Every month I take ‘record shots’ of our garden:
These I have taken for our own interest to show how our garden develops over time. I have been doing this for nearly 20 years: our Norfolk garden being the third property I have done this for. In our last property, a smallholding in Wales, there was a singular viewpoint (our bedroom window upstairs) that covered most of the front garden of about one acre as can be seen here:
However, with our current garden in Norfolk, there is no one viewpoint that works well. The first photo shown above is one of the best views that encapsulates the garden. This was taken from near the back door of the cottage and shows the summer house and arbour. To the right you can just glimpse the polytunnel.
We have had a lot of rain this summer although nowhere near as bad as many parts of the UK are experiencing. With the warmth of the summer, much of the garden has exploded with growth; some of it detrimental, some of it pleasant. Add in the fact that our garden is maturing (we have been here 4 years) and you can see masses of colour:
This view is of one of the flower beds near the chicken runs on the western side of the property – the other side of the hedge is a field currently growing wheat. It is my wife who is the gardener; this part of the garden with the lawn and flower beds is her domain.
But I also get involved with the garden – I tend to spend time with the fruit and vegetables:
This view shows the strawberry and raised beds in front of the polyunnel. I built the raised beds and planted out the strawberries – we have about 50lb of strawberries in the freezer and have used, sold and given away much more. The tree is an old apple tree: most of the garden was an old orchard that was planted in the 1950’s (we know the lady who helped her father plant the orchard).
You can see more of the garden in the Gardening Gallery.