It is the last day of January and time for my “End of the Month View” which is hosted by The Patient Gardener.
(Thank you Helen for doing this meme)
I have made the bold decision this year that for the “End of the Month Views” I will be concentrating on the three areas that need the most care and attention here in An Artist’s Garden.
I will also take an over-view picture out of the bathroom window every month, which is where the above image was taken.
The First area is the very bottom of the garden, on the left hand side as you look at the picture above.
We have decided to move part of our kitchen garden here, as it is sheltered from the wind, and our current kitchen garden gets the full brunt of the prevailing south westerlies, despite planting windbreaks.
As you will see from the images below we have a bit of work to do!
The area is about 5.5m x 5.5m (18 feet x 18 feet) and although there is a pile of rubbish on it at the moment, we have actually cleared this piece of garden in the past, so it looks much worse than it is. I have a sneaking suspicion that I have never blogged about the little garden that is behind my studio, which you can see in the picture above, so at some point I will have to give that little area a complete post to itself.
The next area that will get my attention during the “End of the Month View” will be the planting around this pond which we put in at the autumn last year.
There are some perennials in here, but they are so small and I am uncertain if they will even survive this winter, so for this summer I will be bulking them up with late flowering annuals and annual grasses, which I will grow from seed.
The third area that will feature in the “End of the Month View” will be this completely empty bed on the left of the above picture.
This year it will just be annuals and bulbs. At the top of the bed, near the house I want to create a tropical look with large leaved plants, banana, canna etc. However I will be growing quite a few of these from seeds, plugs, cuttings, small plants and I suspect it will take a few years before I get the tropical look I am waiting for. Meanwhile amongst other things;- cosmos, eschscholzia, Helianthus and sweet peas will go in here
On Patient Gardener’s end of the month post Jamie left a delightful comment, suggesting that Helen got some beautiful tiles for her garden to mark the points on which to stand for the shots, so that the view will be the same each month.
While I did not rush out and buy 4 beautiful tiles, I did dig out 4 terracotta tiles and have put them in the garden, so I know exactly where to stand each month – Thank you Jamie
Part of me cringes as I post these pictures of empty beds and piles of rubbish – but these are the areas that will hopefully change the most as the year progresses.
I’m so glad Threadspider led me here. I’ve subscribed to your feed and I look forward to seeing your garden grow in 2010, and getting inspiration for my own garden! End of January there looks like early April in my part of the world! I really enjoy that you are showing these in-between times as well as in-between places in your garden. It somehow stimulates the imagination!
Kit – it is lovely to see you here, I have visited your blog – and I really enjoy your use of colour and line, so happy that you have visited.
K
Kit´s last blog ..Some bunny’s hungry…
looking forward to seeing how the garden develops
so am I Rhiannon, so am I
roll on Spring!
Thank so much for dropping in
K
rhiannon´s last blog ..feeding the birds
Great photos and how brave of you to share, warts and all! Can you put a compass rose on the top picture to show us which way is up (so to speak!)?
Amanda – thanks so much for taking time to leave a comment – that is a good idea about the compass but ummm probably not for this post, but I will do it for the next.
If it helps looking at the top picture, the overview of the garden when I am looking down the garden that is due West, so the right hand side of the picture is North, and the left hand side of the picture is South
K
Amanda´s last blog ..On swearing
I’m so glad you decided to really show us the nitty gritty. I appreciate that so much more than the Home & Garden Magazine look (which I recently discovered is often faked or tweaked anyway). I will be watching to see your new kitchen garden unfold. Y’all do have your work cut out for you, but how exciting it will be to see it take shape over the monthly photos.
(And how jealous I am that you have a studio, even if the window screen needs a little repair!)
Meredith, I am glad you enjoyed seeing the nitty gritty picture. Totally untweaked images, and a totally untidied garden – scary!!
K
Meredith´s last blog ..blotany lesson
Great to see the big picture Karen and will be checking back in throughout the year to see what’s happening. One of the downsides of living in a bungalow is that there no opportunities for taking for ariel photos. You can see much more from them. Which of these projects are you tackling first?
Hi Anna, well as I neglected to sow my hardy annuals in the Autumn – first will be sowing those over the next 4-6 weeks, then, I think, move the raised beds out of the veg garden otherwise I will have no veg this year and as I have just bought a mountain of seed …..
Anna´s last blog ..‘I Can Sing A Rainbow’
Whilst talking to Shedman this afternoon, I am pleased to report that he does not seem at all phased with the work to be done. Insists that a lot of the groundwork (no pun intended) is aleady in place. Phew, I won’t be comandered to moving too many boulders!! I wonder how full of plants the car will be on the way back from Malvern? By the way, I hope the standing tiles are in prominent places. I can just hear you in a couple of months saying “I can’t find it!”
