Archive of posts with the category 'General'

We had our first big snowfall of 2010 last night and I thought I’d share the wintry scene with you: Read on

I’ve now finished cladding our steps and building the two new raised beds. This tidies up the area between our patio and the garden proper. I’ve just got to plant up between the steps and in the beds now. Clad steps and both beds Clad steps with space for planting Another view of the steps and the largest of the beds Read on

I’ve now finished the first of the new raised beds near our patio. The plan is to build three beds in total and also clad the steps. The first raised bed is finished Read on

I’ve now started work on the raised beds and steps closest to the house. I’m planning to build the beds out of fence posts and deck boards. We’re also going to clad our “feature sleeper steps” (estate agent speak) since they ooze tar when it’s warm weather and so we can’t sit on them. We could just buy pressure treated ones but it seems a shame to get rid of these ones so cladding with... Read on

Over the last few days the weather has definitely turned colder and today we had our first frost. I’m sure the frost will put pay to any late flourishes from the remaining veg in the garden. It was always unlikely that our butternut squash would reach a harvestable size but the frost will almost certainly have killed the plant now. Read on

I’ve now done a bit more work on the bench. Predominantly I’ve focused on building a back to it. To do this I used the old wood left behind by the previous owners of the house, set this in an upright position and concreted it in place. I’m actually pretty pleased with how the bench has developed, i’ve just got to give it a bit of a sanding and it’s finished. It’s not the prettiest... Read on

In an effort to start tidying up the left-hand side of our garden I decided to use up some of the old logs and fence posts and build a bench. We tend to spend a fair amount of time down next to the pond so I’ve started building a bench so we can sit and watch life on the pond. Read on

Over the last two nights V and I have really enjoyed going out into the garden and watching the Space Shuttle Atlantis fly past. I must admit I was surprised when I found out that the Space Shuttle would be visible from our back garden. Yesterday night we had a clear night and got a superb view as the Shuttle (currently docked with the International Space Station – ISS) arced across the sky. The Space... Read on

Today was the first hard frost of the year. The thermometer in the greenhouse registered the night time temperature dropping to -5°C. This did mean the morning was very cold but the garden looked beautiful…. so I took a few pictures: Frozen pond: View across the frosty green roof: Frosty edge to the green roof: Frost on a house leek (Sempervivum sp.) on the green roof: Frost on sedum (also on the green roof): Read on

A few months ago I was moving a few plants around in the cold frame, I’d opened the lid but not propped it open. Typically the wind caught the lid and slammed it down… on the back of my head. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, my head proved stronger than the perspex (acrylic glass) that I’d used on the cold frame and the lid shattered. Over the summer the broken lid hasn’t been much of a... Read on

I’ve done it…. finally ordered my greenhouse! I’ve ordered an Eden Highline 8×8. It’s almost square (8′ 5″ by 8′ 6″) and has high eaves (so I don’t bang my head). I’ve opted for polycarbonate glazing as I suspect it will be a lot safer. I bought the greenhouse through Taylors Garden Buildings, who’ve been exceptionally helpful and answered all my questions about the greenhouse really quickly – I’ve been very impressed by them. It... Read on

“Garden with feature sleeper steps” was the only thing that the estate agents could find to say about our garden in the listing of the house on their Web site. As you can see, that was probably all they could say…. Read on

Well, we’ve finally taken the plunge and bought our own house. It’s a 1930s, three bedroom, semi-detached house less than two miles from the centre of Bristol (UK). The house will need plenty of work and the garden is a bit of a “blank canvas”:- This view is from the back bedroom and you can see the brick-built workshop on the right, the dog kennel behind it and er, that’s about it… Our garden has... Read on