11th May 2016 - Time in the Garden

This weekend we had glorious weather but unfortunately Mr L went off mountain biking with his pal and so I was left at home with the Little L's.  As usual they didn't want to go to the plot and were having water fights in the street with their friends.  I therefore decided to spend some time getting my garden straight(ish).  

I had a corner of the garden next to the greenhouse that was completely neglected - it gets sun first thing in the morning but then it's pretty shady for the rest of the day.  I decided that I wanted to brighten it up and took the kids off to the garden centre.  I loved wandering around looking at lots of different varieties of plants but the whole time the Littlest L's complained that they were hot and bored - grrrrrr!

I also went down to Aldi and bought their wooden tiles to do a mini deck and I covered the area with weed membrane.  I laid the tiles which were surprisingly easy to do and real wood; which I was impressed with!  I'd also bought a fountain from QVC which is battery operated so can be used even when it's not bright sunshine (brilliant for that corner of the garden).  I got a really good bargain (when it was on a "one time only" price which saved me nearly £30)

http://www.qvcuk.com/Bernini-Florentina-All-Weather-Rechargeable-Water-Fountain.product.506454.html?upsh=1

I've also ordered a garden mirror to go into the gap in the ivy, which I'm hoping will look great when it arrives.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TBE7WYS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've also used Richard Jackson's container magic, root booster and all season feed in all of my pots.  I love container magic, it has water storage crystals to reduce the need for watering (super important in hanging baskets especially), a controlled release booster food to help establish plants and a mycorrhizal fungi for stronger growth.  I have used it in every pot I've planted for a few years and it definitely helps.  I also like the all season feed because whilst I do use my flower power (Richard Jackson's plant food)  I don't always manage to do it as regularly as I should and if I am using the all season feed then I don't worry too much if I miss one!  The root booster helps to build stronger roots to maximise plant growth and saves nutrients.  I love Richard Jackson's products, some people are put off by the fact that you can only buy from QVC but I honestly haven't found better products anywhere else.  I have not found anything from his range yet that is less than it says on the packaging.  

http://www.qvcuk.com/CatalogSearch?langId=-2&storeId=10252&catalogId=10152&sc=SRCH&keyword=richard+jackson

Overall I'm really pleased with this little corner of my garden, but now I've done that I want to get the rest of the garden sorted before the summer comes properly (fingers crossed) and we are spending more time out there (hopefully) - watch this space...