding the whole patio. In the image above it looks like it’s just moss removal required but by the end of Summer all manner of vines and creepers had emerged. Uprooting them and preventing new growth was no mean feat but well worth the graft. Now we can step out on to the small cobbles rather than heading in to a jungle.
Inspiration
As with any planning for any project I am pinning like crazy. I have an ‘outside’ board for general garden inspiration and a ‘courtyard’ one for my own little abode. Quite some years ago I received a Small Garden
Planning
While we’re all tucked up inside with the central heating blaring and the candles flickering it’s nice to look ahead to the warmer months. I received some rather gorgeous stationery for Christmas and so I’ve been plotting and sketching the changes I want to make to the garden.
The first big change I want to make is to remove some of the trees and shrubs dominating the right hand side of the garden. They grow vigorously and due to some poor pruning, bloom in some very odd ways. They are blocking a lot of light into my lounge and their dominance make it difficult to get up the steps to the upper level of the garden. Once the area is clear I’m going to look for some shrubs to plant in their place and potentially get a fruit tree. I’m very inspired by a garden I’ve seen featuring olive trees, dotted with box bushes and cyclamens proving you can incorporate several species and lots of texture in to a small space.
Pruning
After watching a YouTube video last year on how to prune a wisteria, it’s time for the second round of cutting. If you remember back in my May post last year I mentioned it was very rampant and unruly. Therefore in August we got to work cutting back the whippy green shoots to leave six leaves on each vine. Now its time to reduce them down to three buds. There’s nothing like watching a YouTube tutorial to suddenly make you feel like you’re an expert.
While I’ve been doing my research I’ve also read I should be pruning my rose bushes while they are dormant so I’ll be bundling up and getting busy with the scissors to bring them back in check.
Revisiting Old Ideas
Last year I had considered creating an outdoor room on the right hand side side of our terrace. However the wisteria was drowning the area and it had become storage space instead. I really think we should revisit the idea this summer particularly after the success of our bench which I basically lounged on all day long.
If you’d like this to become a regular monthly series then do let me know. My Father-in-Law is a trained horticulturist so I’m sure I can ask him to offer some more expert advice on what we should all be up to in any given month. Are you planning any changes to your patio, yard or garden this year?
Yes defo!! we’ve nearly finished doing the house so the next task will be the garden! So need lots of inspiration and advice! We have no idea when it comes to gardening, i always wanted a large garden but until we got one i didn’t realise how much time and work it needs! Worth it for the summer months though!
Absolutely Laura!
How big are we talking? Lots of lawn? Do you have flower beds and the like? x
I would love to see this as monthly feature!
We took on a 150ft of garden 3 years ago and I thought I’d have transformed it into an oasis by now…. We’ve got big plans though and this will be the year!
We dedicated a large section to raised vegetable beds so it’d be great to know what we should plant when (and what to do with a bountiful crop as a spin off feature?!)
Wow Laura, your garden sounds immense.
Love the idea of seasonal recipes for your bumper crops. Thanks for the suggestion we will definitely see what we can do x
I’d love to see this as a regular feature. In the summer you will have to post BBQ and cocktail receipes to enjoy in the garden.
Good plan Claire. Ahh BBQ’s. How long till we can have one?!
Yes, I’d love to see it as a regular feature too. We’ve got an established small city garden that we inherited when we bought our house. It looks fab (no thanks to us) but we’re clueless when it come to looking after it.
I could definitely do with some inspiration for the south facing beds in the front though. They are in need of some major work to get them looking presentable this year.
Any tips appreciated!
Your garden sounds fabulous Helen and how lucky it’s already established. Will make a note of ideas for beds.
I would love this as a feature. We were delighted to get a 60 foot garden with our london flat, but it’s a complete mess. It’s currently (bad quality) soil and weeds. We have a baby due in the summer and I’m determined to get it ready throughout spring so I can spend time under a parasol with my little one come summer!
Big congrats on the baby Anna!
Wow that’s very sizable for a spot in the capital. We’ll see what we can do to turn it in to a baby paradise x
Great idea for a post and great timing too. So many garden things I read about that tell me what I should have done last month or last season. I’m also expecting a new arrival in the summer and would like to make more of our garden which is mainly hard landscaping with a few shrubs (I have no idea what they are) and a new hedge we planted last year for privacy that I randomly prune bits off in an attempt to look like a gardener. I’d like to plant things that grow and look pretty without too much hard maintenance! Also needs to be puppy proof!
Oh another little one due in the summer, very exciting.
Can I ask you what you planted for your hedge? I’m doing lots of research at the moment on shrubs for privacy (very exciting!)x
It’s some kind of privat. We bought semi mature plants about 5 ft so we had some privacy to begin with but it’s still going to take a few years for them to fully mature and thicken to create a proper hedge.
Yes please, regular feature! Our garden is quite low maintenance at the moment but does need some work to make it more pretty so that we spend more time in it. I got a little Australian Women’s Weekly book on how to grow vegetables and recipes to use them in and it’s really good – I’m going to prep my soil in an unused bed in the next couple of weeks ready for some spring veg planting!
Are all the months the wrong way round Kitty with their summer being our winter?!
Love that you grow your own. Prepping the beds is going to have to be on the February to-do-list.
They’re not actually, it’s all UK seasons in there. Aus Women’s Weekly do a whole range of these little books that get published over here so they must tailor them specifically for us 🙂 I’ve only got a small bed, but am thinking carrots, beetroot, onions/garlic. I’ve already got pots full of herbs but might try and grow some tomatoes in a pot as well.
Ahhh, all makes sense now Kitty! Liking the veg choices x
Yes indeed to a green fingered section! I have empty boarders, a bare fence crying out for something to crawl up it and a space I hope to get some berries planted in to liven up the hubby’s porridge of a morning. Blank canvas, but you’ve inspired me to get pinning, lots of good plans start with a pin!
Don’t they Lizzie?! What did we ever do before Pinterest?
Using your own berries to liven up porridge sounds fabulous and very ‘Good Life’. Like this idea a lot x