Garden plans

It's an exciting weekend because Jay's got next week off work. And I'm quite pleased that the weather's been a bit miserable as we've been able to get all the mundane, indoors tasks (like cleaning the oven) out of the way without feeling guilty for not getting out and about.

We've got a new shed being delivered tomorrow. Jay just started a carpentry and joinery course and needs a workshop (the current shed is tiny and rotting away in a damp corner). So we're hoping for a few nice days next week, both to go on a few excursions and to start tidying the garden.

If you're wondering why we're doing this when the house is for sale - well, it may take a long time to sell and life can't stand still in the meantime. And we've been assured the shed can always be taken to our new place (wherever that may be).

I was watching Carol Klein's Life in a Cottage Garden: Winter this morning and it was very inspiring. It's as though the coming spring stirs something in you, just like all the seeds and bulbs below the ground. And although I long for an allotment like this (ogled at over a wall in Haworth, near the Bronte parsonage):

we make the most of our little garden. There are raised beds and lots of pots, and we plan to dig up the rest of the lawn this year. It's a bit patchy and muddy.

Next week we're heading over to West Yorkshire (to Haworth, funnily enough) but will stop en route here. I've been going for years, and it's one of those garden centres which hasn't given itself over to scented candles and ornaments. The plants are well priced and going there at the start of each season is almost a ritual. So soon we'll be planting vegetables with flowers in between.

In terms of flowers, I'm more attracted to deep and bright colours - dark reds, burgundy, acid green, burnt orange. We have euphorbia and dahlias, and the year before last the garden was overrun by nasturtium. Completely. It looked crazy but spectacular at the same time.

For inspiration I like to visit Sarah Raven's website and Crocus. But this week's going to be about clearing and preparing beds, re-siting things, cleaning terracotta pots and the not-very-glamorous jobs. I can't wait. 

A quick note: the pictures of the willow obelisk and the pots were taken a few years ago at RHS Harlow Carr. We don't own an obelisk, a lovely hedge or a potting shed.