Guess who's back ....

... oh yes !!

so quick catch up ... we moved (hurrah) and have been in our new house for around 3 weeks now. The good news - it has a garden !  yippee :) Here is my lovely front garden.  Seems that it was originally planted by a landscape gardener - it is packed with plants and has been in constant flower since we moved in. I don't think it will need much TLC to get it back to it's former glory. The Acers are a bit big so I'll probably have a chop during the autumn.

Here is the back garden in Spring before we moved in - the huge tree belongs to the property next door. Apparently it is dying and there are several discussions taking place to possibly remove it. Even though it's a bit unstable we'll miss it when it's gone as it's very popular with the birds. Here is how it looked before:

End of the garden - this is where the greenhouse will go :)

This is a Camilia - it's a deep / pale pinky colour, but the garden hasn't been touched for 10 years, so everything is a vastly overgrown.  The bushes were so big they've hidden half the garden

So I gave it a little trim !  I think in Spring I'll have another go at the main upright bit, but for now at least the sunshine can get through to the soil under it. I took out a second one that was around 7-8ft tall ... and then saw one in the garden centre (4ft) for £50 ! Eeek.

Most of the contents of the garden are now in this bonfire !

We found a gate behind one of the enormous overgrown bushes.  Sadly I think the previous owner 'lost' the access rights - would have been handy for my manure delivery !

It's looking much better

and here it is now - a blank canvas to start planning !

The white hydranger is the only plant so far to have escaped the chop.  It is around 20 years old I'm told.  I'm going to use the flowers for Christmas decorations - then it'll be getting a severe prune.  There is a water & electric point somewhere inside the bush from when a greenhouse used to be in the garden.

Here is the first plant I've planted - a Kiwi Fruit. It has already wrapped itself around the trellis. I've also got a fig tree waiting to be planted.

and the best to last ? Look what is at the bottom of the garden ... an allotment site !  oh yes. Have I put my name down ... oh yes !! only a 5 year wait haha.

In the meantime, we'll be enjoying our sunsets :)