~gardening weekend~

well now, the lovely weather over the weekend found swampy getting out the garden tools to tackle our seriously neglected front garden~not neglected by us i hasten to add, but by the previous owner~who was not only slovenly inside the house but outside as well.

i know that is quite harsh of me, but its true~it took over a month to get rid of the smell inside when we moved in and before we brought anything in, every single wall and floor and cupboard and work surface had to be scrubbed...twice...to make it habitable.

still that's by the by!

the front garden is open plan~we have two cattle grids that stop the ponies, donkeys, cows and pigs coming round and eating everything in sight~with a long border running all the way around the front and side.

over the last few weeks we have had daffodils poking their heads above the soil and very little else, apart from weeds, so it was easy to work out where to dig~and then plant up the gaps and put up trellis for the climbers i have listed in my 'garden book'.

starting the digging~carefully around the daffodils

making space for the lavender

these we rescued when we moved and the one just seen on the left is being planted the other side of the path

cody helping as he usually does




these have been half flowering all winter




lavender in


deciding where to plant

swmapy hard at work

that's it for today...

later this week we shall be working our way around the side and then filling in the gaps to turn it into a nice 'over grown' cottage garden.


i have been getting a bit...agitated i think is the word to use, over our front garden.
swampy was given the impression that our front garden, being open plan was a 'communal' area~which me being me, disputed~okay if it is i shall take my chair over and sit on someone elses grass!!!
we have also had a neighbour keep 'suggesting' what we could and couldn't do to the garden, using our neighbours round the corner as an example of what not to do~they have put in bushes and hedges and lovely window boxes etc~because the lads who mow all the lawns 'wont like it'.
well, i am afraid people telling me what to do with my own garden gets my back up~reading between the lines i think people want everything here in our little cul de sac to be nice and uniform and find the thought of us coming in and making changes~however nice they may be~as a bit threatening...i wonder what they will say when they see us painting our front door an alternative color to the present uniform brown?!
last week when we mentioned our idea of putting in a herb border each side of our path and i was told how they 'took the risk' of putting in two weeny bushes i had enough and told swampy i was going to phone up and find out exactly what we are allowed to do.


well we found out today, from the horses mouth so to speak that we can do anything we jolly well like in our garden, so i am feeling quite pleased that i took the time to phone and find out.

*i shall now be planning my herb borders*