How I'm learning about gardening

Although I've had a garden for many years, this is the first year that I've really paid any attention to gardening, and it's become a bit of an obsession! We had quite a nice garden in our first house, but I never did anything with it. I think that it had been landscaped at some point in the past but it had become overgrown, and with a newborn I just didn't have the time to do anything with it apart from chopping things back to make a bit more space.

The garden in our current house was pretty much all laid to grass apart from a vegetable patch and a couple of small borders. I always hated the long boring fence across the back, but I lacked the confidence to do anything with it, and we only really wanted a garden that was suitable for small children to run around in.

But since we had an extension built and our garden properly landscaped I have learned so much. I've used my new found knowledge to shop at garden centres and plant lots of things - and so far everything has thrived and looks amazing! It makes me so happy to go out into the garden and admire all my beautiful plants.

Canna lilies

Here are some of the ways that I've increased my gardening knowledge:

* I'm addicted to r/GardeningUK on Reddit. I've picked up so much useful information, like ideas for what to plant, how to care for the things that I've planted, and just general inspiration when it comes to making the garden look how I want it to. I'm not a poster, I only lurk, but I find that often people are asking something I want to know the answer to, and it's really good for seasonal information.

* I've started watching Gardener's World and am seriously considering subscribing to the magazine. I love the slow format of the show, and there always seems to be a segment on something which is relevant to me.

* I've been using the RHS website to look up information about the plants that I've bought and I've also purchased a couple of their books - one on pruning and one on cut flowers - which are excellent.

* I take a lot of walks and runs around our estate, so I've been paying particular attention to what people have growing in their gardens (and judging the scruffy ones - even though ours was worse a year ago!) I'm really proud of myself when I can identify a plant.

* I've been taking much more interest in the gardens of people that I know, and asking them questions about what they've got growing there. Especially my Mum who has been digging out various things from hers to give to me!

* I do some volunteering work for a local community group that maintain the floral displays in the village and this has given me so much confidence when it comes to planting. There are also lots of lovely other volunteers that are happy to help with my questions!

I'm so proud of my garden, and I can't believe that I didn't start caring about it sooner!

Our transformed front garden

A couple of weeks ago I shared our back garden, and today I'm sharing our front garden transformation! Before it was very boring, just grass which was mainly weeds, always shaded because of the overgrown hedge.

We decided to take some inspiration from a neighbour's recent landscaping and open it all up with a pebbled garden inspired by our local beaches. Although we have removed the old hedge, we have left a marked out bed to replant it later in the year, perhaps with something a little lower in height. The apple tree remains, although it's definitely ready for a good prune this Autumn!

We needed to create a new gate to the other side of the house so we extended the path. The slabs are the same as those that we used in the back garden and they also match the indoor tiles. We added a deep new flower bed in front of each window and have planted those with hydrangeas. I'm trying to keep them blue so I've been using ericaceous compost and fertiliser which is supposed to enhance the blue colour! They are doing really well considering they had no flowers when we planted them a month ago. I'm constantly watering them! I chose blue petunias to match for this year.

We had the garden designed for us which really helped as I wouldn't have known where to start. The landscaper came up with the pebble arrangement and then my designer helped with buying the plants and where to place them. Me and Harry planted them and it was such a difficult job, the ground underneath was really compacted and full of gravel, stones and sand. Luckily despite the poor soil they all seem to be growing well.

We have a mixture of different grasses and also some different types of euphorbia. (I'm not very good with identifying plants!) If the garden opposite is anything to go by, in a few years they will have grown up quite a lot and it will look a little less sparse.

I really like the different mix of colours and textures. I'll be planting some bulbs in the Autumn for next year, and I'm hoping that the hydrangeas will grow to fill the borders.

It makes such a difference to the front of our house and although I do miss some of the privacy that we had from the hedge I've got used to it now. It's nice to be a bit more open, and the front of the house feels much lighter. Now I just need to come up with a plan for the front hedge area.

How our back garden is looking now

A couple of months ago I shared some photos of our poor garden, which had never been that exciting to begin with and was looking very sad after our building work. It was pretty much a blank slate, mainly some tired grass and dominated by a dull fence across the back.

So here are some photos after it has undergone an amazing transformation!

