Since moving in February we now have a back garden. Which. I. Love.
I have such plans in mind for our garden, I know just what I want to grow. I have visions of a lovely little vegetable garden! The only problem is finding the time to put my plan into action!
The garden is quite heavily landscaped to be reasonably low maintenance. We have a paved, patio-type area to the side of the kitchen, the main area of the garden is gravel, and there are four raised beds.
When we moved in the beds were all stripped back to a variety of stumps. To date we have let everything grow, partly to see what would come up and partly because of a lack of opportunity to do anything else. Between bad weather and a baby, gardening time hasn’t really presented itself.
There is one exception and that is the bed by the back door. It used to contain a big spiky palm-like tree that I really didn’t like, not least because it was directly in front of the back door and got in everyones way. One night during one of the bad weather weeks the wind caught and uprooted it. I gladly disposed of it.
This bed has subsequently become my herb garden. I’m a bit of a herb garden fanatic, always have been. I remember having little garden plots as a child and all I generally wanted to grow was herbs. I think its the smells that attract me and obviously being able to cook with them!
This is the one little area I’ve managed to start planting up. I still have a few plants to go in but its a start! So far I have Thyme, Purple Sage, Chives, Rosemary, Lavender and a potted Peppermint. Some rogue potato plants have recently popped up aswell which I’m leaving for now.
Sadly my poor little plants are being ravaged by slugs and snails despite my little traps and when thats not the problem the neighbours cats seem to think its a litter box… I am none too impressed by this.
However, I do have a plan of attack…. (well, more defence than attack I guess!) it involves various little contraptions and a very patient and willing husband!
So I have hope, as the weather is turning and Emma is getting bigger each day and able to entertain herself for half hour or so, that my garden might get the attention it needs.
On the up side, of all the plants and weeds I have let grow wild there have been some lovely little flowers appear (and a dandelion or two).
How are your gardens coming along? Any tips on keeping the slug & snail population at bay? I’d love to hear any suggestions!
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