Every so often I take a panoramic photo of the garden, to see how much has changed.
A garden is never ‘finished,’ but we’ve made a lot of progress in the last 18 months. Putting in pathways and arches, pruning and editing and replanting the garden bit-by-bit is starting to make a real impact. I’m taking an agile approach, by tackling areas in small projects, learning lessons and making frequent changes, while having an overall ‘plan’ in mind.
The plan is to make a garden that delights, with colour, scent and sound, that is a comfortable and comforting place to be, and provides flowers and herbs and fruit and vegetables for the table. It should have minimal environmental impact and benefit wildlife as much as people.
Some parts of the garden can be wilder than others, and the right plant in the right place is the subjective objective. By which I mean we get to choose what is ‘right’ for our garden.
Recent highlights include rainbow chard from the hugelmound, which are bright and tasty, and a highly recommended vegetable for any garden. These were grown from seed, planted this spring, and have been reasonably easy and fairly pest proof. They’re very tasty, especially when cooked in garlic butter. 
The acorns collected from Victoria park’s oak tree on 6/10/17 are coming along nicely. I’ve potted them on into teacups from the charity shop.
The oak is a fascinating tree and I’m interested to see how these teeny seedlings will get on over time. They could outlive us all by centuries and become an ecosystem supporting hundreds of species if they get the right conditions. More info at Woodland-Trust/Oak
I’ve been picking posies from the garden, and the roses are particularly fine at this time of year. The colours remind me of tequila sunrise, and the blue bellflowers, red geums and purple geranium set them off nicely.
Well, the garden maybe looking rather lovely, but the house is still a work in progress.
Repainting our bedroom walls hasn’t been a priority, despite the fact that the previous occupant painted around the furniture so we have patchy two-tone walls. Having been here for a year and half, it really seems about time to get on with it, but I’d much rather be out than in. 🙂
Whatever you’re up to I hope your plans and plants are coming along nicely!
Jen x
Doing The Plan 
Wow, it’s looking even more beautiful than last summer! And that is one lovely posy.
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What specie are those oaks? Are they native? Viable acorns are rare here because the squirrels get them first; but they seem to be a problem for others in other regions. In Oklahoma gardens near oak woodlands need to be weeded for oak seedlings.
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