When we were planning the garden, I knew that I wanted a pretty garden with lots of flowers. We wanted areas around the garden to sit and relax as a family, and I was keen to have something attractive to look at while I prepared food in the kitchen.

I've always loved my secret vegetable patch and so we now have this amazing arch which creates a lovely entrance to the area. I have a clematis planted on one side which will hopefully grow up and over the arch, and I may also add something else to the trellis next year. We added a wooden bench so it is now a really private place to sit, watch the bees buzzing around the lavender and admire my tomatoes, courgettes and strawberries.

We've been making regular visits to the garden centre and picking up things that catch our eye. These cannas were suggested by our garden designer and I love the bold colours, they also add some height to the bed.

I'm gradually filling up the beds with flowers and hoping that they will last through the winter as the cost is adding up! I'll be much more organised next year and plant from seeds which will save some money.

I've always disliked the long boring fence across the back which dominates the view from the house. It will take a few years for things to get going, but we've planted some shrubs which will grow up a bit, and also two trees. We already have an apple tree at the front so we are trying a pear tree and a cherry tree, so hopefully I can keep them under control and thy will provide us with some fruit over the years! We also have two smaller trees around the pergola - a photinia and an acer.

I want to create a garden that attracts wildlife. We are lucky that our regular hedgehog visitor has returned - when we had new fencing installed we asked them to cut a hole so that hedgehogs could get into the garden and as soon as we started putting food out they appeared. It has even spent a night or two in our hedgehog house. There are plenty of bees around the flowers but I'm struggling a bit with the aphids at the moment, I need to work out how to attract the ladybirds!

I'm so in love with our garden now. I'm always wandering about deadheading and pulling up weeds and just enjoying the beautiful space. I can't wait to see how it changes over the years when things start to take off!

As a reminder, here's what we had done:

Introducing Lily the Lemon Tree

We are really pleased with our new orangery, and we've slowly been adding the finishing touches. The one thing missing is some greenery, and my husband was very keen on the idea of an orange or lemon tree. I wasn't sure at first because we aren't the most green-fingered people, and because we go away a lot I was a bit worried about how we would look after it. But a friend recommended a local citrus nursery, The Citrus Centre in Pulborough, and so we decided to go along and take a look.

We were really impressed! They had a huge selection of trees in all shapes and sizes, and the lady was really helpful. She could see that we were beginners and so she recommended that we start with a lemon tree. It's a four season tree, so there will fruit and buds all year round, and they are the easiest type of citrus tree to start with. We agonised over a few that were a similar size and shape before settling on an Amalfi lemon tree.

We transported our tree home like a newborn baby, going slowly around the bends, gently over the bumps, and with me sat in the back to look after it.

The tree will live inside over the winter and then move outside over the summer when the orangery will be too hot. It's almost time to move it outside, but we are having work done on the garden over the next few weeks so it will live inside until that is finished. I was surprised to learn that they only need to be watered every couple of months or so, and then when you do water them you give them lots all at once along with some feed.

We've bought her a pot and have named her Lily. We will be leaving most of the fruit on the tree for decoration, but as it had six lemons when we bought it we did harvest one which I used to make a delicious lemon drizzle cake. 

I really hope that Lily is with us for a long time to come!

The flowers in my garden

I've mentioned before that we are having some building work due to start shortly. It's very exciting! But it meant that when I was starting to think about my garden earlier in the year I wasn't sure how much access we would have to the garden over the summer. I planted my vegetable patch a little later than usual, and so unfortunately my tomatoes aren't doing that well this year. There will be a few but not as many as usual. 

When I had more idea as to timescales I did a trip to the garden centre and bought lots of bedding plants which I planted out in pots. I decided that pots can be moved around whatever is left of our garden! At the moment they are mainly lined up along my back fence, and they make a beautiful splash of colour.

Petunias look beautiful once they get going! I also love poppies and we have some growing in our new 'wildlife area' which has been created by the temporary removal of our hot tub. I planted some poppies from seed a few years back, and since then they pop up from time to time over the summer.

My favourite flowers are sunflowers, and I always make sure to plant some. They are in full bloom in the vegetable patch at the moment.

And my final flowers aren't mine at all, they are borrowed from our neighbour and growing over the fence. This is the kind of plant that I want to grow across our back fence, something that grows quickly, covers up the bare fence, and produces lovely flowers. I need to find out what it is and how to grow it!

