MORE SUMMER PHOTOS 2009

Here's a few more photo's taken In August 2009 In my garden.

they also feature my Hens, now looking much better since their arrival on June 13th.

Their feathers are almost returned and I add a tonic to their water bottle, which promotes health in the Hens themselves. They are still laying daily too.

With all the recent rain the garden is still looking very colourful and hopefully will last into late September this year.

AUGUST 2009

Another very colourful Garden this Summer, despite it being a very wet Summer in the UK.

I did not enter the Garden Competition this year, which I'm pleased about, as it would have been a struggle getting it right for the judging. But as it is I'm pleased with the Flower beds this year again. The fruit bushes and Apple tree have produced a fair amount of fruit and the mini vegetable area has also done well. Though not much success with the grow bags. I think the restricted root area affects Vegetables too much and they seem to die off too early.

The Dahlias have been the best flowers on the front garden, but then they prefer a lot of watering....and no problems there with our weather conditions!.

Hopefully the remainder of August will see warmer & sunnier weather here, so I can sit out and enjoy my garden more, rather than admire it from the window Indoors!!

Soon need to think about ordering my Autumn plug plants, such as Primroses, for the Spring.

JUNE 2009

In June my garden was looking good, with my Vegetables & Fruit looking very healthy and the gooseberry bushes were loaded too. The Broad Beans (above) next to the greenhouse are tall and seem to be suited there. This year I also did some Peas, Carrots & Beetroot (Above) which will be ready in July onwards. So quite a mixed planting this year, with not just Flowers on my rear garden. I'm trying to have more Fruit on my garden I guess.

In the Autumn I Intend planting either a Cherry tree or a Plum tree....or both!

I will try to find a suitable area to put them. I have tidied up my Compost area, by buying two compost bins, from the Council's recycling dept. So gone is my large compost heap....to be replaced by Two large black composting bins. These should allow the waste to decompose more rapidly. Being warmer in the bins with a lid on them. Now that I also have my Hens, I will get nice manure from these. The Hens continue to lay well and are a nice addition to my Garden.

My Ex-Battery Hens First Day at Home!

My Ex-Battery Hens on their First Day outside here at Home.

Video of my Hens & Garden: June 14th 2009

On June 13th I collected my Ex-Battery Hens, from the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, at Allesley near Coventry. They had collected 600 from a local farm, which of course were due to be slaughtered, but thanks to the Hen Welfare people, they were all saved for people like myself, who had decided to "Adopt" a few of these Ex-battery Hens. All they have previously known, are living quarters the size of an A4 piece of paper!! Very cruel conditions Indeed and most have the majority of their feathers missing at the time they are collected by the Hen Welfare people.

So I collected Three of these Ex-Batts and hopefully their feathers will soon return, after a few weeks and a Vitamin tonic added to their water bottle. They appear to be settling in well and already on the first full day of "freedom" , they have laid 2 eggs!....which made a nice omelette today. So it was nice to see them today sat enjoying the sunshine, the first daylight & sun & outdoors life they had ever seen in their 17 months of life. They make a nice addition to my garden and the occasional Egg now and then will be a bonus.

http://www.bhwt.org.uk/ (Ex-Battery Hen Welfare Site)

VIDEO of Me and my Garden. April 26th 2009.

Here is a short Video , mainly of my Garden this Spring and features myself and aspects of my garden & greenhouse. Also Includes my Tropical Fish Aquarium...which I've just set up Indoors.

Springtime Garden: April 2009

The start of another Gardening year and here are a few photos from my garden this Spring.

The Tulips have looked great this year and also the pansies & bellis daisies. A shame when they start to fade, leaving May as a month with little colour on my garden, until it's Bedding plant time again. My greenhouse is currently full of those , which will be toughened up outside soon in their trays, before planting in late May after all danger of Frosts has passed.

I'm not entering the local Garden Competition this summer, but will still attempt to make it a very colourful garden again.

MY AWARD WINNING GARDEN : August 2008

Another successful year on my garden, resulted in 3 "Gold Medals" in the local Garden Competition that is run in our town each summer. The Front Garden, Rear Garden and the Rear Wildlife Pond....all gained "Golds". My biggest achievement since starting doing that competition years ago. So nice to see reward for the hard work that goes into it all.

I have added above a few photos showing this Summers displays on my garden.

To see a more detailed view of my garden, please view the VIDEO BELOW of a "Garden Tour" I added, which shows more aspects of my garden this Summer. It lasts around 6 minutes.

My Garden Tour: VIDEO FILM- July 2008

EARLY SUMMER IN MY GARDEN. 2008

After a very busy Spring of preparing the garden for planting. I've now planted all my summer bedding plants again. Quite a large operation really, as it took the whole Three days of the Bank holiday weekend to do it all. But of course it will all be worth the hard work, when it is all in full bloom. The photos above show the shrubs and Climbers that are currently in flower at the end of May 2008. I've altered my garden slightly this spring, by removing a large Ceanothus (Californian Lilac) which had got too large and blocked part the view from the patio.

One of the photos above now shows what it looks like, from the patio to the centre of the garden.

The clematis climbers are just starting to come out now and everything is growing well.

This year i've also done a few Tomato plants in my Greenhouse , together with Peppers and an Aubergine plant. So we will see how they go on. There are Three types of Tomato variety in there. Outside i've done some Runner beans and Dwarf Beans as well, with also some new Blueberry bushes and Gooseberry bushes. These are next to the new Apple tree i planted, to replace the Californian Lilac shrub. I will show more of these in my next set of photos, as the garden develops during the Summer.