Changes

Autumn ,I always think, is a time for cleansing & change.I so love the change in the weather. The cool freshness of the mornings then as the day goes on , the warming of the last rays of summer sunshine. This year I feel even more of a cleansing. Maybe its to do with the complete change around of my life . Leaving work, moving home , leaving my dearest friends, making new friends & being put into a completely alien environment.
Things were very hard for me the first couple of weeks. I am starting to feel more settled & have started making new friends. The house is getting there slowly. We are still in boxes. I have just been hunting for my keyboard! Thankfully I found it quickly in a box & that should now aid me writing my posts.
The garden is also shaping up. Having previously been a paddock for a pony, we are very short on interest in the garden. Borders & beds are currently being dug by myself , which in itself is back breaking work , so I have to take things very slowly & carefully so as not to re injure my back again. Mr T is thankfully helping to dig as well ,with Magweed & the Grouseman , watching on & noting anything that comes out of the earth with a wriggle with great interest.
Being surrounded by great flatness & fields , the wind whips across the land. We have little shelter apart from a huge hedge which takes me all day to cut & fills a compost bay with clippings when its done.Thankfully this hedge also provides great shelter for some fabulous birds. We have a visiting song thrush , robins , sparrows , house martins & many other species. We also have an owl that swoops through the garden very early in the morning. I have yet to see it, but have been assured by my neighbour that I will around 7.30 in the morning. I cant wait!
The plan for the garden is to create two circular lawns that link together. The resulting areas around the lawns are to be filled with shrubs & perrenials. I also need to have vegetable beds & a space for some chickens. They will come later, maybe in the springtime. For now I am needing to increasing my plant stocks.
I always have felt that the main garden centers make such a large profit on their sales . I plan to only buy from only either local nurseries, car boots , seed & plant sales ,damaged stock or greatly reduced stock, seeds , cuttings ,swaps & gifts .Few!! Thats quite an order but I really want to stick to it &create a beautiful garden on a budget.
We have made a start. The compost bays are in using recycled materials found in the garden.The sheds have had some guttering added at great expense to stop the walls from rotting with the rain & to collect water into butts . (i feel a song, I got big b...!!) The first vegetable bed has been dug & strawberry plants & cabbages along with purple sprouting broccoli have been planted up. These were either reduced in a local nursery or bought form another local discount nursery.We have a fabulous place locally called Butters. They supply to companies like Marks& Spencers & Next. Whatever they have left over , they sell at greatly reduced prices to the public.You should have seen what we bought for £45!! It filled the car up.
For now I shall leave you with a few images from the last week in the garden/house & go get on with digging & directing the digger.
Have a great day. xxx