Well, I should be able to find the tiles because they are red, and everything else is slate or stone! But I guess I will have to remember roughly where they were, but probably more importantly, which lens I had on the camera
K
Karen – glad you are joining in again. Seems more people are going to participate this year which is great. Your challenges look challenging!!!!
Hi Helen, I am convinced they look challenging because the garden is so bare ….or am I just convincing myself, no seriously they really should not be too bad because we have done all the heavy digging all ready.
It will be great if a few more bloggers join in – I think it is such a good meme.
K
Helen´s last blog ..End of Month View January 2010
I haven’t heard of this meme – great idea, and I love how you have annotated your pictures. Always plenty to do in the garden. Mostly, though, I just adore your stone home. Here in earthquaky California of course we live in “stick built” homes, but I originate in a land of many old stone buildings and really miss their solidity. OK, lunch break over – back to the garden!
I think we always admire what we no longer have I love the stick built homes of California!!
I decided to go ahead and annotate the pictures – then next month I will be able to see if anything has changed! Thanks for Dropping in Country Mouse, lovely to see you
K
Country Mouse´s last blog ..Purge the Spurge! – and a Nifty Newt. A Good Day!
Exquisite! I’m new here and will enjoy watching your garden’s progression!
Debi, thanks for visiting – as we have only been here three years, all my posts have been about changing bits of the garden, but I think we are on the last lap now
K
Debi´s last blog ..Imaginings
Karen,do not worry about the rubbish,look at all those cleared beds. I love the structure and the paths. You have it all in your head…
Linda, it is all in my head, but I might have to make a few notes on paper – the little grey cells are not what they were
Glad you like the structure.
K
Karen,
Lovely to see the layout of your garden. You have such a beautiful spot, and I look forward to seeing the changes that take place over the course of the growing season. Your pond is just beautiful.
Thanks Liisa for the lovely comments, at this time of year there is not much in my garden and the layout has to look quite strong.
K
Liisa´s last blog ..A Time of Celebration
I love this meme~and the view it allows of your garden’s bones…They are perfect and would pop out all winter if your garden were covered with snow..plus it sure protects the plants! Without snow cover our gardens look naked for many months! You do know, nothing kills Rudbeckia hirta or R fulgida and think of all that delicious yellow;) gail ps I wish I could find a way to send you PPPP, it survives being exposed to cruel, cold winds.
Gail the Rudbeckia is allready showing signs of life, and I have trawled the internet this afternoon for a PPP in the UK – I will e-mail you a link before I part with my money to make sure that it is the right one
K
Gail´s last blog ..Musing On Our First Snowfall
A beautiful spring garden beckons, Karen! Happy February
Oh!, Thank you Joey, such a lovely comment, much appreciated.
K
joey´s last blog ..MONDAY MUSE DAY ~ WELCOME FEBRUARY and VIOLETS (FLOWER of the MONTH)
Love seeing how it all really works. I should be brave and join in. And how do you do those cool boxes for the annotation? Really like it. Agree about good bones too!
Thanks ELizabeth, we did work quite hard to get some kind of structure in place before I went mad on the planting – fingers crossed it will all work in the end. Do join in – it is a fun meme to take part in, and a useful reference.
K
elizabethm´s last blog ..Making apple jelly
Love the color glossy photographs with circles and arrows and paragraphs explaining what each one needs! I’ve been struggling with a diagram program to design an overhaul of my garden, and getting nowhere. Your approach gives me something to try that might work better. As a brand new blogger, I am checking out everyone else’s sites —I like the structure of yours with tabs at the top to other sites/pages. I’ll be checking back to see the photoprogress of your plans!
Welcome to the Artist’s Garden” laurrie, and thanks for visiting and taking time to leave such a lovely comment. I have been playing around with making notes on photos for my own records, and for me, the visual reminders work quite well (always remembering which file I then put them into on the computer
)
Laurrie´s last blog ..Stumped
Maybe you see bare gardens, and piles of rubbish. I see magical lines, and alluring views. Do you have pictures of this beautiful garden in the summer? Inspiring design here.
Jen
Jen´s last blog ..What goes around… Bloggy Love.
Oh you are going to be so busy with your garden, so much work, it’s making me tired already. But it is interesting to see the bare bones of the garden in winter, to see it’s structure. BTW thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. As a new blogger, comments are so appreciated. And for adding my blog to your links, I’ve added yours to my blog roll as it is one that I always enjoy. Love your stone house too, so beautiful. A fitting home for an artist.
Helen at summerhouse´s last blog ..Getting Lucky with Amaryllis Bulbs – Second Time Blooms
Thanks for the orientation – that helps a lot (and was completely the opposite of what I’d thought – mistakenly assuming that your studio would have north light!).
Amanda´s last blog ..Punks make my day
Hi. I too really enjoyed your annotated pics
Very interesting and I look forward to see how your garden progresses. The pressure is on now that you have told us all of your plans 