Friday 31 July 2009 - At Work

Today we dug over the bit of ground where the Phormium was and removed lots of lovely Couch Grass! I really hope we've removed all the roots. We then got quite a lot of compost from the yard and spread it over the bare area and forked it in, then went back and added another layer. Just to make sure.

Then off to the garden centre! Yippee. Well got there and oh weren't there some lovely plants. I ended up buying a few for myself too! Just couldn't resist.

Anyway, we bought some Salvias, some Heleniums, some Leucanthemums, Campanula, Heuchera, Astilbe, Sedum, well you get the picture. Lots of colour. I love the cottage garden type plants like the Heleniums and Leucanthemums, and I hope to propagate from them in the future, for my own garden and elsewhere at work of course!

Wednesday 29 July 2009 - At Work

We wanted to move a very large Phormium from the Wedding Garden as it had simply gotten too big and you couldn't see beyond it, and any plants near it were getting smothered. So out it came. Well not that simple, we needed an excavator and we had to miss a water tap which was just behind it, not easy. Well it came out eventually and we marched it across the course to its new home in another border. Just hope it doesn't take over there too.

Now there is a lovely bit of space to put some more colourful plants there, as it is lacking colour in this particular area.

We did all of this in the pouring rain! Why did we wait until then??!! I suppose it will help the Phormium to settle in.

Now all we need are plants.

Monday 13 July 2009 - At Allotment

Well considering I had a non exertive day at work, thought I'd pop by the allotment. Looking a bit weedy but not too bad.

Collected some more lovely raspberries, some potatoes, what was a courgette but is now a marrow, and dug up all of my garlic to dry to store.

Everything else isn't looking too bad and my pumpkin plant seems to be going mad. As long as I get one big pumpkin I don't care. Seems to have a lot of flowers and one pumpkin growing. Wondering if I should remove the other flowers and let the plant put all its energy into that one pumpkin. Is that risky?

Monday 13 July 2009 - At Work

Had a slightly lazy day today for once at work. We all went off to the local nursery to get some shrubs. Bought some Ceanothus to replace the dead Escallonias, and some Hydrangea and some Cistus to fill in a gap which never seems to do well on the way into the car park.

Also bought a lovely pale pink climbing rose for the pergola in the wedding garden. A honeysuckle had been looking a bit sickly and so needed replacing.

Lots of rumours are going around at the moment which I'm not entirely happy with regarding what happens when my boss retires later this year. Wondering how much longer I will be working here. I have to keep telling myself at the moment that we are all in the same boat when it comes to uncertainty in our jobs, but I have never been very good with change. Watch this space, so they say.

Friday 10 July 2009 - At Work

Spent all of Wednesday and Today painting wood preservative onto the Wedding Garden gates and pergola. Quite tricky not being very tall and wobbling on a stepladder. Some bit were more tricky than others when fighting through climbing roses and shrubs to get to the other side.

Ended up with lots of scratches but a nicely painted pergola and gates. Worth the pain. Downside is, it needs a second coat. Ouch! Will wait for some constant drier weather before doing anymore.

Tuesday 7 July 2009 - At Home

Decided my back garden really needed a good going over so got started today. Did lots of weeding, edged up the grass, did some deadheading and filled up my compost bin again. Looks a lot better and I can see my plants again.

Funny how I do everyone elses garden, but not my own. Well its looking better anyway. Some nice flowers have come out so thought I'd add them to this post. The sunflowers that my partner grew are still growing and the cactus came into flower tonight.

Friday 3 July 2009 - At Work

After watering and brushing up, I took myself down the owners' garden. Blimey what a shock! The lawn has been dug up and there is a big pile of earth on it. It has something to do with putting in pipe work and a water tap.

Well I managed to work around it, just. Trimmed back some Broom, which should have been done a little while ago after flowering, but as always I hadn't gotten around to it. I also trimmed back some viburnum. Most of the Hebes on this particular border weren't looking very healthy. Lots of dead bits and woody bits. So I've started to cut them back hard.

I still have a fair bit to do in the garden, so I imagine I will be there next week too.

Wednesday 1 July 2009 - At Work

Again I did the watering and brushing up. I am a good little employee aren't I ;o)

The rest of the day was spent weeding. I sat on me big bum and shuffled along. Saved my knee a bit. Did some trimming of shrubs to make it all look neater.

The border is looking a lot better now all the shrubs have been tamed.