A looking to the future post

Welcome to my new follower, Keeping it simple.

It's one of those days today – lovely, sunny and windy but my get up and go has got up and gone. I think giving blood, having chiropractic treatment, a longer than expected walk and stacking a load of logs has caught up with me.

We both also slept badly last night so that doesn't help. My brain is screaming at me to get on with something but my body doesn't want to know. Hey ho, that's just the way it is sometimes, no point letting it get me down, so am sitting down to write a longer than usual post.

The new vegetable seeds I ordered for the garden have arrived. I have quite a few now and like to try something new each year if possible. I normally buy in baby leeks plants to fatten up but the last 3 years have seen them not bulk up much at all so will have a go at growing some from scratch. The seeds I will be trying are called Bandit.

Have also got some new tomato seeds (Red Robin), lettuce (Red Batavian - Roger), Beetroot (Golden Detroit), plus a runner bean (Desiree – not new to me) to try. As we don't have a proper greenhouse, I have to buy tomato seeds that can go outside but these ones only grow to around 12' and are a bush variety so might be able to grow some in the conservatory.

We are lucky in that we have a south facing back garden and if we have a good summer can usually grow lots of tomatoes which we love. Last year was a bit of a flop though due to the weird weather. The 3 large raised beds are, as previously mentioned, around 4' x 4' x 3' tall. Their height helps my back no end when tending to them. We also have another slightly smaller bed constructed by lovely hubby last year which is about 3' x 2' x 1' deep on legs which raise it up to 3' tall. We grew all our lettuce in this last year and they kept going until the first frosts. All these raised beds have had manure or own compost added and a weed suppressant fabric put on top.

Down the garage wall (moved into place from tubs last year) are 2 Blueberry and a Blackcurrant bush and growing over an arch nearby that leads to the water butts, a Loganberry. Their tubs now house a large bay bush and some roses. Down the opposite side fence are 6 Autumn Raspberries plus flowers and 2 small apple trees (getting less fruit each year unfortunately). One arch that leads off the patio has 2 pears and 2 apples trained over it. Another arch has 2 plums and a quince tree growing on it. The back fence has a cooking apple tree growing nearby. The patio mainly has the furniture on it as we have a very large electric blind that comes out to take the heat off the back rooms as well as our heads and shoulders. Last year though, hubby constructed me a herb garden in another raised bed which sits on the patio. The back 'garden' is a constructed area, with no grass only gravel and paths (colour co-ordinated though). 

The front garden is also gravel but has lots of flowers and flowering bushes growing in it. For us, being in one of the driest counties, gravel helps keep moisture in though it can prove a mighty pain scooping it to one side to add manure/compost to plants in need.