Well I have been quite busy over the last few months converting my garden into a more 'edible' version of what it was before so had a walk around it this morning with my camera in hand so join me as I look over the changes;
Pic 1=The entrance into my back garden;
Pic 2 = Some new Lewisia I purchased for my baskets
Pic3 = New Phlox paniculata I have purchased and Hibiscus I have sown from collected seeds. Plan on planting these out in the autumn.
Pic 4 = The Rockery with a Clematis montana in full bloom.
Pic 6 = View across the garden from my sitting area.
Pic 8 = My mini allotment with a dozen Sweet Corn at the back, Chrysanthemums bordering the footpath plus 2 containers of Onions and 1 of Leeks on a raised shelf*
* The shelf doubles up as a bench in my 8x6 greenhouse in the winter!
Pic 10 = What was previously my herbaceous bed.
As you can see I have 2 Apple trees, 1 Pear tree and 1 Plum tree against the fence.
Beneath these, I have planted out a dozen Brussel Sprouts.
To the front of these, I have planted around a couple of dozen Gladioli in a chevron pattern and in the vees, I have planted a Sweet Pepper plant ( 6 in all)
In the next row, I have alternate Alstroemeria and Achillea plants where I plan on planting out some Beetroot as I think the leaves will complement the flowers and give me something to eat as well!
In front of these I plan on growing some Carrots as here again I think the ferny tops will complement the flowers.
In the front row, I have potted Strawberry plants in sunken pots where, when the strawberries are finished, I will remove the potted strawberries and replace them with Potted Geraniums.
I will move the Strawberry plants to the growing-on area (Pic 12) and take runners.
Pic 9 = At the top end of the Herbaceous border, I have planted Sweet Peas to hide the bare trunk of my Ornamental Cherry tree and behind that, I have some Rhubarb I brought up from the allotment!
At the other end of the herbaceous border, I have transplanted a Red Gooseberry bush and a Blueberry bush I brought up from the allotment, so now you can see that my Herbaceous border is still relatively "Ornamental" but there is also quite to a few things that I can eat. So fingers crossed all will go to plan.
Pic 11 = Here I have my 8' x 6' which I have crammed full, but hopefully not too full that the crops within will suffer.
The layout is as follows; to the left is 11 Sweet Pepper Plants, at the back is 5 Climbing French bean (Cobra) and to the front of these 4 cucumbers (Passandra) To the right I have 9 Tomato plants and a Trough/Planter containing Carrots (Sweet Candle).
....and that concludes our walk around the back garden.
The front garden (Pics 13-14-15) is still a "garden in progress" as much of the stuff I had in the back garden prior to the changes have been transplanted in the front!
....and that folks is the state of play of my ornamental/edible garden.