Following the snow, the garden was really looking pretty rough and there was a time when it looked like it wasn’t going to ever grow back. Even when it wasn’t snowing, we had a lot of rain over the winter and most of the ground had been saturated for months. Fortunately we had quite a good spring and some really hot sunny weather so things did start to improve. So we finally decided to get the tools out and start improving the garden. Although we had to pop to the garden centre first and see what we could put in the gaps that had been left.

This also meant that we finally got around to trying some of the compost we had made, for the first time. This was easier said than done as the flap at the bottom had never been opened and it turns out that a couple of years of grass and weed growth (and maybe some wonky craftmanship) made it almsot impossible to open the damn thing.

Once we did get it open, there wasn’t much to go with, as the cardboard we used hadn’t really mulched down. But what we could get was good. It stank quite a bit, but I think that means it’s good.

We only had a little bit of bought compost so tried to fill it out with ours to make it go as far as possible. We just about did it.

First up was the rhubarb. This is one that had actually started to grow before the snow hit, so got completely covered. It seemed to be pretty hardy though, which we were thankful for. Although, as you can see from all of the slug pellets in the background, we have other problems at the moment.

One things we decided to do (mostly because nature had decided to start doing it for us) was plant some stuff in the small boarder around the path beside the house. Previously, we tried to keep it tidy and clean, but weeds love it. I think originally the previous owner had put bark chips over it all, but they soon broke down and left nothing but mud. And after the mint we planted last year went crazy, we thought we’d just stick a load of it down there and see how it does.

Although one of the problems with that bit, is the fact that it soil is very clay-y, so digging there involves big chunks of orange mud coming out, whcih have now baked in the sun, leaving big chucks of orange rock.

Whilst at the garden centre we did see some nice hanging baskets, and there is a bracket right next to the front door that we’ve never used, so we thought we’d give it a try. We even bought special moss and something called ‘biscuits’ that are both supposed to help retain moisture. It’s only simple but we thought we’d see how it goes.

And we also saw a load of nice alpine plants, which we’ve always liked, but never had anywhere to really put them. Fortunately we do have an old strawberry pot that never really worked for strawberrys and we saw the garden center have used them for alpines instead, so thought we’d try that too.

It looks quite good, and cerainly makes good  use of an empty pot that’s been sitting around for years.

One funny things we kept noticing was the number of bees flying into the front room window over and over again, and in the same place. And whilst we were doing in the garden we realised why. It was right next to the the bee and insect house we bought years ago, that apparently was becoming popular. So popualr that some are even fighting over the spaces.

After just a few weeks of yet more glorious sunshine, the garden really started to kick into action (and I got a new camera lens so spent some time taking lot more photos).

I can’t even remember what all of these flowers actually are

Last year’s strawberries are even doing pretty well.

And the blackberries are even doing good too. Last year they didn’t do much, but the bees have been loving it this year, and I can see a few fruits coming through. This variety seems to be a climber more than a bush, like our last one, so we’ve probably planted it in the wrong place, but we will see what we can do.

Even the hanging basket was doing really well (although we do have to water it quite a lot, even when it rains cos it’s undercover)

Last year’s new flowers have come back this year too, and most of them fuller than before, especially the thistles. We always try to plant bee and butterfly friendly plants, and the thistles seem to be doing the job.

And the kitchen garden is doing really well again. We really had no reason to worry about the rhubarb at all. A few bits didn’t really survive, like the rosemary (because of the freezing rain) and some of the smaller plants were being overgrown by the mint. We replaced the dead bits and pruned the mint as much as we could.

In fact, the kitchen garden was going so well that we were able to take quite a few bits out and pot them up for other people. Not that we have many people to give them to, but we’re still getting more strawberries off them and the chamomile is going good enough for me to plant somewhere. Maybe it will grow in a terrarium.

I must admit that it’s not just the glorious Devon weather that has helped the garden grow. We have still been making the plant feed from our bokashi bins over the winter and using that on our plants. Weirdly, we stored the feed in an old fizzy drinks bottle cos that’s what we had lying around, and after sitting on the side for a few months, we realised the bottle was completely solid, and after opening it, it actaully fizz-ed up. Some how it had started to ferment in the bottle and became carbonated. Thankfully there are no kids around to confuse it with bottle of cola, so we’re good.

It stopped doing that after a while (thankfully), and we put it in an old washing up liquid bottle that had a pump on it, for a perfect way to deliver a tiny bit of feed in the water. As you can see, we’ve barely used any of it and probably won’t need to use much more.