Now I'm just hoping that summer grants us a few more warm and sunny days so that I can sit out in the garden and enjoy all this loveliness!

The usual end of term anxiety

It's the last week of term, and I'm really looking forward to the summer holidays. But I always find the countdown stressful, even though now that the children are older there are fewer things to worry about (no more sports day! not quite so much new uniform to buy!) But the children are on edge, with worries about new classes for next year and keeping in touch with friends over the summer, and my husband is away for a little longer than usual this week which sometimes leaves me unsettled. I'm finding myself constantly repeating 'we just need to get these last few days over with'!

I'm clinging on to the last few days of my routine before everything changes for a couple of months. I always find it harder to get out for an early run when I'm not forced out of bed to get everyone ready for school. I know that the housework will fall by the wayside, and it will feel as though I'm spending most of my time preparing food and clearing up afterwards. I'm hoping to sneak out for a couple of hours every week to continue my volunteering work - I'm really enjoying being part of a team of local people that get out and about making the flowerbeds around the village look lovely. I'm learning a lot, and it's given me some confidence to make more of my own garden.

I'm really hoping that the weather improves a little over the holidays. I've been working on making my secluded vegetable patch into a little sanctuary, and yesterday I installed one of our garden chairs so that I can sit and hide around the corner and listen to the bees buzzing. But it just hasn't been warm enough to sit outside!

We don't have very much planned over the summer holidays but we always seem to keep busy. There are people to keep in touch with, and the children enjoy peaceful time at home to work on their own projects without the pressure of homework and early starts. I'm intending to have a clear out in the kids rooms - we have lots of books that have been outgrown and toys that are no longer played with. I love a break from the school run and the packed lunches, and the long evenings are perfect for a walk around the village or sitting out in the garden.

If you have little ones in school I hope that the countdown to the summer holidays goes well!

My 'secret' vegetable patch

I've shared lots of photos of my vegetable patch over the years, but I'm not sure that I've every included a photo that gives a proper look at the space. Because I think it's a special space, and with planned building work in our garden this summer I'm working hard to make it a little sanctuary hidden away when I want to spend time in the garden without builders watching my every move!

Our garden extends out from the back of the house like most gardens, but we also have a separate double garage next to the house. The vegetable patch is behind the garage, so it's joined to the garden but off to one side and it can't really be seen from the house. The previous owners put up the trellis sides. Originally there were some flimsy gates but they have broken so I've been training some ivy over the top to make an archway. It's quite low, but luckily I'm short so I can easily fit underneath!

To the left of the entrance you can find Beowulf. I found him hidden behind overgrown vegetation in the garden of our old house and I brought him along with us. I named him after the Old English poem that I studied at university and I call him the guardian of the garden that makes sure everything grows well. If I accidently cut some flowers, I'll leave them by his feet as an offering! 

Also around the entrance I have a couple of decorations that I've made using stones with holes in from the beach - they are really common on our local beaches. Some people call them hag stones and think that they have magical properties. The lovely birdhouse was made by my husband at a team building event, although we've not actually had any birds in it yet!

My vegetable patch was a little delayed this year as we don't have a set start date for our building works. So last week I made a trip to the garden centre and picked up some bedding plants to put out into my planters - hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll have some more colour to enjoy.

At the back of the vegetable patch I just have a few pots and some plants which are probably technically weeds but have some pretty orange flowers and nicely cover a bare patch of ground. This is where I'll be putting my chair when I want to hide away and enjoy my plants and listen to the bees buzzing around the lavender bush.

The rest of our garden is really boring and is in a bit of a state as the summer house is falling down and the old wooden swing set is looking a little dicey. We are hoping to be able to do some work in the garden next summer, until then this is definitely my favourite part of the garden!

My early summer garden

My gardening this summer has been delayed. We are planning an extension project at some point this year, and I wasn't sure how much of our garden I would be able to easily access. But we won't be starting until later in the year, so a few weeks ago I planted out seeds for the two things that I'm always successful at growing - tomatoes and sunflowers.

