Each day For the month of May Becky is hosting a square format photo featuring one or more of the following themes: move forward, burgeoning, reconstruct, renew. And so here, on all those fronts, is the kitchen-window-to-be with a view on another ‘work in progress’ – the garden. The hawthorn tree over the hedge is doing the burgeoning.
The house extension has been forging ahead too, and while super-builder Alan has been putting up the inner timber frame, I have been digging up the lawn. I started doing this last summer, soon after we’d moved into The Gables, but got no further than two beds along the garden path. Even so, they are already looking promising, bursting with spinach, Swiss chard, coriander, various kales and cauliflowers. (Everything has to be netted against pigeon plunder).
But then came the wet and frigid winter, and so the digging mostly had to stop until March.
Our garden ends at the fence behind the greenhouse, and I’m now expanding an existing narrow bed along the entire fence-line. First on my list has been rooting out the ground elder and phygelius seedlings, followed by making a well composted trench for runner and butter beans. The trench is done and the bean row will run parallel to the greenhouse, but with space enough for some outdoor tomatoes beside the greenhouse.
Against the back fence are a few field bean plants (mini broad beans), now busy flowering, and next to them is a small plot of sprouting broccoli and green Romanesco cauliflowers for late summer cropping.
It’s a pity everything has to be netted, but the pigeons are remorseless foragers, including testing things they don’t really like and leaving lots of shredded leaves – the rotters.
Meanwhile the kitchen is looking like this:
A brick-skin with parapet is next on the agenda. There will then be double doors filling the open space, and a roof lantern illuminating the cooking department. The further half of the back house wall will then be knocked through to the main sitting room to create an open L-shaped living space on a roughly east-west axis.
But for now it’s all blue-sky thinking, and not least some serious musings on how the new roof lantern will affect the interior light. Hmmm:
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Tish Farrell 
❤️
🙂
Gosh, you’re forging ahead, Tish! By next winter you’ll be done and dusted surely?
Hopefully we’ll be sorted before the winter.
A lot already achieved, but a lot still to do. Looking impressive
Yep, lots still to do, Pauline – inside and out.
Wow! You’ve done such a lot in such a short time. Great that you have found a good builder, they are definitely worth their weight in gold. And I am not surprised that your first thoughts in the garden are edibles and not flowers.
Yes, edibles definitely taking priority, Jude. In the end I did put 3 rows of spuds in the front garden bed that hasn’t got building supplies stacked on it. But also some hollyhocks outside the window! Interesting combo. We do have a few flowers though. There’s a bed at the top of the terrace opposite the new kitchen doors, presently hiding behind the pile of recycled bricks soon to be repurposed. It has a few of my favourite perennials from Sheinton Street coming along.
I imagine the house takes priority, but I look forward to seeing the garden next year when you have had more time to spend on it. At least you have a greenhouse, that’s good. Sunny garden areas?
The garden fore and aft gets sun most of the day. The only shady area is just outside the new kitchen window (mostly hedge and neighbouring cherry tree) and the small terrace opposite the kitchen door. It was the general sunniness potential that attracted us to the house in the first place. In fact I might have to think of ways to shade the greenhouse. When we moved in, it was covered in ivy and had trees growing on the roof. Now I can see they had their uses.
Whatt a blessing.. It already looks grand and more to come..I’m so happy for you..Carry on.
Many thanks for that kind encouragement, Beverly.
It’s a lot of work (both house and garden) but it’s clear progress is being made, on both fronts!
A lot of thinking going on, Tish, but a lot of physical stuff too. You have an extraordinary ability to produce edibles. I once grew some very feeble looking carrots. Dedication and effort, I presume?
Nice garden soil helps, Jo. And not many molluscs. Carrots can anyway be cussed veggies to get going. Sticking to the plot is the main thing, I think. As in remembering to water it 🙂
Fantastic progress, a brilliant bit of leading up the garden path! And impressed with your growing of edibles as one of the priorities
Happy you could pop along my garden path, Sue 🙂
your allotment skills have been brought to bear on that fulsome bed Tish – lovely to see the progress on the home front too (that roof looks like a good one!) Had to look up roof lantern – and it looks as though its topping off the extension completely/nearly? As long as there is light coming in from the side you should be able to see to cook all that you will be growing!
Thanks for all those appreciative words, Laura. I have to say that after years of struggling with the cold and heavy allotment soil, good old cottage garden soil is sheer bliss, even if it involves digging up the lawn to reach it. And yes, the roof lantern effort tops off the extension and should get a good dose of westerly light.
I also dug up my lawn and I know who back breaking it can be – I could only face it piece meal
Yes, I’m only doing it a few strips at a time. I bet you saved the turves? I’ve nearly filled my compost bin with them. Also having to fish out phygelius along the way.
yes the turfs overwintered upside down and went toward the veg beds!
🙂 🙂 🙂
How exciting for you Tish. I’m sure when it’s all done, it will be beautiful.
Many thanks, Anne, for cheering us on 🙂
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like everyone else I am very impressed by how much you have achieved – and the kind of garden path I’d be happily led up!
Cheers, Becky.
I don’t envy much, but oh my, that greenhouse! I’ve always thought if you have a big beautiful house like that, you can do magic! It is going to be magnificent and as always, your gardening efforts always make me feel I should somehow be doing more, but I can’t. AT least I managed to get some herbs in the ground — in boxes on the deck to at least lower the likelihood of skunks, squirrels and all the other foragers from taking it all away before I even get to it.
I guess it’s too early for congratulations — that will have to await completion — but you’ve already done so much! It’s going to be amazing.
Many thanks for all those most encouraging comments, Marilyn. I think many generations of gardening ancestors must be urging on with the new garden. It’s so much easier to deal with than the allotment which had such dispiriting soil.
And yes, the greenhouse – it is such an asset, especially for getting things started. Though I might have to think of ways of shading it. On sunny days it’s in full sun for most of the day. We didn’t realise that all the ivy that was encrusting it when we moved in, might actually have been useful.
Dear Tish
it seems to us that you do quite a lot by yourself. That’s quite a project with house and garden, we are impressed. It’s always such a great feeling when some of the projects are done. You grow a lot of vegetables. We stopped that as it was too much work for us and now we get biologically grown veges from a farmer just around the corner. For us it was always special to eat food we grew ourselves – we are all borne and bred in big cities and we very much romanticised gardening. Now we only grow some tomatoes and cultivate our figs and apples.
We wish you lots of nice vegetables and that everything goes well with your project
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks so much for all those appreciative thoughts, Klausbernd. And yes, veggie growing does mean quite a lot of work. But then, despite Shropshire being an agricultural county, we don’t have much in the way of local organic veg farming, so it’s become something of a Tish cause – growing our own. Also, it’s so much easier growing in a garden (with lovely soil) attached to the house, rather than having to trudge across a field to my allotment where the soil was very difficult. Though I do miss my allotment comrades.
I think it’s great that you grow tomatoes, figs and apples. All so delicious, and can be prepared in so many ways. I can’t wait for our tomatoes to get going.
Greetings to you all, Fab Four of Cley.
Fingers crossed for no construction delays. Sounds like it will be an amazing end result just like your garden. It looks terrifically prolific.
Bernie