Hi Guys,
In Berlin (Kreuzberg to be specific) and I'm look...
Latest reply
Hi Guys,
In Berlin (Kreuzberg to be specific) and I'm looking for a Key Exchange. I'm not sure but it seems HoardSpot is de...
Latest reply
Hello Everyone,
As I look out of the window whilst I write this, I am pleased to say that the sun is out and there is a deep blue sky. In the UK? I hear you say! Yes, it's true...I think Summer is on its way. 🙂
Whether you are going into Summer or have already moved into your Winter, this signals a change and often if you have a garden there are things to be done.
Do you have a garden? If so, how do you find preparing this ready for the season ahead, do your guests like to enjoy your garden too? If you don't have a garden, as perhaps you live in the city, do you have any alternatives such as a small herb garden that you enjoy all year around?
It would be great to hear from you.
Enjoy! 🙂
Lizzie
@Lizzie I live in a desert in Southern California, USA, summer is pretty much always here as we get about 4 inches of rain a year! My front garden is what is referred to as "desert-scape", that is, no grass and all plants on a drip system water. My back yard is the patio that is featured in my listing and many guests enjoy the ambiance I have developed.
Here is a picture of the patio, with Cami front and center.
There is a real bite in the air now, in just the last 10 days we have gone from this....
to this.......
Even the Alpaca is looking sad.....
Never mind we only have a bit over 2 months of cold to get through.
We have got around 300 cuttings of Salvia's Geraniums, rock roses, Byden and Daisies potted, and I wheel the racks of them out into what sun we get and then back under cover at night. Hopefully by late August most of them will be well underway for our next summer garden.
Guests do seem to like it...we have four outdoor areas in the garden for guests to sit in, and most of them do. We take it for granted but most of our overseas visitors from China, Japan and Europe don't have a garden space of their own and they seem to appreciate the tranquility of sitting in an open space with a book, or a cigarette and coffee....and being totally private they will pick a spot to sit in their pajamas or their night gear. Even at 7.30 this morning when it was about 6c the current guest was sitting out amongst the autumn leaves in his dressing gown with a cuppa and his two little kids while his wife slept in.
Lizzie a garden brings a wonderful sense of tranquility, it breeds 'relaxation time' and, as much effort as it takes to keep it reasonable, it is worth it.
Cheers.....Rob
I could say thanks and glow in the credit but, it belongs to Ade! She loves the garden Linda, and you are right there sure is a lot of love in it. She sits outside with a glass or two of bubbles every night working out what she wants to do next....but alas, she can't! The MS has robbed her of the ability to do what she wants to do so, she sits there and barks out instructions to me as to what she wants done! And Linda I am nowhere nears as good at it as she was.
The other thing is, it is a 'rambly' garden with seemingly not a lot of order to it.....and that was planned by both of us. It is not 'manacured' neat, it's interesting and unexpected.
Hey, keep that thought, maybe it will happen....we sure would love the opportunity to have you here.
Cheers.....Rob
Thanks Lizzie, I have printed the responses in this thread and taken them down and shown Ade.....she loved to see them, but it did make her cry because she can't do it any more and the level of frustration for her is very high.
The soil is not bad (this area originally being called Potato Hill a century ago) but we do fertilize regularly and a large proportion of the garden is done with an automated watering system, which we go to almost desperate lengths to keep intact from the grandchildren!
Our major problem here is lack of sunlight with all the large trees not only on this block but neigbouring properties and the school oval beyond the back fence. Most of the garden receives less than 6 hours of direct sunlight a day (even in the middle of summer) and this limits considerably the variety of plants that we can cultivate.
Apart from the herbs we grow the bulk of our vegetables as well. Each year we have lettuces, tomatoes, onions, zuchinnis, potatos, pumpkin, plus strawberries, rhubarb and we have a large rasberry cane down on the back fence and a good size nectarine tree (although beating the possums and the birds is a real challenge). There is always something edible somewhere on the block.
It has come a fair way from when we bought it until now.....
Cheers.....Rob
I so wish she could have her legs back Diane, she so loves gardening but just can't do it any more....and it frustrates her so much that I am nowhere near as good at it as she was, I am too 'slap-dash'!
This was the front of the last house we had which I personally built, but Adrienne dictated the garden layout.....
And my mother in our spa! Unfortunately she made her way across that rainbow bridge 10 years ago!
The constructional side has always been up to me, but Ade gets to do all the creative bits where the garden is concerned and although these shots are of a bygone area in our lives....over 20 years old, we still look back on them as though we did this yesterday.
Tonight is cold,......bloody cold, it is almost 11.30pm but our current guests are sitting out in my 'Tribal Council Area' with the fire bucket going and a wine and a cigarette or two.....
They all remark how quiet and peaceful it is....and it is! When you are sitting in the cottage you can actually hear the blood corsing through your veins, it's almost an unsettling quiet, as though you want to turn on a fan to give it some sort of reality! We are used to it but a lot of big city people find it a bit un-nerving to have such total quiet.
Although we do live for our garden we have done vitually nothing to the front of the house and when guests arrive they feel they must have come to the wrong house until I lead them around to the cottage and as soon as they walk into the rear garden they just stand and take it in! I think our garden is our biggest asset!
Cheers.....Rob