One part of my garden that gets more beautiful every year is my lavender bush. When it was planted a few years ago the young plant was confused with a rosemary bush, and so it ended up in my vegetable patch instead of a pot (the rosemary bush that was put in the pot has sadly long since died). This means that it has the space to grow and grow, and it certainly has. I do cut it back every year but I don't over prune as I don't want to kill it!

It's not quite at peak flowering yet but there isn't long to go. The bees love it!

Last week I planted out my tomato and sunflower seedlings into the vegetable patch. Hopefully it won't get any colder, and although they are small I think that they are hardy enough to survive outside. Due to the late start they aren't as impressive as they usually are at this time of year, but I'm hoping that there will be plenty of time for them to pick up and get going.

I've also done the first cut of our large hedge at the front of the house. It takes so long - all the clearing up afterwards! Over the years both me and my husband have sliced through the cord on different electric trimmers, so recently I've been hacking at it using a low powered battery trimmer which means I've had to cut in stages and then recharge. It was a struggle, so we've treated ourselves to a new corded electrical strimmer. It's already had a very narrow escape but fortunately the blades only slightly damaged the plastic cord coating and so it's still fine to use - I hope that it can make it through this year at least!

Now I'm looking at my borders and they are very bare so I think I'll be doing a trip to the garden centre to pick up some bedding plants to try and add a bit more colour.

It's been a slow start, but hopefully this week's sunshine is here to stay and we'll be able to enjoy the garden this summer!

Waiting impatiently for Spring

At this time of year, every time the sun comes out I turn my face towards it and bask in the anticipation of warmer days ahead. Winter thankfully didn't feel too cold this year, but I'm starting to tire of wearing so many extra layers around the house and keeping myself warm with a constant supply of hot drinks.

I keep looking out into the garden and seeing all the jobs that need doing. There are dead leaves from the autumn that still need to be swept up, the gravel needs weeding, it's time to think about jet washing the patios and I want to plan my vegetable patch planting. But when it's cold outside I just can't face it!

This morning I went for my run wearing a thinner jumper for the first time this year and I really felt the cold before I had warmed up. I'm still putting a hat on when I go out for a walk and although we haven't had a frost for a few weeks now there has still been some freezing rain. 

I'm so looking forward to getting out the garden furniture and enjoying a cup of tea outside. I'm determined to spend as much time in the garden as I can this summer, I might even roll out the yoga mat for some exercise or borrow a laptop from another family member so that I can do some work.

I am eagerly watching out for each and any sign of spring - the first crocuses and daffodils have put in an appearance so I'm hoping that it won't be too much longer before the warmth that I'm longing for comes along!

Photo credit Shishir Pandey via Unsplash

End of June garden update

I'm not much of a gardener but I do like to try and make an effort, so I thought I'd do a quick update on how my garden is looking as we get to the end of June!

I was late planting out my seedlings this year, and I was starting to get a bit worried about them. We had over a month of sunshine with no rain which was glorious, but even though I watered my plants every day they just weren't growing. I think it was just too hot. But we've had a couple of cooler days now along with some rain, and almost overnight everything in the garden recovered and started growing like mad!

I love my vegetable patch, it's a separate area from the main garden with a large raised bed and paving slabs around the outside for pots. It has a trellis fence with a gap in the middle and I've been growing ivy over it to try and make it look a little more mysterious. The focal point of my vegetable patch is the enormous lavender bush that ended up there by mistake. I need to do something about it really otherwise the whole vegetable patch will become a lavender patch! It's recently come into flower and is attracting plenty of bees which is really good to see.

I currently have twenty-two tomato plants spread over the vegetable patch and in pots. That is what happens when you plant plenty of seeds in case some don't germinate and then they all do, and you can't bear to get rid of any tiny seedlings! I did lose a couple along the way to slugs, but I probably did over-compensate. I also have about seven broccoli plants although they are looking a bit spindly at the moment.

The tomato plants in pots usually do just as well as the ones that are planted out in the soil, and one of them is enormous already! I love working through the vegetable patch picking out the side shoots, it's a really peaceful and satisfying job.

I planted lots of sunflowers this year but they are taking a while to get going, and the slugs did get a few. The seedlings around the bottom are not weeds, they are a wildflower mix that I planted for some colour, I hope that they pick up a bit!

My garden is all very green at the moment so I'm appreciating the colour from these lovely nasturtiums which my mum gave me a few weeks ago. 

