Green and pleasant land

Oh its been a long week and I hadn't meant to be away but the dreaded lurgy finally caught up with me and I've spent most of it in bed. Thankfully I'm on the mend now although its still annoyingly hanging around but I won't bore you with the gruesome details.

David Austin Roses - St Swithun's day (climbing) with a lovely scent for the corner of my border close to the seat where I can sit and enjoy it on a warm day.

What do you think of my new roses? The David Austin website is running a half price offer for all of April so if you're quick you can grab a beautiful bargain. I was looking for two climbers and I can't, can't wait for them to begin flowering, perhaps a few summers off yet though.

My little garden has really been keeping me going. Just being able to pop out onto the patio with a brew in the sunshine (in-between the hail storms!) was a complete tonic. Finally everything is starting look green, the birch tree is in leaf, our hawthorn hedge is that beautiful acidic shade and finally it feels that spring is really here.

David Austin Rosa James Glaway (Climbing) - no thorns so perfect for garden shed where the boys play.

The novelty of having our own space, plants and peace & quiet still hasn't worn off. The garden at our old place was sweet but pretty much un-useable because it was hidden away behind a garage and we had to go out on to the street to get into it. Not exactly ideal for nipping out to do a bit of deadheading in your dressing gown on a bright, sunny morning! (or is that just me?)

Here, I find myself staring at the new garden obsessively. I'm quite a novice and I've only really been gardening with any amount of effort for a couple of years, but since we've arrived here my passion has grown. Its a small space with just one tree, a lawn, deck and a raised patio. The main planting spaces are two borders, one shady beneath the tree and the other, quite a deep curved one that runs below the patio with drystone walls holding it all in.

Not very big, not very exciting really - apart from the huge matter that its mine. My own little kingdom, well for gardening in at least. Woody is no plantsman and as long as there's a space to bat and bowl with the boys he's a happy chap. So this Gardener's World belongs to me.

I spent my first evening of the year outside on Saturday, planting a half-barrel with sweet peas, an old tin bath with stocks, put achilleas, poppies and verbascum in the patio border and even managed to mow and edge the lawn. Amazing really what the rush of a fever bubbling under the surface can spur you onto!

Slowly but surely the planting is building up. There are a few, lovely clusters of forget-me-nots and the lupins, hollyhocks and delphiniums I've put in are coming on a treat. Almost everyone has told me not to bother with any of these because the slugs will gorge themselves on my dreams of soaring, colourful spires but I just have to try. I've armed myself with some organic slug pellets (if they're good enough for Monty Don they're good enough for me) and we shall just have to wait and see.

I raided mum's borders a few weeks ago so now hardy geraniums, pulmonaria, iris, superbum, persicaria and geums are filling out the gaps. It all looks a bit weak and feeble at the moment but I've got everything crossed for May, the wonderful month that turns my garden doubts of "nothing is going to grow!" into "help, I can't keep up!", which in this brand new garden is just what I need.

Better photos next time and I'm really looking forward to catching up with what everyone has been up to this week. Oh look though, four hours are up - Sudafed here I come - yet again!