Two projects to get my teeth into - and I'm new to this!

It looks great john, really healthy, well done, im still waiting for mine to flower..

 

that looks lovely John

 

Brilliant :thumb:

 

It seems that spring is now upon us, so it's time to start planning what to do this year. I'm thinking of using more Cannas in the raised beds with a few Cordylines too.

For the front garden, I'm still thinking of building the wheelie-bin shed, and also considering climbing a rose up the front of the house.

I think I'll have to spend some time planning before my annual leave starts just before the next bank holiday.

If anyone has any suggestions for climbing roses, let me know - any colour, any scent, any height, as long as it ould be happy growing against a westerly facing wall, which is slightly shaded from the south.

 

I still think you should do some topiary and create a wheelie bin from your boxus...forget the shed...:hehe: :lollol: :yho:

Steve...

 

I'll have to see if I can make a wheelie bin shaped guide out of mesh to prune around!

 

It's time for an update. I've mainly been concentrating on the front garden for the last couple of weeks, but have been side-tracked by revising for exams.

Here's the front garden last year.







The area is too small to keep mowing all of the time, so I thought about slabbing it. However, the land is really really uneven, plus there is a manhole cover in it, which I thought would look out of place if it was exposed. That either meant building up the land and leaving a slab loose over the cover, but you can guarantee it wouldn't be in the center of where the slabs would lie without being cut!

So instead my mind turned to gravel and a small slabbed area.

My first job was to clear the old turf and lay some membrane.



While I was at it, I added this years baskets to the wall and beneath the kitchen window.






As I discovered that the garden isn't perfectly rectangular and would leave odd sized borders down the side of the slabs and the wall, I decided to negate this by turning the patio.





After laying the slabs, I've added pea gravel to cover the rest of the area.



To decorate the slabs, I've just placed the potted cordyline that was in the back garden last year on the centre slab.

I still want to grow some climbing plants of some sort up the wall and decided that I want colour in summer and winter. So the plan is to attach some trellis and then trail two Clematis up each trellis and over the basket to meet in the centre, from two pots.

I've settled on a white winter clematis Jingle Bells and for the summer, I've chosen the pink and white clematis

The back garden hasn't really recieved much attention bar fresh hanging baskets, a trio of new cannas in one of the raised beds and a cordyline in the centre of each. I'll be adding Hosta Fire & Ice to the edges of these raised borders as I'm edging towards plants with bold or spiky leaves. I'll be adding those later this afternoon and hopefully fixing the trellis to the front wall. I'll add photos once both tasks are complete.

 

Hi John, hope the exams go well for you. :thumb:

I do like to see pics of other members gardens! Looks like you are getting well on the way now after your hard work. I like the red wall as a backdrop for the planters - I can't quite make out what sort of planters they are.

Let us know how you are progressing

 

Cheers :thumb:

The planters are bronze coloured plastic, from Wilkinsons for a bargain £9.99.

Just need to get the trellis up now as the clematis are waiting in the wings.

 

the back garden is looking very smart john i like the curved fence. I think you will find that the plant you thought was a japonica is called forest flame.

 

It's all looking very smart John. A job well done