Shoots

Oh yeah, you know I said it was Spring? Well here you go:


Oh and look here too:


See! I told you!

Today Was The Day!

Ok, well it's not quite finished but they did a good job considering there wasn't much time before it got dark. It's a work in progress. They just managed to get the roof on before it got really dark and started raining. Then it was time for fish and chips all round and making notes on what needs to be done tomorrow.

Dojo Progress

We are building a dojo in the back garden and the base is down and has been for weeks. Well, the dojo kit is being delivered tomorrow and "the lads" i.e. Danny, his brother, a carpenter friend, Danny's son and the guy who did the fencing are all coming as a task force to erect it in one day even though apparently it's got 600 pieces! (I hope their instructions are better than Ikea's!). Anyway so the story goes. When I come home from work I hope to see it all done!!! (She said hopefully!).

We have done a hell of a lot of work on the garden to get it to this stage.
We have erected new fences, felled trees, sawed stumps, cleared debris including an old metal fence and builder's rubble and concrete fence posts that were buried. We have also levelled the ground, got rid of a really wobbly slabbed path and cleared all the grass (if you could call it that - it was so full of weeds) ready for new turf. At the moment it looks like a really muddy rectangle of ground with a huge great slabbed platform at one end. Not very attractive. I hate the square edges and the angular effect. There is very little foliage to soften it and it looks so horrible; bare and barren. But we have great plans!!! There will be the dojo of course which will look like a wonderful little log cabin. There will be borders, full of luscious flowers and shrubs. There will be a seating area complete with honeysuckle for fragrant evening lingerings. There will be a chimnea for warming ourselves and maybe cooking a thing or two. There will be sympathetic solar lights and stepping stones in the newly laid lawn. Oh the visions! The plans! Now you see why I am so desperate to get out to some gardens and start buying a few plants?!

Spring Has Finally Sprung!

OK I think it's really happening this time...the daffodils are out, the crocuses are out. The sun is shining...and there is no snow! Well, not this side of the Atlantic, although my friend Linda seems to be having a rather different experience in the States.
I have been searching around looking at gardening sites recently because a fever for gardening always grips me in the spring. We are planning to visit some good nurseries and open-to-the-public gardens this year to get ideas and buy plants and generally have a good day out enjoying our little self-indulgent selves. Here is a nice one I found nr Kidderminster called Stone House Cottage Garden and Nursery.