I also have a wild section to the garden around the side of the house where I've had some nice poppies, as well as nettles and enormous dandelions. I'm hoping to attract back the hedgehogs that we used to have living in our hedgehog house!

I'm looking forward to a bumper tomato harvest this year!

What I've planted for the summer

I was a bit late planting my seeds this year because we were away over Easter and then the weather was still so cold that I didn't fancy going out in the garden and digging out all the seed trays and pots! But now summer seems to have come overnight, and my sunny windowsill is full of seedlings that are nearly ready to be moved outside.

When I plant seeds I always end up planting too many in case some don't germinate, and then I can never bear to get rid of any of the seedlings! So I now have twelve broccoli plants on the go and I'm not sure where I'm going to put them. I've never grown broccoli before but we do eat a lot of it so I hope that it turns out well.

My two garden favourites are tomatoes and sunflowers, both of which are always successful. This year I bought a mixed pack of sunflowers which are coming on very nicely and I'll be planting outside this week, I have a couple of sunny spots in mind. The tomatoes have a way to go but they are doing well, again I planted a few different varieties and I have loads of seedlings. The plants are going to keep me very busy this summer!

I'm also keeping a close eye on the gorgeous lavender bush in my vegetable patch. A few years ago my parents bought me a rosemary plant and a lavender plant, with the intention of putting the rosemary in the vegetable patch and the lavender in a separate planter. However they got them muddled up, so I now have a beautiful lavender plant in my vegetable patch! I prune it every year but it keeps getting bigger and bigger and is threatening to take the whole thing over! I really love it, it's beautiful when it's in full bloom and it attracts lots of bees to the garden. I save the lavender to make lavender bags.

The vegetable patch is now mostly weeded and ready for planting, I'm just waiting for the fallen blossom to disappear and then I'll be raking it over and planning where to put everything. I also have some flower seeds which I'm going to sprinkle here and there, I've not been very successful with flower seeds in the past so I'll have to see how they go. 

What are you growing this year?

Ready for some warmer weather

This year it feels as though it has been such a cold winter. I don't know if it's because we've tried to be a bit more sparing with heating the house, or because I've lost a little bit of weight and I'm feeling it more, but I seem to spend most of the day searching for the warmest place in the house, and going to bed early in my fleecy pyjamas with a hot water bottle.

We have had quite a bit of sunshine over the last couple of months (we recently had solar panels fitted so we've been monitoring it closely!) but it doesn't seem to have translated into any warmer temperatures and I've found it a real struggle to drag myself out of the house for anything. The garden is looking sadly neglected because I just can't bear to be out there for long doing the sweeping and clearing up leaves, let alone get on with jet washing the patio which really needs doing!

I did manage to get myself down to the garden centre this week to pick up some seeds for the spring planting. I knew that I needed some tomato seeds, and I was a bit worried that the tomato shortage might have spread to seeds as people considered being a bit more self sufficient this summer. It turned out that it was actually a legitimate worry as there were definitely gaps on the shelves, but luckily I was able to get some suitable varieties! I also got some easy flower mixes and some unusual varieties of sunflower to try out.

Now I need to decide when to actually get on and plant them, I don't want to get them started too early or else they will be enormous before it's warm enough to put them outside!

The two edible things that I successfully grow in my garden

I always try to make an effort with planting fruit and vegetables, and I've had a few successes over the years as well as quite a few misses. But there are two things that I've consistently been able to grow, use and enjoy.

Firstly we have a lovely apple tree in our front garden which must have been planted when the house was built about twenty years ago. I don't know what type of apple they are but they are cooking apples, and I'm guessing Bramley apples. Every couple of years I prune the tree back quite a bit in the Autumn and we don't get many apples the following year. Then every other year we get a bumper crop, and this year is one of them!

I offer bags to visitors and I use as many as I can for my own baking. I particularly love making apple crumble, even though I'm the only one that really eats it. I use a super simple recipe from BBC Good Food - Easy Apple Crumble although I halve the quantities because it makes loads. Delicious!

Then the second thing that I can grow successfully is tomatoes. Historically this part of the country has been good for growing tomatoes because apparently we get quite a lot of sunlight. I grow the plants directly in my main vegetable patch and also in large pots and I am quite lax about their care - I do  remove the side shoots and I keep them from getting overgrown but I always forget to fertilise them. They also often get neglected if we go away. But in spite of this they usually do quite well!

