Garden makeover

I decided that my garden needed a new make-over and to make things easier for me so my next door neighbour helped me turn my garden into a peaceful retreat and one that is easier maintenance one. Lucy my daughter painted the wooden raised beds and the shed as well as some of the garden furniture...It is now a place of tranquillity and a place to sit and relax in.


The Glory of the Garden

Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.

For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,
You will find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of all ;
The cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dungpits and the tanks:
The rollers, carts and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the planks.

And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys
Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise;
For, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare the birds,
The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.

And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows;
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,
For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.

Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:--"Oh, how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives

There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thick,
There's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick.
But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.

Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,
If it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.

Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hand and pray
For the Glory of the Garden, that it may not pass away!
And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away!




By: Rudyard Kipling

Long, lazy warm summer days

This years large poppies are soo beautiful I have never seen such large and beautiful poppies such as these I have planted in my garden...I never thought that they would grow to something like this...I cant for the life of me think where I bought this plant but I think it is a wonderful addition to my cottage garden..! Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. William Shakespeare

Oh how lovely are the English country gardens!

How beautiful english country gardens are just look at all the gorgeous array of cottage garden flowers there are to create a wonderful canvas of natural beauty and colour. The photo above was taken at the wonderful English garden that is in my neck 'o' the woods called "Snowshill Manor Gardens." of course this is only part of the garden and there is much more to see and take in. The surrounding countryside is really also something that one should not miss if you should happen to be visiting The Cotswolds....

As the song goes...

English Country Garden

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow
In an English country garden?
We’ll tell you now of some that we know,
Those we miss you’ll surely pardon.
Daffodils, Heart’s Ease and Flox,
Meadowsweet and Lady Smocks,
Gentain, Lupine and tall Hollihocks.

Roses, Foxgloves,Snowdrops, blue forget-me-nots,
In an English country garden.

How many insects come here and go
In an English country garden?
We’ll tell you now of some that we know,
Those we miss you’ll surely pardon.
Fireflies, Moths, Gnats and Bees,
Spiders climbing in the trees,
Butterflies drift in the gentle breeze,
There are snakes, Ants that sting
And other creepy things,
In an English country garden.

How many songbirds fly to and fro
In an English country garden?
We’ll tell you now of some that we know,
Those we miss you’ll surely pardon.
Bobolink, Cuckoo and Quail,
Tanager and Cardinal,
Bluebird, Lark, Thrush and Nightingale,
There is joy in the spring
When the birds begin to sing,
In an English country garden.

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow
In an English country garden?
We’ll tell you now of some that we know,
Those we miss you’ll surely pardon.
Daffodils, Heart’s Ease and Flox,
Meadowsweet and Lady Smocks,
Gentain, Lupine and tall Hollihocks.
Roses, Foxgloves,Snowdrops, blue forget-me-nots,
In an English country garden.

Here Comes Summer!

The sun is shining and summer is here at last.... I sooo love the summer sunshine and the warmth. My friend Mozart I call him Mozart as I cant prounouce his name never mind spell it....hahaha ...well he is coming to help me in the garden today..I still have some plants to put in my garden..so he is going to give me a hand to do all the heavywork. I have some lovely Begonia sempiflorems to plant out into the garden they do like semi shade so I may well have those under the Laburnam tree I have in my front garden. I cant wait to see everything in bloom...my heart sings with joy when everything is in bloom...

LAUGHTER OF LILACS.

Rainbows of roses.
Songs of the robins.
Lily of the valley borders.
Sunshine to warm the heart.
Oh what joy this season does impart!

~~By Anne Morrow Lindberg.~~

Companion Planting

I have this year decided to try out companion planting both in the vegetable garden and flower garden. My gardening bibles being Louise Riotte books on companion planting the first book "Carrots Love Tomatoes" and her other book "Roses Love Garlic" I would recommend both these books even though the author is american the contents of the book are very interesting and worth trying out. So both my kitchen garden and flower garden including containers have a mixture of herbs, flowers and vegetable plants that compliment each other whilst also being a natural method of controlling and deterring pests that are inclined to attack certain species of plants. For instance planting cabbages with onions will deter the white cabbage butterfly from laying their eggs on the leaves..therefore ensuring that the larvae does not eat away the cabbage plants. I have also planted the herb Thyme near the cabbages also this too helps to deter the cabbage butterfly from laying eggs on the plants. Other plants such as Runner beans I have planted nasturiums and Morning Glory amongst the runner beans, this helps to deter black fly attacking the beans. All in all I would recommend anyone to try and purchase the two books I have mentioned and give companion planting a go...After all you have nothing to lose but perhaps lots to gain for all your hard earned efforts by producing crops and flowers that are enhanced via a natural method that also look pretty in the garden.

My beautiful garden

Ohh I sooo love English gardens they seem to blossom and look so much fresher than anywhere else in the world

Oh, to be in England

Now that April's there,

And whoever wakes in England

Sees, some morning, unaware,

That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough

In England - now!

Robert Browning

Of course it is now May and late spring I sooo love this season and then look forward to the onset of summer...!

All is growing well in the garden..up to now!

All is growing well in the garden and everything is looking so fresh and productive at present. I cant wait till the fruits of my labour along with my daughter Lucy and boyfriend Steve of course...can be savoured by devouring all the lovely vegetables that I along with my helpers have planted... in order to save myself some money in the supermarket! I think I much prefer homegrown to the vegetables and soft fruits that are sold in supermarkets!