Grasses and gravel

 

Over May half term, we did a lot of work to our front garden and I thought you might like to see it.  

This is what it looked like in April, with a photo taken from our balcony looking down on the front garden. It's roughly 7 metres wide by 6 metres deep.

It was a square of lawn, which never really thrived because it was 90% weeds and moss. There was a strip of border under the living room window containing some grasses. At the front, by the pavement, were are selection of small trees: a holly and a few firs. These used to look nice until we had to hack them back as they were overhanging the pavement. After that, you could just see the branches on the inside. The front of our house faces south-west so gets very warm and baked dry during the summer. It was time to say goodbye to the sad square of lawn and fill the space with plants that would thrive in this hot, dry area. I was aiming for height and texture in the long run, lots of movement in the wind and interesting shapes.

Over the Easter holidays, and with a lot of help from family, we pulled up all the trees. This was hard work as we removed the tree stumps too. We chopped them up and my Dad and I made about ten trips to the tip, filling both our car boots over and over again.

Then we left it for six weeks while we figured out what to do and ordered all the things we would need. I know nothing about landscaping a garden so this was very much make it up as you go along.  

In May half term, we picked it up again. My parents and I worked together some days, and John when he was not working. Angus was out there every day helping. We moved all the existing grasses from the border into temporary homes in pots and bags along the side path.

We bought a rotavator. We intended to hire one but it was cheaper to buy one from B&Q, so we did. It will come in handy when we sort out our back garden at some point as Bandit has really churned up our lawn.

Rotavating was hard work and very, very dusty. It was a hot week (the first of many) at the end of May and the dust stuck to the sun cream on my legs. It was quite disgusting.

We went over and over it, using a garden sieve to remove stones and large chunks of turf.

Then we were ready to plot out a path.

We decided on a gravel path, partly for access from the drive to the bins and side path, partly to break up the space.

We dug out a channel and lined each side with metal border trim. This is to provide a barrier between the shingle and borders.

We filled the path channel with sub base. John used a piece of wood 1 metre wide to make sure we kept the width consistent throughout.

On top of the sub base we put down membrane, then pea shingle on top. 

Plants were bought. We chose a range of grasses, lavender, rosemary, an olive tree, heuchera, salvia blue spires and seneca sunshine.

I put the plants roughly in the position, allowing for space for them to grow. I tried to plant taller grasses by the pavement and the living room windows, and lavender near the front step so we can smell it. I also bought these circular paving stones to allow for weeding when the plants are bigger.

Then was the hard work of digging lots of deep holes, filling with compost and planting everything, including the grasses we had dug up from the existing border.  You can see in the photo below that we hadn't yet trimmed the edge of the membrane on the path.

Next was bark chippings to suppress weeds. I know these will rot away in time but hopefully the plants will have grown more by then.

And this is what it looked like when we finished. We were lucky to have some days of rain in early June which helped water everything in before the next heat wave started. Six weeks later, it hasn't changed that much. Nothing has died. It hasn't grown much either but I'm guessing that's the lack of rain. I've added some verbena bonariensis since.

And here's the before picture again,

Overall we spent about £600 on materials and equipment, and £300 on plants. It suits the 1960s style of our house and hopefully will cope with the heat and sun. Now we just need everything to grow tall and fill the space. 

Everything in bloom

 

The weather has been good to us - mostly - this spring. I have tried to make the most of every opportunity to eat meals outside or even just have an iced coffee while wandering around the garden barefoot.

I like hanging out the washing at the weekend. No rush. An excuse to feel the sun on my skin.

This is when our garden is at its best, when everything is in bloom and the patio doors are open wide, making the outside feel like an extra room in the house.

It's especially lovely in the blueish evening light, when rhododendron is in bloom and the flowers seem to glow.

I have planted sweet peas in pots and in the border. I was nervous about this as I lost so many plants to slugs last spring and summer, so I put ash all around the base of new plants to try to deter any munching. They are not doing a lot - not because they've been eaten, but because it has been so dry and even though I've watered them, it's probably not as much as I should have. Also they are in a shady part of the garden under some big trees: perhaps they are not getting enough sun or the soil is not very good there. I don't know.

The currants are thriving though. I am leaving the redcurrants for the birds this year and only picking the blackcurrants. 

The rhododendron bushes flowered spectacularly for a about a week until some wet, windy weather blew half the petals away. The bees loved them though - you could hear the constant buzzing all around when you sat on the outdoor sofa.

The climbing rose has just started to open in the last week and it is gorgeous.

