Springtime In The Garden

How lucky have we been this April? I could barely believe it when it reached over 20 degrees on my day off last week, so happy to head out into the garden and soak up some much needed rays. This time of year is such a sudden rush of activity in the garden! I had two large raised beds to prepare and plant up, and also the flower beds around the shepherds hut which were a mass of weeds. My garden is on heavy clay soil and can flood over the winter so I don't carry out a lot of work unnecessarily as it damages the lawn, which means I have a lot to crack on with when spring appears!

This year I am focusing on growing mostly cut-and-come-again crops, and wild flowers that will self seed - being busier these days I need a less high maintenance gardening approach! I would also like to add some cheerful accents into the garden - I plan to paint flower pots in happy summery colours and patterns, and tidy up the seating area to relax in the sun - here is my current inspiration:

Spring Garden Inspiration by longmaysherain featuring wood wall art

Lisa Perrin for the Hudson Valley Seed Library Herb Seed Variety, £12 / Home garden, £15 / Outdoor patio furniture, £33 / Garden Trading wood wall art, £12 / Ray-Ban sunglasses, £115

I haven't used Polyvore for five years so I'm a bit rusty - I do enjoy making these mood boards so I might try some out over the next few blog posts!

Meanwhile, I was invited to take part in a little photo challenge on Instagram - three days, three photos from the borders in my garden. Ignoring all the weeds, I managed to compete with these tulips, hellebores and the twisted willows featured further down the page. I can find tulips quite disappointing as they can get hit by pests or just flop over after one rain shower, but this year they aren't doing too badly!

This gorgeous little magnolia tree was from my Grandparents garden, despite being in a small pot it's very happy in the oriental part of the garden, and I always look forward to it flowering. I love the spiky, graphic branches against the delicate blossom, I can see why it's such a firm favourite in spring.

This is how the shepherds hut is looking at the moment, the ladder is a little bare because I cleared the pots of spring bulbs, but in the beds the delphiniums and lupins are looking happy. Mollie loves a bit of sunbathing, that spot by the steps is her favourite! I've now scattered a selection of Sarah Raven wildflower seeds, cosmos and poppies around the hut so I'm looking forward to having a more natural spread of flowers against the more statuesque delphiniums.

My mood board in the hut is full of the joys of spring, it's to inspire my scrapbooking and paper crafting which I need to get on the blog very soon. These lovely twisted willows were from the reduced trolley in Homebase two years ago, they are growing up nicely and are a great way to cheaply fill a difficult space, I highly recommend! 

Have you been out in the garden too? What projects have you got in mind?

Hope you are able to catch some of the sunshine this week, as there are rumours it's not going to last, but positive thinking!

Thanks for reading,

Katie