Tag Archives: potting shed

Sunshine, guests and gardening

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The weather is too warm to be stuck inside – it’s only April, however, temperatures have reached 25 degrees during the day. Despite needing to sort out the essentials inside the house (i.e. plumbing in the washing machine and finding curtains long enough for the enormous windows), it’s the garden that has received the most attention this week.

The first thing I did was rearrange the open part of the barn so that the logs are stored at the back next to kindling collected from around the garden. The previous owners left an old table at the back of the house so I’ve repurposed that and placed it in the front of the barn as a potting table. It has been a very busy week yet I’ve somehow managed to sow some tomatoes, French beans, lettuce and a selection of herbs. The rest will have to wait!

An army of family arrived on Thursday too and have wasted no time tackling the big garden jobs; over the last three days the beds have been weeded, the trees pruned and hedges shaped and the grass has been given a very good haircut by the village farmer’s 18 year old son. What was starting to look like a meadow is now a nicely manicured lawn… however, I am going to have to invest in a sit-on mower – that first cut took the poor chap four and a half hours with a small petrol mower! SCH

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Practical garden design

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I have been thinking a lot about garden design recently. True: the RHS Chelsea Flower Show was on TV and was as ever full of great ideas, but it’s the practical side of design that prompts me to write.

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The all-important wheelbarrow

I’m the first to admit to loving symmetry and tidy borders, but the day-to-day need for a variety of garden tools, sacks, pans, compost and water has made me realise that I am going to need a garden that ‘works’. Add to this the busy running of a B&B and you soon realise efficiency is going to be key!

We have been extremely fortunate to have had seven days of uninterrupted sunshine which has been instrumental in helping clear many an important seasonal job. I’ve spent hours trimming lawn edges, staking and trimming overgrown hedges, heaving compost into bags, weeding flower beds, potting up summer plants, thinning out vegetables and herbs, scrubbing moss off the old patio, and brushing down garden furniture… the list goes on and there’s always that unexpected job each day. But the point here is I’ve probably spent half the time traipsing backwards and forwards collecting or depositing ‘things’!

So in considering the workability and aesthetics of the garden at The Little Grange, here’s my practical design priority list:

1. Water butts in a variety of locations (fed by guttering from house, greenhouse, etc.)

2. Greenhouse for growing on new plants and for winter pot storage; ideally with a built-in earth bed

3. Tool shed attached to greenhouse as well as a similar storage solution closer to the main house

4. Potting shed attached to the main house

5. Kitchen garden within easy reach of the main house

6. Duplicates of key tools for those jobs that take you to the far end of the garden

I will keep an eye out for bargain buys at my local auction since there seems to be a constant stream of old tools, garden pots, lawn mowers, ladders, etc. You never know, I might even find that all important garden shed! SCH