They are a little behind this year because we were away over Easter and I waited until we got back before I planted the seeds. There's a chance we may be going away in a few weeks time, and I'm really hoping that I don't miss the harvest!

Getting the summer back on track

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been letting the poor weather this summer get to me a bit. 

It all started off so well, and at the beginning of the year I was making great plans for the garden. I ordered my seeds and had them all planted out on the windowsill. But it took ages for the weather to warm up enough to plant them outside, and they went spindly trying to reach the sunshine through the window. Then the weekend that I did plant them out we had such awful cold winds that the poor surviving plants had most of their leaves blown off. 

We did of course have a lovely heatwave in July which coincided with our week away, and that was amazing. It really felt like a proper summer holiday and we were so lucky. But then I came back and found that most of my plants in the garden had died due to the lack of water.  

I found it all a bit depressing and so I've hardly been out in the garden this week. I ventured out today and it's such a mess. The grass and the front hedge desperately need a cut, but our garden waste collections have stopped due to a shortage of drivers, and I don't want to create piles of garden rubbish everywhere. 

I'm stuck in my head thinking that it just hasn't felt like a proper summer this year. We've hardly had any outdoor pizza or barbecues, we've barely used the firepit and we've not even been out in the hot tub because it always seems to be raining in the evening. Even when it's not raining it's just not pleasant sitting outside when the sky is grey. 

But I need to keep reminding myself that it's only just the beginning of August. There is plenty of summer left, over a month of school holiday to go, and there's every chance that we will have some warm and sunny weather over the next few weeks. I need to work on appreciating what we do have, instead of mourning what we don't!

I've made it one of my goals for this month to get out in the garden every day and try and bring things back under control. I was heartened to see my first sunflower in full bloom today, and I have a few others that have managed to survive and will be flowering soon. A couple of my tomato plants are thriving, and my sweet peas are looking lovely. 

So it's time to think positive. I'm making the most of exercising outdoors as it's the perfect temperature - not too hot and not too cold. Last week I went to the gym and swam in the outdoor pool, perhaps it wasn't that warm but it was really refreshing. We've been having fun doing indoor activities like baking and playing with the forgotten Nintendo Labo sets. It's also nice not to have to trek around watering all the plants every evening, I just wait for the daily rain shower. 

Fingers crossed for just a few more warm days to come before the schools go back!

Enjoying the sunshine

I am so enjoying the sunshine and the warm weather that has finally arrived! We've had a lovely weekend eating pizza in the garden, doing a bit of tidying, and watching the poor plants as they start to recover after being blasted by the cold wind a few weeks ago. I even have some flowers starting to appear on my marigolds.

My vegetable patch is starting to look a little healthier too, the tomato plants in pots are growing nicely and although the ones planted in the main vegetable patch are still looking a little worse for wear I'm hopeful that they'll start to bush out a bit soon. 

This morning I went for a run first thing and it was still so warm. I was running without a jumper for the first time in ages, and it was so nice to feel the sun on my shoulders. Afterwards I took my mat out into the garden and did some outdoor stretches. 

Let's hope that we are treated to this sunshine for a little while longer yet!

My poor garden

For today's blog post I really wanted to share some lovely photos of my spring garden, but unfortunately Mother Nature has had other ideas. 

It's been so cold here that I've barely even been out in the garden for the last couple of weeks. The garden furniture has been packed safely away because of the wind, and we've not even been in the hot tub for a few days because the weather has been so miserable.

So the poor garden has become sadly neglected. It's been far too wet to cut the grass or the hedge, and so it's all looking a bit overgrown. The weeds are growing up in the vegetable patch, but I just can't bear to wait for a gap in the rain and sit out there in the cold to give it some attention.

Everything has also suffered really badly from the strong winds that we've been having. My poor marigolds in tin can pots are looking very battered. They were already spindly from being kept inside for too long due to the cold weather, and that made them even more vulnerable to the wind. A couple have snapped completely. Luckily I have some spare plants still indoors that I can use to replace them, and more seeds if necessary to start from scratch. 

