Thursday 17 July 2014

HOME SWEET HOME: The Garden

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Where better to start talking about the house than in the garden - probably because there was never any boxes to unpack so I don't have to hide them away to snap photos! Having been in a one bed apartment with no outside space to call our own, I've been dreaming of trees, plants and having a little veg plot since god knows when. 

We didn't want a huge garden - mainly because of the upkeep and luckily we scored gold. The previous owner clearly lovingly cared for their garden - we've inherited numerous, even if somewhat overrun raspberry and blackberry plants, lovely sweet peas to poppies (sadly flowered for the year) to lilies. There's even a wonderful magnolia tree in the front garden which happens to sit right in front of my craft room - perfect!

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Being in the full sun, we're managing to pick off a breakfast bowl of raspberries daily, yet they are a little overrun and will need putting into place next year. The same area - behind the garage, is also where we're planning on attempting our little veg plot. Key word - attempting.

Towards the back of the house there's a large wooden deck surrounding which, is yet more raspberries and oh so much wild garlic all shaded by the age old Maple tree that stands proud in the middle of the garden.

Where there are a lot of shrubs, grasses and bushes the garden is sadly lacking in color - and with our hope to make the garden super butterfly, bee and bird friendly along with an English cottage feel, that's the mission to work on for next year starting in the fall with hopefully planting some bulbs for the spring - thinking tulips, crocuses and daffodils.

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Until then i'll be pouring over some gardening books methinks. No doubt gardening posts will become a steady feature upon this blog from now on especially as I start to tackle and make it our own.

Exciting gardening adventures to come!
 

30 comments:

  1. Such a beautiful garden!!! I can't wait to be done with university and into my own little house so I can have my own :)
    ~ Samantha

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    1. Yeah I never really had a wanting for a garden in my university years, but certainly in the last apartment for the last 2 1/2 years I was really wanting one. It's just so nice to have that private outside space to enjoy the summer.

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  2. Fab pictures! I actually was out in our garden on Saturday taking some pictures, it was lovely!

    Stephanie
    http://missstephanieusher.blogspot.co.uk/
    http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/3436251
    xxxx

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    1. Sounds fun - I've been out most of the last two weeks in the garden working and taking photographs.

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  3. Your garden looks a lot like mine, with many of the same plants. I've lived here for almost six years, but most of my time initially was spent working on the interior of the house, so it is only in the past couple years that I've gotten the garden how I want it. Though I do plan to dig up more grass to expand the flower beds next summer. Always a work in progress! Excited to see how your garden progresses over time!

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    1. Until we get some money saved up again the interior work - well the decorating is all on hold so the cheaper work to do is all in the garden to be honest. Until it's the fall and I get some bulbs brought for next year it's basically just trying to tame the weeds and work out borders etc.

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  4. Such lovely photos, and your garden looks like just the perfect size! x

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    1. Yeah, it's a bit wider than that photograph would suggest and the front is pretty large too, but it's a lovely practical size which is the main thing!

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  5. Love all the photographs!!! Garden looks superb as well! :) Have a good weekend!!! Liuba X

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  6. berries and magnolias? You really lucked out!!!

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    1. the magnolia tree has just started flowering this last couple of weeks too - it's beautiful!

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  7. Love this! I've been wanting a garden for years but all I have right now are tomatoes, maybe next year!

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    1. tomatoes are always a great place to start - before the garden, well a month ago all I had was a lemon plant and an aloe plant lol

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  8. Yay!!!!
    There is something about a garden isn't there, particularly when it was well taken care of.
    I'm jealous of the garlic - I love the edible parts of a garden the most. I'm such a practical person!

    Enjoy - and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.

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    1. What's fun about inheriting a garden is not really knowing what might be there, I have a lot of plants on the moment somewhat on death row because I haven't a clue what they are, but if they have a pretty flower they're staying haha. Every time I end up doing some weeding, I'm uncovering some hidden little shrub or something that was crowded out by another.

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  9. It looks like you did get lucky with such a nice plot of land! Starting a garden is so much fun! My husband and I like to take evening walks every night around our garden to see how everything is growing and if anything new has popped up, it's one of our favorite parts of the day. I can't wait to see your future garden posts!

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    1. Thank you - it's nice especially with all the weeding that'd being going on in the last week to walk around, see the progress and what out what's next. Saying that I should probably take a break and have a quick weed around the front - that and we really need a lawn mower, not sure how long I can rock the long grass look!

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  10. How lucky you are! Raspberry and blackberry plants? I have always wanted a garden of my own, but I have been slacking on creating one in our backyard. -Jess L

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    1. I know!! So, so grateful for the raspberry bushes - granted some of them will need moving in the spring because they are taking over the edge of the decking (and hopefully they survive said move) but to have established raspberry plants, i'm over the moon. There only appears to be one or two blackberry plants, they don't appear to be growing so well in comparison, hopefully they pick up soon!

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  11. Beautiful photos! How exciting it must be to go from an apartment to owning enough space for a garden! Looking forward to future posts of your gardening adventures :)

    Jessica
    the.pyreflies.org

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    1. Thank you! It's just nice having that extra space to suit out on the deck with a book and enjoy the birds singing and potter around for an hour tidying it a little. Nice little hobby i've picked up :)

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  12. It looks like the perfect size and so so green! I love the big tree in the centre. At home we have a huge willow tree as the centre piece in our garden (not that we live near any water). Some more colour and I think it's going to be perfect. I just finished my raspberries from the shop, but freshly picked are always the best!

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    1. We think the tree is probably older than the house - the gardens and the park right behind is full of them which gives a great backdrop. Next years mission is certainly working on adding in some extra colour!

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  13. Ooh you are going to have such a stunning garden! Lucky you with all those berries and delicious things growing ^_^ I hope our next place has some outside space. I can't wait to see lots of pictures and hear about your gardening adventures!

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    1. Thank you! I certainly came to miss having a garden space, even though prior to this I wouldn't have ever thought I had a weeding/gardening/flower bone in my body. Hopefully once I can get all the weeds into some kind of manageable level next year will be a breeze!

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  14. I am so jealous! All I want is a garden. If I could lift my flat out of our building and pop it on a little plot of land I'd happily live here for another ten years or so. I hate not having a garden where I could plant flowers, sit in the sunshine and play with the dog. It's definitely on our "want" list for our next place.
    Your garden looks so pretty. I'd love to have a little vegetable plot and raspberries growing. Hope there'll be lots of future posts all about your garden!
    Debi x

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    1. I hope there will be too! We've been lucky it being able to pick up gardening stuff (equipment and plants) pretty cheap so while we're saving to fix some of the things with the house, the gardens an easy and cheap thing to work out and gets me outside which is always good! We had a bit of an outside space in front of our apartment but there was no privacy and being right next to a freeway, it was just so nosey it wasn't worth the hassle sitting out there.

      I hope you get your garden soon!

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