"Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest."
~ Henry Van Dyke

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Gardening season.....

It is the start of the gardening season. Our frost is gone with the exception of on and off light night frost so we could start in our front garden. It had been left as is for 16 years. It was a hard and compact ground covered totally with moss. In fact, we discovered there were many flagstones under all the moss which could no longer be seen. We first removed all the flagstones and Jos loosened and turned over the soil. We moved plants around and disposed of ones that were just left dieing as they were choked in the hard soil.

We removed all the old white gravel and used it along the side of the garage which none was left over the years. A new and wider path was created using the flagstones to separate the garden from the path and went to a farm out in the countryside who specializes in various gravels and split. They said since we were early in the season, they could deliver it the next morning. The guy told Jos that last year, he was making on average 100 deliveries a day in season. That is due to their great prices of course. It was fun to see how he could use the crane to place the 'big bag' wherever we needed it even though it is a tight squeeze for a truck in these little Dutch streets. Notice his wooden shoes? *wink*

After looking at the many types of split, we decided on basalt which is a stone that is dark grey but turns black when it is wet. 1500 kilos of basalt was delivered and we needed about 1200 for the front saving the rest for something I want to do in the back garden. We are both really happy with how it turned out.

Planting is sparse until I start buying some things but this hellebore was there already and really showing off in the spring sunlight. What pretty centers these have!

I did plant up two new types of hellebores including this one. I could not resist it when I saw that it is called 'Christmas Carol'. It is not as pretty a flower center as the other but still beautiful.

Our sun dial takes center stage in the front garden. We discover four little rose bushes among the plants and replanted them together. I have no idea if they will make it but there is a little new growth coming on the already. We also rescued dieing boxwood from the back garden and created a large ball in the front. It hopefully will take on a new life there.

We plan to use our garden gate at the end of this new pathway and Jos will place it before our driveway is rebricked. You can see our gate here from a blog entry when we lived in our previous house. The beech hedge will then continue on the other side of the gate so we have to add two more beech hedges to the other side. In the second photo, I am standing where the gate will be. There is still much work to do as you can see......

So time now to take off the wooden shoes and have a little rest before starting on the back garden. Jos and I have both been sick. We have a bad cough and Jos a nasty cold to go with it. I had lost my voice for 4 days but it is back again. This morning Jos also has an appointment at the oral surgeon to have a tooth that is crumbling extracted. The joys of growing older!

Now I await a little warmer temperatures to sit in the sunshine on my bench. The doctor told me to get outside as much as I can. Not hard with all this gardening. I am afraid my vitamin D levels dropped badly again. They have no idea why my body is not taking up the vitamin as I have been taking it for a year now but rarely have safe levels. She is now having me use oral injection boosters for 3 months to see if that will help. After three months, she is going to check the levels again and then it will either be 3 more months of injections or back to tablets. I hope I only have it for 3 months as this stuff tastes horrible. Guess this is sunshine in an injection. *grins*

Today is a gloomy day here in Holland with gusty winds so I am going to curl up with a good book.

16 comments:

Tracy said...

Hi, Heidi! WONDERFUL to see what's happening with your garden transformation! And I love that you've managed to recycle and reuse some existing materials. It will be fun to see how this all progress for you. Gardening is still but a dream here, as we are still covered in much snow. Do hope the new oral vitamin D will help you. I've been taking extra D too. :o) Be taking good care... Happy Spring Days ((HUGS))

Carolien said...

Well, I do hope Sring will be here soon with lots of sunshine, lots of vitamine D!!!

Have a nice day & hugs, Carolien

Elly said...

Zo, wat zijn jullie weer druk geweest. Het ziet er mooi uit met dat heerlijke zonnetje erop. Ben benieuwd welke planten er nog meer komen. De Helleborus is prachtig.
Hugs en groetjes, Elly

Kathy A. said...

Youe garden work is coming along beautifully. It is wonderful to watch it being revived and made wonderful again.
Your spring hellebore is a lovely site.
I hope the warmth and sunshine come soon and help with your health.
Hugs

Nancy said...

Good job you two. Boy, this sure looks different from when I saw it. I love the sun dial there. It looks very inviting and will look even better when the leaves come out to hide the road.
Happy reading.
Love Mom

Saskia said...

Your garden is thanking you for giving it a face lift... It needed a little TLC
It would be a lovely spot to sit with a cup of latte in the spring sun.
I will join you!..

ahomespunyear said...

You look very busy with your project. I think it's really exciting at this time of year to start in the garden. Hope you're soon feeling much better...let's hope for a warm and sunny spring.

DonnaTN said...

Your garden is going to be beautiful. I bet all those plants are so happy that you are taking care of them now. Hope you both feel better soon!

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness you have been busy! I hope that you get some lovely sunshine so that you can sit out in the garden and enjoy your efforts.

Marie x

Jeanne said...

It's been fun seeing how much you've done to the house Heidi. It's like it's all coming alive again after being neglected :). Good luck with your Vitamin D therapy.

I'm not much of a gardener sad to say. The soil and heat/sun is so hard to deal with here in the southwest that I don't do much. Plus I barely have time for quilting and stitching as it is.

I'm getting anxious to finish BICO so I can start something new - I'm trying to keep the number of WIPs under control lol.

Have a good weekend........

Anonymous said...

Allemachtig, wat ziet die tuin er effe anders uit zeg.
Heidi, op die bank kun je heerlijk handwerken en samen met Jos een bakkie doen, goed voor het vitamine D gehalte.
Ik heb ook vitamine D nodig, dat brengt mij op een goed idee!!!!!
Liefs Bep.

Marsha said...

Your garden is going to be lovely. It is planted with much love and caring and the plants know that. Isn't it wonderful to see what will come alive? I can't wait to get my vitamin D up this week. I take pills but I don't think they really do much. I think we all need some actual sunshine - now if only the sun would cooperate.

Annie said...

Gloomy day and wind in South-East of France too, today ! Like Tracy, I thought it's nice to reuse old materials and plants ! You made a splendid job !

Melanie said...

You and Jos are always so busy with your garden and home improvements - love it! Hope both of you are feeling better soon.

Sonja said...

Wat zijn jullie samen een goede combinatie om van zo'n puinhoop zoiets moois te maken!

angelasweby said...

What a lot of hard work but it will be so satisfying to see the garden coming to life again. The hellebores are beautiful and the sun dial looks very much at home. It will be lovely watching the way your garden grows and changes with each season.
Angela xx