How does your garden grow?

As I was walking round my garden looking for suitable subjects for the photo scavenger hunt, garden category I realised it has been a long time since I had taken any photos out there and shared them on here.  I did write about my hopes for the garden early on last year but sadly those hopes were not realised, four courgettes about the same number of cucumbers, one meal of broad beans, no French beans you get the picture.  A few things did really well despite the lack of sun (or warmth) I had my first red tomato in years, we have just finished eating last years garlic and the potato crop, exclusively gave us a couple of meals a week from August to March.

This year it is looking to be a much better year, let's face it anything could be an improvement on last year!  All my seedlings are doing well and we seem to be managing to keep the pests at bay.  We have been fortunate to have had just the right mix of warm sun and rain the perfect combination for a gardener.

So come with me and I will take you on a little tour (all text relates to the photo above it)......

This is the view from the garden gate, a necessity to keep the rabbits out, otherwise all of this growth would be nibbled to nothing (you can just make out the fencing on the left side of the picture).  There is a narrow strip of land down the side of the garage/workshop building.  There is a path down the middle a bed to the left where the orange flowers (orange hawkweed) are growing along with out of control mint and a few heather plants, to the right is a small wood store.  At the end of the building the garden widens to it full width approximately 6m, it is nearly 17m in length.

Immediately behind the building is a small paved patio which has a larger wood store on the right hand side (you can just see it on the right side of the picture) and my washing line, a whirligig, which you can see in the first photo.  My entire garden is on a slight slope as you move away from the house, in order to be able to cultivate this we have created a series of beds each one slightly higher than the next in the first part of the garden.  This mass of green is my unruly herb bed which has taken over some of the paved area.  The chives, in particular have spread everywhere but the bees love the flowers so they stay until they are done with them at which point I cut them off in a vain effort to stop them spreading.

As we move up the garden, using the path that you can just make out to the left side of the first photo, the bed on the left of the path is one of my wild patches.  Only two of the plants in this thin strip have been planted by me, a honeysuckle and a euphorbia, the rest which includes a Rowan tree, a hawthorn, lots of buttercups, columbine or aquilegia and an abundance of wild strawberries have either spread from next doors garden or have been provided by the birds!  I do very little to this patch and the birds love it as much as I do.  The children love to go and forage in this spot for the little red fruits of sublime sweetness.

On the other side of the path is a big fruit cage which houses a blackcurrant and a white currant both of which are laden with fruit.

The path curves round the back of the fruit cage past a trellis covered with this lovely climbing plant, Actinidia kolomitkta on the left, the leaves change colour in the sun.

Behind the trellis is a very overgrown wildlife pond.  It is quite difficult to get in there to weed so it tends to only get any attention in the autumn/winter to cut it all back.  The birds love this spot too, they use the pond to drink and have a bathe, there is a small willow tree which provides food for some.  The trellis has a small bird box on the this side which houses a blue tit nest year after year.

The above three pictures are of the next bed up the garden.  This bed is always used for vegetables and this year houses, courgettes, red onions, turnip, carrot, leek, garlic (the pond is behind them)  and the odd stray potato plant from potatoes that we have failed to dig up!  The path weaves round three sides of this bed in a reversed C as you move up the garden.

The path then weaves its way through this trellis covered in a very unruly honeysuckle to the top of the garden.  The wooden box is a wormery which needs some attention as sadly it is falling apart, we were given it twelve years ago and it has provided us with some great compost.  Over the winter we hope to take it apart and rebuild it using the parts of it that are still sound.  On top of the wormery are some bean plants which have now been moved......

...into this bed, round a frame I built with sticks I found in our supply.  It is a little wonky but I hope it does the job.  I will add more rounds of twine as the plants grow bigger.  This is a narrow strip of bed that runs alongside our polytunnel without which we would struggle to grow as much as we do.  Inside there are amongst other things....

...courgettes...

...cucumbers....

...and a salad leaf bed.

At the top of the garden we have a bed which is the full width of the garden.  When we moved here it was a raised patio area which had a surface reminiscent of stormy sea.  We removed the paviors and used them to make the path, threw some soil in and made a big bed.  This year it is home to....

...red cabbages...

 ...white onions...

...beetroot...

...and pok choi as well as white cabbages and carrots.

As we return back to the house this is the trellis from the other side, looking through to the garlic.

I leave you with a view of the green roof that covers the garage and workshop roof.

That is my garden in June, I hope to be back again in July with larger plants to share with you and maybe even some more produce.  What is growing in your garden?