Wet and Wild.

We have had such wet weather in the last few months that I have managed to do very little in my garden.  I thought it was probably time to record just how overgrown it is all looking at the moment.  It is very easy to read blogs and look through Pinterest and feel like everyones gardens are beautiful and perfect.  I have to say that I do feel that mine has a sort of beauty to it at the moment but there is certainly no perfection at the moment.

This is my front patch.  When we bought our house 10 years ago the grass went right up to the front window, I planted 2 evergreen Clematis plants and one everygreen honeysuckle to hide the fence that is immediately outside the window.  As you can see they are now in desperate need of a good cut down.  When/if it all dries out this is one of my my priorities.

As you enter the garden through the side gate this is the first of our beds, the layout is what we inherited with the house, it is all paved with just a few raised bed areas.  The japenese anemones and geraniums are going weld in here.  Eventually I think i am going to have to take this bed right back to basics.  I can see how strange the weather has been by the plant at the back of the bed, this is my pride and joy and the only original plant from the garden, a beautiful bottle brush.  It normally bursts into it's beautiful red flowers at the beginning of June, however there is still no sign of it's tight buds opening.

Behind that bed is my relatively newly planted rose garden.  I have five rose bushes and have added a few alpine plants, 2 Carnation plants (which I got for £1 each!) and some cat mint this year which is finally starting to give it the look that I wanted.

next to this bed which used to be a pond is this seat, it is badly starting to erode and I am desperate to get it pulled out and maybe put another flower bed in here.  The bright purple flowering bowl of flowers are Nemisis, they are an annual however this spot has obviously given them just the conditions they needed to survive through the winter and they are looking (and smelling) absolutely gorgeous again this year.

My veg patch is the one area that has had some new work done to it this year.  My dear husband kindly moved and built up the beds so that I can reach them without any need to bend or kneel.  In the top photo are my lovely sugar snap peas, behind them I have brocolli which is very happy, a couple of pumpkin plants and lots of strawberries.

In the other bed I have (from the front), lettuce, carrots, beetroot, spinach and dwarf beans.  These were all planted quite late but seem to be getting on with growing.

My rhubarb has been spectacular this year even with us rumaging all around it, I also have chives, lemon and normal mint here as well.  In the blue pot is one of my big casulties this year.  My beautiful acer which normally looks gorgeous by now has had a black aphid attack and lost almost all it's leaves.  It will be the first time in 10 years that I do not have it's beautiful reds in the autumn.  I am praying it might survive and come back to life next year.

Can you see all the weeds peeping through the wooden slats and in the ground around the beds - they will get pulled, one day!

I made this bed just a couple of years ago by removing some more of the slabs the adorn the whole garden.  Again this has got overgrown with everything.  My ceanothus has been the best ever this year despite my constanation when dear hubby thought he could prune it last year!  I have added into the centre of this bed some lemon lavender which smells absolutely devine.

My wiggly border has done me proud through the spring with lots of mini daffs, blue bells, and tulips and is now literally bursting at it's seems.  A little tidy up and it will be looking tip top again.

This is my little shady area.  We get the sun all day in the whole of the back garden which makes it very very hot (when the sun comes out).  We bought a gazebo when the children were young (for £25) which we dismantled every autumn, the last couple of years I have been convinced it would not cope with a take down and put up again as it had started to rust very badly.  However despite the rain and wind and winters it is still standing and gives me a couple of shady spots to plant in to.  In the background you can see my Helebores are very very happy.  I put 4 ferns in last year on the other side (the right of the picture), only two seem to have survived, though they are looking good, I quite fancy planting some foxgloves behind them - maybe next year.

We haven't had a lot of produce yet, but here is the first lettuce, sugar snap peas and strawberries of the season - we have had lots of rhubarb much of which we have eaten but the freezer is getting well stocked as well.

How does your garden grow?