Veggies, or a lack of...

Do you know what the most successful thing to come out of our veg plot was last year? Raspberries... yes, not even a vegetable! We had courgette plants eaten by slugs, sweetcorn that got to about half height then turned black, and leeks that looked more like spring onions. We also had a very poor germination rate for peas and beans both attempting to start them inside and then planted straight out. Generally not our finest year.

All of that caused us to take a step back and think about what we're working with. When we converted this area of the garden the soil was in a very poor state. We dug in a lot of compost initially and have done so a little more each year, but the reality is that the ground is probably in need of some T.L.C. 

So this year we're planting no vegetables at all. We're leaving the area fallow, though instead of leaving a nice empty space to fill with weeds we've planted green manure. A couple of cycles of that followed by a healthy dose of compost or manure and fingers crossed we'll have a better success rate with whatever we decide to grow next.

While that ticks over we'll be enjoying a regular box of fresh, seasonal vegetables from a local farmer instead, and looking forward to a good harvest of fruit from our various trees. 

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Hidcote Manor Gardens

A couple of weekends ago we took the opportunity of a sunny Saturday to take a trip to Hidcote. Just over an hours drive away, and conveniently National Trust where we have membership, we set out hoping to find ourselves some inspiration for our own garden, along with a good spot for a picnic!

Hidcote was the private garden of Lawrence Johnston who divided the whole area up into a series of rooms, each with it's own identity and character. While the arts and crafts styling wasn't what we wanted to achieve ourselves, we eventually stopped worrying about that and set to looking at how he had attained that unique feel to each space and found that a limited plant range, colour palate and textures seemed to be at least part of the key. On top of that there were a few themes that carried throughout the garden to give it a sense of unity. Brilliant planning on the part of Mr. Johnston.

Careful thought had also been given to the line of sight as you moved through the garden. High hedges and walls obscured your view in most directions, so when you did get a glimpse through you could be sure it was deliberate - a tantalising peek at what was to come next.

It's certainly given us some food for thought as we're in a definite planning stage with our own space. We often think about our garden as distinct areas, each with a different purpose - the veg patch, the chickens run, the pond, the patio, the lawn. The patio is next up for a change, but our trip to Hidcote has also inspired a look at our garden as a whole - thinking about the differences of these areas while considering themes we want to carry through each. Debating how each section works with it's neighbours and maybe planning a few tantalising sight lines of our own...

It proved to be a lovely day out, sunshine, plants and good food. Perfect.

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Travelling: The Plan

More and more of our life of late seems to be consumed with planning and organising our trip this autumn. From printing maps and researching sim-card options to buying kit and arranging house/hen-sitters there seems to be an unending list of jobs to be done. Slowly, however, we are getting there.

We're away for three months, and while there are several weeks where we're just touring and going wherever we fancy next, there are also sections where we're getting all the details pinned down in advance. We have a mortgage to pay and jobs that are expecting us back on 1st December so we can't just walk away without thinking things through a bit.

I've been really enjoying most of the planning as it gives a sense of purpose and adventure. I was finding it hard to get excited when all we had were flights and the start date felt like decades away, but as we've read and researched about the different places we're visiting, sorted accommodation and contacted friends around the world, a sense of reality has kicked in and now we just can't wait to be off. Fortunately there's less than a month to go!

Where are we going, you ask? We're starting with two weeks in Canada before heading to New Zealand for the bulk of our trip. While in NZ we're going to spend a few weeks WWOOFing as well as taking our tent and seeing as much of the country as we can. We're finishing the trip off with a few days in Australia and a few days in Thailand.

The blog is going to keep going just as before. We've got some great guests lined up for you on Wednesdays, mixed in with a few things we've prepared in advance. Photo Fridays will continue to be just that - hopefully with plenty of jealousy inducing scenery from around the world! Finally, internet access willing, our Sunday posts will become a travel journal with more photos and stories from where we've been that week and I'm sure food, crafts and gardens will continue to feature there as we explore each area.

And just in case that doesn't seem like enough, we've also started a twitter account. If that's your cup of tea then you'll find us hanging out @Urban__Cottage. It's quiet over there at the moment - but it'll pick up soon!

Just a few more weeks before the off and despite such a glorious summer here in the UK we're definitely itching to get moving...

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A Tangle of Ivy

When we moved in we loved the way that our new garden contained all sorts of mature plants. It meant we could start enjoying the seasons of the garden while debating what changes we wanted to make. In this picture taken just under a year ago you can see that we have a long border running the length of the garden along the fence line, full of shrubs.

What you can't see is that the whole border is a tangle of ivy, and that a lot of the shrubs have been neglected over the last few years leaving them straggly, out of shape and overgrown. In the end we decided we'd need to be harsh with this area, leaving only the bare minimum and starting from scratch. 

Last summer Joe made a start at the right hand end, removing two hebe that were very woody stemmed and overflowing the lawn, waging war on the ivy and discovering that there was a beautiful peony hiding behind them - an excellent find. He did manage to take a runner from one hebe which is now flourishing in a pot and can go back into that border.

Recently in order to sort out our fence issue we made some progress clearing out the left hand end (so much easier while the fence panels were down) and last weekend we continued with that further meaning that this:

May 2013

has become this:

April 2014

and this:

May 2013

has become this:

April 2014

There's a little bit more to be done, but what we've cleared so far has left us with a blank slate. We've started to use the space to plant up things that needed it, but we're now at the point where we need a plan. This is our first garden and so far all our major changes have involved vegetables and chickens, and so we're really excited to have a large area of flower bed to work with and to start to truly make this our garden. 

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