Well, I'm a victim of the UK housing market, and as such I have to rent. I've been lucky enough to find a place that has a decent sized garden, but it was in a terrible state.
My eyes!!
Make the voices stop!!
The grass was thick with brambles and bindwweed... generally very unpleasant. It was so overgrown I didn't even notice steeping stones hidden deep below the grass.
After some hard work, I ended up with this and this.
With some digging, I found a home for all my plants that I had been keeping in pots since the recent move... This early picutre shows both the Poppy and Delphinium in flower, I think it's an improvement. A few weeks later, and the grass is making a comeback. The plants are really starting to settle in too, as per this picture.
I even found a good spot for a Honeysuckle and a Northland Blueberry bush. Sadly I do not know what type of Honeysuckle it is, as it was given to me as a cutting. They seem to like it, and the Blueberries were very tasty. Next year should give a better crop!
Unfortunately the Osteospurmum didn't make it, so it was replaced with a Golden Marjoram. Certainly a better choice for the local Bee population. As you can see from this picture, things are growing well. We nearly have a lawn! In case you're wondering, the compost bin was moved somewhere slightly more discreet. Here is what it was like before I started; and thisis how it currently looks. The steps are hard work but they'll have a surface of gravel once finished. I'll also be putting my Montbretia (picture on its way!) down the space to the right of the steps, although it does seem very happy in the pot it moved house in! I may pop a ground cover plant in there too, probably Sweet Woodruff.
Speaking of bees, in my insane ecological drive, I put a bee box up. To my complete surprise, we had some visitors. I know leaf cutters will nest in the same place again next year, so I am extremely pleased at having this very helpful insect in my garden.
I did make a mistake with the Butterfly Bush annuals I planted at the front of the border... I didn't expect them to grow so big. Next year they'll go further back in the open spots and the front will have smaller annuals.
the plants in that area, from left to right, are:
Monarda 'Praerie Fire'
Thymus praecox
Kniphofia 'Dorset Sentry' (Damn thing still hasn't flowered yet, but is growing extremely well)
Thymus praecox
Papaver Orientale 'Allegro'
Anthemis tinctoria 'Alba'
Origanum vulgare
Cotoneaster
Origanum vulgare (might not be the correct botanical name for Golden Marjoram!)
Centranthus ruber 'Coccineus'
Lavendula
Dianthus caryophyllus
Lavendula
Knifophia "Hirsuta"
Ocimum basilicum
Euphorbia griffithii 'Fireglow'
Delphinium elatum
Anthemis 'Kelwayi'
Allium schoenoprasum
Monarda Didyma 'Fireball'
Hopefully, after spending this season establishing roots, they'll fill the spaces I have left for them and flower slightly better next year. They were dug up in February this year and repotted when we moved, so I epxect they were a bit unhappy about that. I did scatter the poppy seeds around the poppy in the hope I'll get a few more; the marjoram should nicely hide the Poppy foiliage when it declines again next summer. The Creeping Thyme will be divided again next year so that it fills more of the front space at the expense of annuals to the point where annuals are not used.
Yes... I like herb gardens
this picture from above shows my next victim; the bottom left of the garden was even worse! When summer kicked in, it was just a heaving mass of perennial weeds. I have started to clear it out as I desperately want to plant some Foxgloves, which being biennial, need to go down now so that I can have some flowers in two years time. That woodlandesque corner of my garden will soon be home to Hellbore Niger, Galium Oderatum, Hypericum calycinum, Digitalis purpurea and Hyacinthoides non-scripta. I plan to have ferns and the gallium running along the fence.
I also have a strange affiliation with the Hosta. I have the Queen Josephine in a pot... It was very badly mangled last year by slugs, but it's done very well this year. I don't the slugs like the outside of the pot as they never go near it. Thisis my Hosta in Spring. It doesn't look too good now, I think it has a fungus problem; I'll post a current picture later.
That's kinda it. Thanks for reading o/
It's my first garden... I don't know what happened to me, but one day I just woke up with the urge and started gardening 
