My plans fell through on Sunday, but that meant an unexpected day on my own in the garden. At the moment, I can’t think of anything nicer. In the pale sunshine, I finished painting my fences in Urban Slate, and gave a piece of trellis a coat of Cuprinol Dusky Gem. I attached it to the wall, and this will be the lighting station for summer. Just for now, I hung some Ikea solar globe lights from it, but I have plans for a permanent string of Homebase solar festoon lights.
I planted the raised bed with some orange geums which I bought from my favourite plant stall on the market. These will go nicely with my blue grey Festuca grasses, and the nepeta which is already romping away. The temptation is to pack too much in here, but I am being restrained. On the other side of this seat, I have planted some Verbena bonariensis, which I am hoping will help to disguise the not-very-nice brick wall with their skinny stems and blue purple blooms. My geometric print outdoor cushions are showerproof, and these are also from Homebase, which has some fantastic garden accessories at present.
I’m still trying not to buy anything unnecessary for the house – a plan that succeeds 80 per cent of the time. I’m surrounded by incredible charity shops and sometimes the temptation is just too strong. But the garden is exempt from this rule. I found these tiny handmade terracotta seedling pots in a junk shop on Saturday, and the little copper and brass watering can was £6 from the antiques centre. My terracotta plant labels were a car boot find a few years ago. The petunia seedlings are from Morrisons.
There are plenty of muscari in my one long flower bed, mingling with tulips in dark pink, cream and orange. It’s starting to look very pretty.
Just a few hours outside and I feel restored.