My first garden!

That's a lovely Wyandotte and beautiful colouring..... silkies are great layers... eggs are smaller though and they prefer a garden that doesn't waterlog, its amazing when they follow you around, cute.... some people even dye their feathers and show them..... How sad is this....

bet they have an identity crisis!!

I know a breeder so have put an order in for some for next spring, the garden isn't ready for them yet so I'm not in a hurry to get them at the moment

 

lmfao That's both brilliant and ridiculous! I will be looking out for your posts about your new chooks too

 

Gorgeous hen Rad, you certainly need some of those in your life .
Great news @Apple Blossom , roll on the spring so we can see your hens too . Love the coloured hens, they look quite ridiculous but hilarious at the same time!
I'm still trying to get my new hens sorted I keep missing the lady who Im getting them off, I think we are playing phone tag!

 

Worked on the garden again! The old lawn (around the back edge of the garden) was still there so I spent some time taking that out. I found a load of bulbs, which I've put to one side, and I came across what looks like a tree. There was a stump about 3ft tall which was cut at the top and it was still growing shoots. In the past 3 months, it has grown shoots about 10ft tall and I'm not putting up with that.

Unfortunately, the stump is growing on the neighbours land and forks either side of the fence so I couldn't get it out. I've sheared off the trunk back to the fence line and hopefully it will rot and die. If not, I will have much less evening sun but that's not going to effect the garden much.

I missed out something from the last update because it was getting to be a pretty long post. A very kind and wonderful @Anthony Rogers sent me some plants

I've unwrapped them and put them into the raised bed for now. Spaced 6 inches apart, they have filled the top tier (6ft x 2ft). In there I've got:

• 2x Salvia Dolchantha
• Ajuga "Burgandy glow"
• Dranthus Barbatus "Sweet William"
• Campanula Pyramidalis
• Heliathemum Rock Rose
• Verbena Bonariensis
• Lysiamachia Punctata
• Digitalis "Carillion" (Yellow Foxglove)
• Papaver Orientale (Oriental Poppy)
• Dranthus Plumerius "Garden Pinks"
• 7x Dianthus Superbus

The Suberbus seemed to be a bunch of individual plants so I planted them seperately.

They are all very small and seem to be a bit spindly, but I'm putting that down to the fact that they have been in a pitch black bag for a bit and they've been planted in a new type of soil. Hopefully they will pick up soon! Pressure's on to make Ant proud

I also received a parcel! Well two actually. They were from Martins Nursery. I ordered 10 shrubs from him at a total cost of £50. I just wanted to get something in the garden to try and work out where the other plants were going to go. From him I got:

• Forest Flame Pieris
  
• Flaming Silver
• Spotted Laurel
• Euonymus Fortunei "Blondy"
  
• Thuja Occidentalis
  
• Mahonia Japonica
• Spirea Japonica "Firelight"
• Halimium Libanotis
• Nandina Domestica "Firepower"
• Honeysuckle Gold Flame Lonicera

They are dotted around the garden now. Trying to work out which parts of the garden are full sun, partial shade and full shade. The only one I've planted is the honey suckle which has gone in the trellis planter.

Ok update over. It's very wordy but my phone is dead (I plugged it in to charge but didn't turn on the socket ) so I couldn't get photos.

 

You're welcome Rad

......................

You great steaming





It's that little clicky thing next to the plug holes, you have to click it so all the energy can f l o w out, and then your phone gobbles it up

 

I love how @ARMANDII can always find a picture to use as a response. Seriously Armandii, do you have a large database at your disposal or something?

@Anthony Rogers Yeh I've figured it out now

Found a trick... makes it cheaper!

 

Oh I forgot to mention... I did the "new lawn test" earlier and the lawn has made it to the first milestone! I can pull on the turf by the blades of grass and it doesn't peel from the ground. I've tested a few areas, including the corners and it all seems good. The grass is growing and I've been walking on it, but only when necessary and only along the creases to help merge the adjacent rolls of turf. I've recently been walking on it (but only when I'm not carrying a trug of old lawn). I'm going to leave it to grow a bit taller because I want it to be able to get some energy from the sun. I know cutting it helps it grow better, but I want it to build some energy first.

Also, I've trimmed the hedges in the front garden. It's a woody plant but the new growth is fairly easy to snap so I've put it in the compost frame. I'm hoping it decomposes because it's filled the frame half way now!

Anyway, it's 2am... and I'm digging a 15 year old hydrangea (with roots in tact) out of my grans garden tomorrow (in 7 hours time). Hopefully I can plant that in my garden tomorrow too!

 

Still no photos I'll give you some great photos tomorrow

I've got a load of plants actually planted into the ground now! It's all kicking off! 10 shrubs, 100+ bulbs, rockery plants and a 20 year old hydrangea are living here now.

My potatoes have shooted to the surface now too! Yeahhhhh

I've also mowed the lawn for the first time because it was starting to seed. I wanted to stop it from doing that. When it's putting energy into making seed, it's not putting as much energy into growing. The added benefit of mowing it is that the grass sends up new shoots when it's cut so that means it will get bushier and fill out more. A light cutting got one quarter of a basket on the mower.... not much but that's going in the composting frame

This is fun!

The plants that Ant sent over are coming round. I think the shock of being in a dark bag for postage and then in full sun for a day might have got to them a bit. One of them looks "a bit dead" but I'm giving it a chance.

Photos tomorrow... for sure

 

Full sun ? ? ?

Which one looks a bit dead ?

 

Well not direct sun... it was cloudy but it was in bright outside light. I would have covered them over if it was direct sun. They were in damp soil to make sure they didn't dry out (and I've made sure they didn;t have water on the leaves during birhgt light).

It's either Campanula Pyramidalis or Lysiamachia Punctata which looks like a dried twig. I'll keep going with CPR for a while longer