Follow the Yellow Brick Road 2023

savingholmes

Hope the garden was relaxing.

Sounds like you have grocery shopping cracked.

SandyShores

Almost savingholmes, nearly there.  

Gardening was productive, I'm not at the relaxing stage yet - still another bag of gravel to spread around as well as some compost and bark. But its great to achieve a bit of order isn't it.

SandyShores

Found a really good link about How to remortgage your Help to Buy.  A couple of years to go yet, but this is really helpful.  A pension lump sum and possibly a partial remortgage (or a draw down) will probably be used.  I'm not even going to wonder what the mortgage rates will be doing by then.  

savingholmes

If there is a price crash it may make your buyout more affordable 

SandyShores

Any reduction in prices would help savingholmes, but even just a stabilisation for a couple of years would be great.  I now have more of an idea of the route we'll be going down, which makes planning easier - but of course who knows what the future ever holds, so back up plans will also be made.

Managed to get the weekly shop done a day early, two shops and two plants purchased - supermarket plants so very reasonable.  Brought them home and gave them a good drink and deadheaded one.  Both look gorgeous and I can't wait to plant up/put them in position tomorrow.  The garden is really coming together this year, lots of plants are coming into their own and much more colour this year.  We're even attracting the birds and the bees, which is amazing.  Next year might be the year of the raised beds and veggie gardening.  Only a small area and its quite shady so I'll have to assess the amount of sunshine it gets and what types of veg.  I was thinking about a small greenhouse or lean to for some tomatoes - although there is a part of the garden that gets lots of sun that I could put a small raised bed for my tomatoes and maybe cucumbers.  The idea of home grown salad is really appealing on a sunny day.  The only other plant I might need is a climber to go up a fence and along some trellis.  I was looking at Jasmine the other day but confused about whether its evergreen.  The label says yes but the website says it depends on how cold it is.  The other climber I'm thinking of is honeysuckle.  I could really do with something that won't go too made but will give some coverage for privacy.  Another trip to the garden centre is due I think (just because I like going really ).

KajiKita

Things like Jasmine will be evergreen or not depending on how sheltered your garden is, how cold the winter is. Tbh, I wouldn’t worry about it too much - there will be leaves on whichever you choose, when you need the privacy i.e. when it’s warm enough to sit out 😊

I have caught up with last night’s G’sW - as a result I have ‘treated myself’ to a book by the lady who is the wildlife gardener, talking about the big garden moths on the programme. I have seen her before and I love her passion 😊

If your growing area is quite shady it might be worth considering things like raspberries as they like it slightly cooler or shadier. Also, saladings are less likely to bolt in shady areas - I have deliberately planted my garden lettuce where they are in shade from our DIY shed from mid afternoon. 

What are the supermarket plants? <nosey-mode 😉> 

KK

savingholmes

Mr M can be a good place for lower price plants and BnM rather than garden centres which are often pricier.

SandyShores

Hi Kajikita, yes happy to share with you - it was a giant pot of lavender and a beautiful orange dahlia.  I didn't realise there were so many different types until I just typed 'orange dahlia' into the search engine.  Its my new favourite flower and I will be growing a few more next year!  I also purchased a plant pot for £3, and I had a spare one at home as well, so for £16.50 I've got two very nice pots - glowing and fragrant.  According to the web I can put the dahlia in the garage over winter and it should flower again next year - worth a try.

I've had a couple of trees from Mr M savingholmes, and they are doing really well.  I haven't bought anything from BnM yet, and it will have to wait until next year now.  Mr Shores might start to grumble if I try and fit anything else in

I'm looking for ideas at the moment to create a circular ring underneath a couple of trees.  I don't want to buy the metal spiked circles, thinking there must be something more cost effective to keep the gravel out so I can have a small bed under the trees.  Will have a look on pinterest for ideas.  

Sandy

KajiKita

I’ve used a ring of half circular small wooden loglets before - they are wired / stapled together and come in predefined lengths. I suspect you should be able to find them somewhere like Q&B?

Ah yes, dahlias … that’s a very deep rabbit hole …. 😉

KK

savingholmes

Dahlias sound lovely the snails are enjoying mine immensely. I still have a few lemon flowers...