The garden is in bloom..

Having never owned a garden until last year when we moved in, it was very daunting when I first ventured out there with my pink gardening gloves. Particularly daunting as our soil is clay...actual clay. Just to get the fork into the ground burned my days colorie allowance. 

It took a lot of hard work and many trips to the osteo to get it looking the way it does today and I've only really sorted one bed. 

Things I have learned through my gardening adventures;
1. Ivy is a bitch. 
2. Snails are bitches. 
3. Slugs are worse bitches. 
4. Bindweed is vindictive. 
5. Clay soil makes me cry. 
6. Good gardening gloves are difficult to come by. 
7. Plants are expensive. 
8. Weeding NEVER ends. 
9. Roses are particularly difficult to look after. 
10. My husband has no interest in gardening. 
11. Chickens will ruin your flower beds if they get in. 

So, the garden looked pretty bleak last year and then it was covered in snow which was beautiful but the snow didn't last and soon it melted and the bleakness was on show once more. I got stuck in. 

I managed to rope in husband to turn the soil and get bags of compost in - it made a big difference. I spent a few hours online and compiled a list of plants and flowers that would do well in clay soil and then went to a few carboots to purchase. I got most of the ones on my list and went about putting them in the ground. Another two things I learned: 

12. You really need to understand the difference between annuals, perenials and shrubs etc to avoid a Nelly-know-all coming around and telling you that you have to move things around as it's 'all wrong'. 
13. That when things 'don't take' and die or get ill, it's very upsetting and it's hard not to take it personally. 

I was hell bent on having a rose garden because I used to love the smell of my grandmothers garden, full of roses. Members of family bought us different roses for the said garden. Let me tell you, the stress these roses have caused, the extreme emotions they have provoked is indescribable. Everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong...mildew, blackspot, multicoloured aphids and chicken attacks. I am so ridiculously precious over them. But it's paid off as they are starting to bloom and it is THE most rewarding feeling. 

So anyway, as hard as it is and surprisingly emotionally charged it is, I am enjoying my new 
hobby.