It's my poor tomato plants that I'm most worried about. I always do well with tomatoes, I think the climate in this area is very good for them, and I'm always confident that they'll grow well. I have a few in pots to the side which aren't looking too bad, but the ones planted in the middle of the vegetable patch have had their leaves literally blown off and they are also stunted due to the cold. They aren't quite dead, but I'm just hoping that they have it in them to recover!

Fortunately, having replaced most of our fencing over the last couple of years we've not lost any more this time around, so that's something to be thankful for. I'm hoping that all we need is a bit of warmer weather and sunshine to really get things going. The forecast looks good for later in the week, so I'll be charging up the hedge trimmers and pulling on the gardening gloves!

Making a very simple planter from a pallet

My pallet planter is a project which had been on my to do list for far too long! This pallet was delivered along with our piano, which thanks to this blog post I can date back to February 2016. It was a nice pallet, made from new wood although a little splintery, and I wanted to make something cool but kept putting it off.  

I decided that this was the year that I would make something from it! I browsed Pinterest for ideas, but because all pallets are different shapes and sizes I found it difficult to find something that I could copy. I also tried to take the pallet apart but it needed a lot more strength than I have, so I needed to come up with something that would use the original shape of the pallet. After some success growing marigolds in old tin cans last year I thought that the dimensions of the pallet would be perfect for holding tin cans, and so I came up with the plan to build a simple pallet planter.

I'm not much of a woodworker, and I am rather lacking in tools. After looking at the pallet from all angles I decided that I could use a saw to chop it into two pieces and make both a small and large planter. So I chopped off the top, and started by working on the smaller half. I'm afraid I neglected to take a photo of the pallet before I hacked away at it, I think because I didn't really believe that the project would work!

I sanded the pallet down, then I painted it with two coats of a white emulsion paint that we had left over in the garage. I'm sure that it's not the correct paint to use for outdoor paintwork, and also not the correct paint to use on bare wood, but I was going for a sort of shabby chic look so I thought that I'd try it out. I found that although it was a rather glaring white to start with, after it had been outdoors for a few weeks the colour had faded and it was looking less bright, which I liked. It is open at the bottom so the tin cans rest on the floor, and it's a perfect size.

Then there was a change in the weather and I didn't much feel like working outdoors in the cold, so my project became a little neglected. In the meantime I continued collecting tin cans (yes we eat a lot of passata) and planting them out with a variety of different marigolds. I planted marigolds in tin cans last year and found that they worked really well, so I'm hoping that they will do as well this year! Each row holds twelve cans, so I needed thirty-six cans filled with plants in total. 

With warmer weather in the air I turned my attention to the larger half of the pallet. My problem was that although I could stand pots on the floor at the bottom, I needed something underneath to hold the cans on the upper layer. My problems were solved with a strip of wood that I found behind our summerhouse last year and had been using across a flowerbed to keep out the cats. I think it may have fallen off a trellis at one point. I nailed it in underneath the upper section and it makes a nice solid shelf.

Then I gave the pallet a good clean, and sanded it down as well as I could, before painting it with the white emulsion. It took me ages to paint - over an hour! But it looked good when it was all done. 

Then I tried it out in a few spots in the garden before settling on the final position by the fence at our side gate. I grew marigolds here last year so I know that they will grow well, it gets a good mix of sun and shade and it is sheltered from the wind. I can also see it easily from the kitchen window, where I seem to spend a lot of time. I've fixed it to the fence by looping some thin wire around the fence panels and pallet, and it seems a sturdy yet easily removable solution.

Finally I could fill the planter with my tin cans full of marigold and other plants that I've been growing. They've been getting a bit spindly as I've kept them inside for so long due to the cold weather, so hopefully they will bush out a bit!

I'm hoping that it won't be too long before I have some flowers, and then I can move the cans around a bit to make sure that I have a nice even spread of heights and colours.

I'm so pleased with my free pallet planters, and it wasn't nearly as much work as I was expecting!

In the autumn when the flowers have died I can empty out and recycle the tins. For next year I plan to start saving my tin cans earlier on, especially now that I know how many I'll need. I want to have a go at decorating them a bit more, maybe with some bright spray paints, stickers, fabric or with some Hama bead flower decorations. I'm hoping that it will last for a good few summers to come. Now I just have to stop myself looking out for more free pallets to hoard in the garage for years!