All Green Thumbs Ahead . . .

It's Chelsea Flower Week in the U.K. and the BBC is devoting hours and hours to covering this prestigious flower show.   You can't help but be inspired and so this weekend it was a trip to the garden centre.

I am very much a novice gardener.  I look at the labels of the plants and flowers that I'm drawn to and if they work with containers or carry descriptions such as "hardy", I'll give them a go.  

Each year, I add to our container garden in the front yard.  This year a bright pink azalea joined the group along with a patio rose which is supposed to flower in late summer.  If it does, it'll be a flaming orange!

In the back yard the Liverpud exerted himself to pull out a huge bush that was completely taking over this space.  Now we have some room for planting and I've sown a packet of wildflower seeds in the front.  Fingers crossed!

This bit is still a work in progress; I'm hoping to grow some herbs in pots in the wooden box and I also bought some spring onion seeds.  I'm hoping that if I raise the box above the patio, floor my herb garden will be safer from slugs. I'm also hoping the bamboo and grasses that I bought will grow to hide the legs (an old IKEA desk).  We also bought a willow trellis which we'll attach to the fence but haven't yet decided what will eventually climb up it.

I am under no illusions that creating the ideal garden is the work of a weekend; I know it takes years and years of keeping hard at it.  I barely spent any time last summer in the back yard because it was so overgrown and untidy but it really is a nice space and I'm determined to make the most of it over the next few months.