This is the front garden & I have been having a long overdue afternoon taming it today.
This part of the garden has masses of blue & white belles in the late Spring but unfortunately grows nothing else the rest of the year.
The soil here gets very dry & shallow as the mature Oak & Sycamore seem to take all the nutrients.
Looking a bit better now & a whole green wheelie bin full.
Three good things:
1. I have accepted that my garden is never going to have the beautiful herbaceous border that I would love with flowers to cut. Trees are as beautiful in their own way.
2. I am pleased with myself for the two weeks general maintenance I have been doing.
3. Two lovely Scottish B&B's in tonight.
Well done you !!! I went out and did a bit of weeding and now I have clumps of weeds here and there to be picked up !!
It's very difficult to grow any healthy plants under large trees as they take in all the moisture and nutrients as you say - but then do they need other plants at their feet !
You've been a real busy bee this June!! I have pretty much accepted the same as we have so many trees about although I suspect somebody with talent and inclination could manage it. I have been dragging up convolvulus and washing sofa covers. Need to keep Adam off them now!!
@judithg is that the same as bindweed..I think so. I have it twining round some of the shrubs, every year it comes back...must say it's quite therapeutic getting hold of it & pulling it off all the poor shrubs..they were choking to death! You are doing well too.....new shed etc!
@snaphappi l @ellida thank you both...I must admit it is a pretty garden when you see the whole & I don't want the work of borders...I am a blitzing sort of gardener ...once a year!!
Thanks so much for taking time to comment......you have lovely gardens so was a bit embarrassed to show you mine! Does look worse than it is here as I took it low down ........I quite liked the bits of orange weed!
Lovely to have a wild part in any garden! Compared to next doors beautifully manicured garden, our garden looks like a Wild Woman's Nightmare! Good for cats to hide, dogs to dig, birds to sing!
well done for all your hard work! I so know what you mean. Though I have lots of colourful and pretty areas there are even more overgrown and weed-ridden areas too. But I'm lucky to have an easy strategy to keep it in perspective. When I look towards my very tidy neighbour's garden I feel ours is such an overgrown mess!!!! But when I turn and look at it facing the other way the view beyond is of a field....sometimes with sheep in it...and our garden looks great in comparison! Other people only see the big picture and there is always plenty to do that they don't even notice.
But I wouldn't want to live in a concrete area that's for sure!!!
@sarah19 yes I so agree & it's good to have overgrown areas in our gardens for the insects & wild life...that's what I tell myself anyway! Thanks for the encouragement Sallie!
@dide a bit Dianne! Good to keep busy but due to have my gall bladder out next month so I think I will sit with my book in the garden for the rest of the summer!!
As busy as you have been lately, I do believe, once it is all done you will feel so good. Perhaps you can find certain flowers that do ok in shallow and drier soil.
Wow, you really are on a mission at the moment, painting and gardening. Don't overdo it.
Our garden is mainly trees on one side, but we do have some flowers in among the trees at the back of our property. My husband just loves trees.
I'll bet you feel good after doing this Pat. I also have a problem with big greedy trees in the front yard but have found that the violets survive and provide some ground cover
It's very difficult to grow any healthy plants under large trees as they take in all the moisture and nutrients as you say - but then do they need other plants at their feet !
Thanks so much for taking time to comment......you have lovely gardens so was a bit embarrassed to show you mine! Does look worse than it is here as I took it low down ........I quite liked the bits of orange weed!
But I wouldn't want to live in a concrete area that's for sure!!!
Our garden is mainly trees on one side, but we do have some flowers in among the trees at the back of our property. My husband just loves trees.