Welcome to my contribution to an English Cottage garden. Today it’s sunny, warm and we have had some rain, which is much needed. I am feeling really pleased with my garden so am going to give you a little tour. It maybe one of the smallest gardens in the garden blogging fraternity but it keeps me busy and there is a lot in it.
It is west facing and surrounded on three sides by a Victorian stone wall. I have lived here for 14 years and been plagued by the ivy, it is an ongoing battle. I have a new neighbor to the left and I was more than delighted when he cut down the ivy on his side that had grown into trees! The difference it has made is phenomenal, there is so much more light in the garden.
The grass is full of clover, I did a feed and weed job on it earlier this year, leaving me with a lot of ugly black patches – at least the moss has died! It is now very patchy with lush grass where I sowed ‘patch fix’ and a different coloured grass in other places. No doubt it will settle down, it’s a patch of green anyway although far from being a lawn as purists would have it.
This year I moved my garden table on to the little patio area at the back of the house. It is quite cosy here sitting with the Compassion rose towering on one side and the Rasberry bushes and fennel on the other. The Sweet peas ‘Beaujolais’ seem to be struggling, I was a little late in sowing them and they are taking time to catch up but will get there eventually.
On the other side of the Compassion Rose is a small raised bed in which I usually grow vegetables. This year because I had extra cucumber and tomato plants I decided I would grow some outside also. The cucumbers ‘market more’ are doing really well but the tomatoes ‘sweet million’ are slow to flower so not sure if I will get many toms this year.
Fortunately most of the ivy has gone from the north facing wall so the garden does get a lot more light on that side than in last years. The soil is heavy clay and despite years of adding compost etc it still gets waterlogged in the winter. This bed is full of Astilbe, Hostas, Achemila Mollis and a Hydrangea. Although Crocosmia likes sunshine, it still grows happily at the back of this border. The Potentilla is flowering well this year which is a first, it had always struggled in the past.
potentilla
I have a side patio which is south facing and a real micro climate, and sun trap. It is looking exceptionally lush at the moment. The white Agapanthus has graced me with two flowers this year and the Passion flower is just beginning to bloom. I am growing a couple of cucumber plants in the greenhouse just to see which fair better, the ones outside or these. At the moment it is neck and neck, I will report back in a few weeks.
White agapanthus
Passion Flower
I haven’t blogged much in the last few months but I do hope I still have some followers and you have enjoyed this little trip around my garden on the coast in West Sussex.
