Saturday in the Garden

After walking the dogs this morning I decided to work in the front garden with the hope that DHL would deliver my parcel that they were supposed to deliver yesterday.  I stayed in all day yesterday, not daring to go up into the back garden as I knew they were due to deliver.  At about 4.45 pm I get a text saying 'they attempted delivery but I wasn't in', which was a blatant lie as at that time I was actually sitting in the lounge with its big patio doors which can also see the driveway.  Not only that but I have 'alarm dogs' who would definitely have alerted me to any attempted delivery!  I suspect that either the driver couldn't find the place, or wanted to finish work early on a Friday afternoon!  Not impressed.  I did ring them immediately that I got the text, but they couldn't get hold of the driver or the depot, so I have no idea when it will delivered now as I have heard nothing since, apart from ANOTHER email (the first was sent the same time as the text), saying they had attempted delivery and I wasn't in.  I really dislike dishonesty!

Anyway back to the front garden.  I needed to mow the front lawn, got half way through and then had a battle with the dreaded lawnmower which has been VERY temperamental since I got it.  Needless to say it is now very dead, partly because it refused to go and partly as a result of a 'death by Basil Fawlty'.  I am sure anyone familiar with Fawlty Towers will remember the episode.  So I decided to try the new mower that we bought as a spare (the original intention was to have one for the back and one for the front so I didn't have to haul it up and down the steps when I wanted to use it at the front and vice versa).   I assembled it, it worked perfectly first time - wow, such a difference from the first.  I think it must have been faulty right from the beginning as it has always been pretty temperamental.  Hopefully the new one will continue to work well as I have a LOT of lawn to keep maintained and the thought of not having a mower is not good.

The lawn looks good now.  It has been a fabulous day.

By lunchtime I assumed that no such DHL delivery was going to happen so I ventured out into the back garden, putting the grass cuttings from the mowing in the compost bin.

I then started to plant some of the plants we bought when my husband was down here.

A rose on the bank outside bedroom two.

A bottlebrush (hopefully a reminder of NZ when it starts flowering)

Some transplanted lavender.

The rhubarb is growing well and has really started to spread out.

I worked on my feature garden.  A lot more digging still to do, but progress made.

I planted two roses, two rhododendrons and a hebe.  I had already planted one hebe and had to plant a rose Thursday morning as one of my piggies died, so I buried him underneath it.

Hebes

Roses

Jay's (Jeremy) grave and rose.  The slabs are on there to stop anything digging it up.

Another rose.

The avocados in the orchard.  I still need to get in and do a lot of weeding etc there.

This patch needs levelling off for one of the raised metal beds we bought earlier in the week.

Daffodils on the bank at the back.

So pretty, I can see these from the kitchen window.

I planted this on our side garden by the driveway.  

The roses and shrubs planted today.

It is so good to be able to start doing work outside in the garden again.