My dad kindly attached some strong wire to the new fence and helped me train the climbing rose so that it actually grows with some direction, rather than scrambling about all over the border. 

The sun is beautiful in the kitchen in the mornings. I love the shadow play so much when the light shines through the moving leaves. 

Even after ten years in this house, the way the light moves around at different times of year still interests me. Which corners get more light and at what time of day. It's those big 1960's windows. 

We are eating fruit, lots of it. Also: frittata with salad and new potatoes; asparagus and chicken, done on the barbecue; lamb meatballs with couscous and minted yogurt; overnight oats topped with Greek yogurt and strawberries; ice cream.

And chocolate fudge cake (this recipe, a good one) to celebrate Angus's 16th birthday. 

Celebrations were spread over a few days as he had an exam on his birthday. He had a few presents the weekend before, a dinner of his choice on his actual birthday (meatball subs) then a meal out and family round for cake the following weekend. I think he quite enjoyed this spread out approach.

By far his favourite gift was this Lego Notre Dame, which provided an excellent distraction from revision - in the best possible way.

He absolutely loved building it - it took him hours. It has sat, resplendent, on the sideboard for a few weeks and now I am trying to get him to put it up in his bedroom where it can gather dust.

This Lego Mona Lisa was another hit and he is happy for us to hang it downstairs. Honestly, I thought it was going to be awful (I mean, some of you may think it IS awful, and that's ok) but I really like it. The colours work well in this room, the design is playful and fun, and it adds texture to the wall. 

There were many days out over half term at the end of May. Trips to bookshops, to Bosham for ice cream and picturesque walks.

John and I had a relaxing afternoon out in Winchester. We browsed some shops then had a very nice meal without teenagers in Brasserie Blanc before going to the theatre.

We had tickets to see Austentatious, a touring improvised comedy based around Jane Austen's novels. The audience members suggest titles and, from that, the actors improvise a show. Very, very funny and a nice change as we don't go to the theatre very much. John very much came along as a long-suffering husband and afterwards said it was, "quite funny actually, and better than I thought," which is high praise.

Other high jinks included burgers and beers for John's birthday

and some beautiful local walks.

I think some of my favourite walking spots end with a shop. Stansted House is lovely at any time of year but the farm shop is particularly attractive at this time of year when it is full of fresh spring vegetables.

Ditto Hambledon, a little village near us, with the cutest little independent shop (The Stores), So far I have browsed and limited my purchases to greetings cards and the odd candle, but I need to go back on my own for a good look around as they have some lovely stock and also the sweetest little nook in the corner selling coffee and fresh pastries. 

I did go further afield for a few days during half term and found myself back in Budapest. My friend Abbie and I had wanted to go away somewhere for few days. We looked at many, many European cities before settling on this one: she had always wanted to go and I had recently been but was very happy to go back.

It was such a treat to go at a different time of year. Budapest (like any city I expect) is quite different in the spring when the weather is nice and everyone is sitting outside at cafe tables. 

I regretted not buying a nutcracker when we last went, so rectified this by buying three. I also found this gorgeous mug and it came home with me.

It is big enough for morning tea or coffee ( I do like a huge mug of tea first thing - I leave it to brew while I am in the shower) but it is also good filled with flowers from the garden.

The mouth of the mug is quite wide so I placed a jam jar inside to stop the stems falling everywhere. 

Things have been quiet on the crochet front as I have been steadily working away on this cardigan since Easter. 

I thought it was finished but then tried it on and the ribbing that goes around the neckline, where the buttons and button holes go, was so tight that it was altering the whole shape of the cardigan.

So I undid all the ribbing and started it again with a bigger hook and it is much better. I now need to decide whether to leave it plain or cover it in crocheted lemons. 

We recently held our book group AGM. It runs May to April, as we began our book group in May 2020 during lockdown. In this, we review the year's books, choosing our favourite, then choose our next twelve. There are six of us in the group so we choose two each: something we have already read, and something new to us. I chose Chocolat by Joanne Harris as my re-read and Wifedom by Anna Funder as my unread title.

This is the list for this year. I really love that there are books in there that I would never, ever choose but some of them look brilliant. I have been listening to The Covenant of Water on Audible (I started it early as it is LONG) and have been absolutely loving it. 

I prefer to read book copies rather than listen to the books (unless it is very long, in which case I listen as it's so much quicker). I like to flick back through the pages to remind myself of characters and things that have happened. It is really hard to do that on audible. I often go to World of Books first for second hand copies of books, the library if I know I won't want to keep it afterwards, and then Waterstones for new copies.

And then, of course, there are those times when I get distracted and end up buying books that were not on any kind of list.....