Beech Hedge

Lee has won the battle with the Beech Hedge. It was so large and really hanging over the borders. Lee got out his man tools and got to work. He's very impressed with his mini chainsaw ... men and their toys. After many trips to the tip we finally finished. Another big job done.

Lee with his chainsaw 

Making a big mess

Beech Hedge chopped back

October

We've had fantastic weather this October and the garden is still so full of flowers. We are however, battling with all the leaves :)

Fuchsias and Honeysuckle

Fuchsias, Hollyhocks, Lavatera

Gorgeous Funghi

Is this a bee, ivy is covered in them?

Lots of flowers still going strong

Just 15 minutes walk from ours .... Tregaron, Stunning

Exploring down the lane from ours. I know where I'll be going in the Summer to do a bit of sketching. Cannot believe this is just behind the Llama field. It's just beautiful and so private.

Beautiful River, Tregaron

Tregaron

Tregaron

Tregaron

Tregaron

Tregaron

Autumn in the Garden

It's taken 8 months to get our garden in a more manageable state and although we have a couple of big jobs to do like the patio and new flower border, the rest can be maintained in normal bursts. Bulbs have been planted for the following Spring and some late flowering heathers have been planted for the bees. I'm looking forward to just pottering about next year (hopefully). I might even find time to water the plants in the greenhouse :)

Misty Morning Cobwebs on our Hedge

This little bee fell asleep all night

Just worked out how to do panoramic shots on my phone camera. Makes the garden look huge, it's not that big.

Border opposite the Caravan

Greenhouse and Caravan

View to the Sun House

Left of the Sun House

Sun House Corner

The Sun House needed a little TLC so we gave it a lick of paint. Lee mended and painted the outside while I painted the inside. Not a bad job and we now have a lovely corner to chill out and do some archery.

Blue Sunhouse

Almost Painted

Finished

Nice Chillout House

Just need to change the carpet

Sun House Corner

Strawberry Plants for the Birds

We need to keep a walkway clear just at the back of the caravan, but I couldn't help saving more plants and have moved some of the little strawberry plants to this area. Hopefully they will fill out and spread. Summer Update: they have definitely taken over and I have seen the little chaffinches eating the strawberries:)!

Before

After

Bats, Bees and Bugs

Lee mended an old bat box that was going free on the Tregaron site and put some little grooves on the platform. It had small mesh on it but the little feet of bats could easily get caught in the wire. And we both made a Bug Hotel! Our garden is starting to take shape now. Lots of wildlife plants have been bought and planted. Almost ready for next year, just got to get some heathers and bulbs in :)

Lee put up our Bat Boxes!

The Bee and Bug Hotel

Our new grass is full of mushrooms

Little Step Project

Just a small revamp of the steps going up to the sun house. I used some rocks that were in the garden and some leftover shingle from the caravan pathway. Certainly tidies it up a bit and is a lot safer for mum.

Before on the Left Side

Before on the Right Side

After Photo

Side of House

New Border for Next Year

Although I've been trying to keep the borders to a minimum, the area by the side of the house was really in need of a bit of TLC. I kept some crocosmia especially for this so that it would be low maintenance but also look good in the Summer. The hedge is looking a bit bare so I've planted a Forsythia and Butterfly Bush to fill the gaps and make a nice show. There is a Rose Bush and Lilac there already but the Lilac hasn't flowered. Planning to remove the 2 hedge plants when the new bushes fill out so there will only be pruning to do and the bushes can grow back fuller. It doesn't look great at the moment but hopefully next year it will start to fill out. There's some Ivy at the back so I'm going to try and tease it round the front so that the frogs and newts in this border will be happy.

Finishing the Leftover Turf

Lee used up the rest of the turf by laying this on the very worn out pathway by the Beech Hedge. It was also on a slope so we've tried to level it out a bit. The area wasn't prepared as much as the Vegetable patch but fingers crossed, breaking and raking the soil a bit will be enough to get it going. The slabs have been lifted from the main lawn area and placed here where the soil gets a bit compacted in the Winter.

What a difference, so glad we started to take photos of our progress.

Before (Springtime)

After (Summertime)

Caravan Garden

We had some turf left over from the new lawn area, so decided to put a patch by the caravan. Added some pea shingle for the path. Looks like a nice little garden now. There's still a bit to do in this area as we are building a raised flower bed too.

Before

Path to Railway

After

New Lawn

At last the old Vegetable Patch has been lawned. No more weeding. Lee spent most of the day laying down the turf. Most people would fill it with borders but I love the open space we have created.

The Old Vegetable Patch "Before"

The Vegetable Patch "After"

Mum pulling the weeds that shot up 

Lee Starting to Lay the Turf

Luna too tired to help

Lee is the new Water Feature

Garden Pond Makeover

Bucket full of pond muck

We've had a really productive week in the garden and I am getting better at dry stone walls! The little pond was looking a bit shabby and needed a bit of a makeover. Using the bricks from the old chimney we had removed I've used some to extend the border. I think it looks better even though I'm not a great fan of dry stone walls.

Really difficult decision regarding cleaning out the pond. So much wildlife in there that I really didn't want to empty it out so I'm doing partial clean outs in stages and saving all the critters: frogs; toad; newts, water beetles, water flea (have only seen one) and leeches!

Eddy the Gargoyle was hidden under the Crocosmia, he's now got a new home overlooking the pond and watching the wildlife.

Before Photo

New Stone Border around the Pond

Whole Border