My garden #1...

My poor neglected garden has been worked on, at last.  I have made a big decision and decided to give up my allotment.  I realise I have more than enough to contend with in my garden without the added stress of trying to keep a plot up to scratch too.  Oddly, having made my mind up, I feel more inspired to actually do something outside my own back door.

So, my grass has had its first cut of the year.  That alone, makes everything look tidier.  If you ignore the back border...

This morning, my raised beds looked like this:

This evening, they look like this:

My back hurts!  But, I have lots of lovely new strawberry plants (in the bed furthest away) that have formed on their long, straggly runners since last year, so hopefully I'll have enough fruit to make some jam this year.  The assortment of plants you can see on the left are some self-seeded plants from my disastrous cutting patch of last year.  When I have sorted out my back border, I will transplant them into it and see what happens.

This little bird box, made from a coconut and brought home from a holiday in Barbados, has finally been used.  I have loved watching a little wren busying herself with making a nest in it.  Soon, it will be completely obscured from view when my clematis montana flowers.

And here are my first tulips of the year.  These wonderful orange ones have been successful year after year in this pot and I think there are more flowers on them this year than ever.

To spur me on I am going to post every day this week with news from my garden.  I always have grand plans for my outside space but seem to face the same dilemmas each year (not enough time/manpower/money/sunshine... you name it, I'll blame it!)