Stuck Inside.

Given my current ‘stuck inside’ status looking out at blue skies and sunshine is akin to torture.  Spring is desperately trying to make an impression in the garden and I simply can’t get out there.

My garden is not very big, but I love it.  There is nothing better than coming home on a lovely summers evening and heading out onto the patio to drink tea and relax.  Ok, maybe there are some things better…… but you get the idea.

The thing is, all gardeners will tell you that you don’t get those lovely wonderful relaxing summer evenings surrounded by natures beauty without laying the groundwork earlier in the year (or should that be spadework).

I’m simply itching to get out there and get stuck in, but since I can’t, I’ve been looking back at previous years and making plans.  These are all photos taken in my garden last year.

My garden has gone through quite a few changes in the last 3 years or so.  When I first moved in it was left to it’s own devices for quite a while.  I needed to prioritise my time and the garden was too far down the list for anything beyond keeping the patio relatively weed free.  However as things have been knocked off the list the garden began to crawl up there.

So about 3 and half years ago it was finally time to get stuck in.  The first incarnation of the ‘new’ garden basically involved clearing the debris away that had been building up and removing the 25 leylandii.  I had no idea what possessed the previous occupant to plant these as they were stupidly large for the garden.  Interestingly, I received a letter about 2 months after taking them outs from a neighbours estate agent ‘requiring’ me to remove them as they were damaging her fence.  I replied rather snottily that they had been removed some time ago, that the fence in question was actually mine and in fact was being damaged by one of her trees!

This incarnation of the garden lasted for about a year before version 2 came along.  This involved removing the small lawn at the side of the cottage and putting in a fruit and veg area.

I had never grown my own food before so this was a new venture for me and I loved it.  First in were strawberries.  Remember the dreaming of those summer evenings?  Well in that dream I’m eating freshly picked strawberries (or cherries) hehe……

Unfortunately that’s when it all went wrong again.  Why?  Hmmm…  One word…… Pebbles! That naughty puppy destroyed everything.  She would steal things from inside, chew them up outside and burry them in the veg beds.  Everything was chewed and she even ate a lilac tree!

And so was born version 3 with Alcatraz.  About a third of the patio was screened off with a raised bed and fence forming a doggie area.  The dogs can go out there whenever they want and any precious plants were moved out of the way.  The fence has been raised a few times but currently seems to be containing Pebbles.

This leaves the rest of the garden for me.  But as I sit here gazing out of the window longingly, I can’t help but start to make plans for version 4.  The fruit and veg area could be better organised and I’m sure I could do something better with the front garden.  Just exactly what I’m not sure.  Hmm perhaps rather than seeing this enforced confinement as torture I should view it as plotting and scheming time hehe……