I have been very busy over the Christmas break tidying the garden. There is still a lot to do but at least I am beginning to feel like I am making progress. The shot above is the new cottage garden border. In my head it will be a mass of blousey blooms in the summer but who knows. I can’t quite remember exactly what is in here and where now so it will be a case of waiting and seeing how it progresses over the coming year. I have weeded and mulched it today and planted 3 apples along the wall side which I have pruned down to make step-overs. I am planning to edge along the wall side with geraniums and Alchemilla mollis. I think this border will be the focus of next year’s end of month view posts.
Corner border - December 2011
Corner Border - April 2011
Corner border - June 2011
When I look back through the end of month reviews the corner border actually looked better this summer than I thought. I still need to find an identity for this border to help me with the planting. We are thinking of putting a bench in here which hopefully my son will make for me at some point. But to be fair the border was only planted at the beginning of the year and with bits and pieces from around the garden so it isn’t that bad. I will ponder further
Daisy/Slope border - December 2011
Daisy/slope border - June 2011
Daisy/slope border - September 2011
The slope border was given a new identity during the year and is now the daisy border with asters, echinacea, helianthus etc. I need to make sure that it doesn’t look too dull before they come into flower in late summer but I will wait and see how it works this summer as the grasses, camassias and aquilegias should help.
The new 'Bog' Garden - December 2011
The new 'Bog' Garden - September 2011
The pond area - March 2011
One of the major changes in the garden in 2011 was the conversion of the wildlife pond into a bog garden. Now I need to sort out the planting around this area so it works better. I have already dug up the nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo) up to the top of the garden where hopefully it might actually establish and start to grow better. I have a rowan psuedovmorinii on order to go near the corner border but I need to clear the area and get the rowan in before I can really visualise the rest of the space. I don’t know how garden designers visualise whole planting plans.
The new woodland/spring border - December 2011
New woodland/spring border - April 2011
New woodland/spring border - June 2011
Earlier in the year I extended the borders to create a woodland/spring border. This is in an area where the moss is terrible due to my neighbours trees and the soil is generally quite moist so a lawn of any kind was a waste of time. I had to wait for April for the soil to dry out enough to be able to work and then we had a dry spell which went on most of the summer. I have filled the border with bulbs and spring perennials so I shall be waiting to see how it looks this coming year.
It is interesting look back over this year’s End of Month view posts how much I have done despite feeling like I had neglected the garden. It also seems that June is the best month in the garden and I want to improve things so the garden looks good for a longer period of time. As I said at the start of this post I intend to feature the new cottage garden border next year in these posts and maybe one or two other areas which haven’t featured much before.
The other good thing this year is how many fellow garden bloggers have decided to join in with this meme and are finding it useful. I love having a nose around other people’s gardens so I am hoping more will join in during 2012. If you would like to join in just leave a link to your post in the comment box. Who knows in 2012 I might work out how to do have a Mr Linky box on these posts!