I’ve been AWOL from Six On Saturday since the beginning of July and I have to admit I was a little vague and cryptic in most of my posts this year. I had good reason, which I can now talk about. Back in April, just as my spring displays were at their best and I was thinking about summer planting we were told that our landlord was selling the house we’d lived in for nearly 10 years. It was a huge blow and something we did not want. But it gave us a bit of a push and we decided to take the plunge and buy our own house (for the first time as a couple!).
After a lot of financial backwards and forwards and some serious soul searching about whether it was wise to commit to something like that at our age (late 50s) we took a leap of faith and bought a new house. We chose not to talk about this online as we were on a knife edge trying to get our sale completed before an actual Section 21 notice was enforced which we just about managed.
It took an age for all the legal stuff to go through and all summer I was on a gardening hold so to speak. Not worth planting anything new that would only have to be moved and no access to the new house until the end of August, by which time it was far too late to plant anything. I have to confess it took a toll on my mental health not being able to enjoy the garden all summer, every time I went out there I was reminded I wasn’t staying. It was a very difficult summer but I took solace in all the other Six On Saturday posts to get my gardening fix.
I was more than a little stressed about starting again in a new space, what could I grow, how much space would I have, all those gardener worries. And then there was the actual move – I think we moved about 50 pots in all. I had a good clear out of a lot of “just give it one more chance” plants, and left a lot of stuff behind – buddleias, strawberry plants that had only been planted the year before, my beloved raised beds and gravel area which couldn’t be practically moved. It was a mammoth operation but everything survived the move (maybe not my husband’s patience with my hysteria over my hydrangeas!).
But here we are, all settled in at the beginning of November. Obviously I’m not doing anything in the garden until spring but I’ve got a good idea of what’s here, where the sun is, how a windy day affects the garden, the shade from trees etc etc. So my Six On Saturday is a little limited but it’s the start of a new chapter for me. A new garden. A new challenge. A new place to calm my mind when I need it. I hope that eventually I can turn this garden into the haven I built at the last place – there is certainly the scope for that. I have a neat little lawn with borders, a raised patio straight out from the kitchen, a border down one side of the garden, a huge paved area at the bottom of the garden, and a paved front space. I look forward to sharing the adventures with my Six On Saturday friends.
Don’t forget to visit our host Jim and share your Six On Saturday with him and all the other SOS gang.
Love the colour of this chrysanthemum. It’s been reliably flowering for about 5 years now.
My hellebore has started to flower very early this year. And there are lots of flowers really low down in the pot – not sure if I should raise the plant into a higher level in another pot or if I’ll do more damage than good moving it when it’s in flower?
This is the only dahlia that survived into autumn, the others all died off back in September. I love this one, it’s also my husband’s favourite petal shape.
This is planted in the ground, something I have inherited. I have no idea what type of rhododendron it is – I’ll just have to wait until it flowers. This is one of two bushes in this border and they’re both huge. I can’t wait for the buds to open.
One of my hydrangeas that came with me, it’s now in its pot in a border with two planted hydrangeas, again that I have inherited. None of the inherited ones look like they’ve been pruned in years so I plan to prune them all back hard in February or March and see what happens. My own all responded really well to a good prune last year.
Just a sneaky extra couple of photos to show the overall garden I am now the proud owner of. These were taken before I moved all my pots in.
The Garrett Garden 
Congratulations! I was 52 when we bought our first house, and only house. We didn’t really make enough money to buy in the area we lived and worked. Eventually we realized we had to relocate to survive, and landed in Wisconsin. I got a nice sunny backyard and love having my garden on site. I did community gardening before, which was nice as there was a lot of collective expertise.
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A new home and a new garden. Congratulations to you two, yes the trials of moving but the excitement of developing your new garden, putting down roots is the answer!
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Congratulations on getting your own place. Looks like you have a good sized almost blank canvas to work with; it’s going to be really interesting to see how it develops.
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I’m sorry you had to go through all that, but your new place looks great and how fun to have a new beginning. I know it’s hard to say “bye” to a beloved garden, but there’s so much promise in your new location. Welcome back to gardening and blogging. Cheers!
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