In an English Country Garden

         Hi everyone,

                Today, I thought I would share a few photos of

           our garden from previous years as I am still

                   rather impatiently waiting for it to return this year

               after the worst winter we have had in years ~ we

                   officially broke our record for the most snow...ever!

                                 So I was asked to answer a few garden questions

               by a fellow gardener a few days ago.

                       Our garden is about 25 years old and did all

                           the gardening ourselves until a couple of years

                           ago when one of our sons started to help as we

         got busier with tours from Japan.

                      

              We own 10 acres and garden on about 3 acres.

                  On the rest of our property there is a woods with

          a brook running through it and a large pond.

                  In the spring it is a full time job getting it 

       cleaned up and ready for the season.

                By June, we are probably down to

            few hours a day and slightly less for the

               rest of the summer. You really have to love

              gardening to maintain a garden of this size!

                                                   As you might have noticed I love an abundance
                                                   of plants all jammed in together for our romantic
                                                   English Country Garden.
                                                   

           Here on Prince Edward Island we are in zone 5b and there are

        no deer so that is not a problem in the garden....thankfully.

      Some snowy winters voles are a problem chewing on trees,

                shrubs etc. so we put guards on or paint them with scoot and hope

for the best.

                    We grow organically and usually don't have a lot of bugs to deal 

         with so I ignore some holes in leaves etc.  We do have a lot

                 of birds in the garden to eat those bugs. Sadly, there were no bats

                        last year as they were wiped out here by a virus~ miss having them

busy at night eating mosquitoes..             

                                                    The soil is is pretty rich on it's own but we have
                                                    mixed mushroom compost into the beds when we
                                                    made them. This year my husband promises to get
                                                    me a load of farmyard manure.....who would have
                                                    thought you could be happy about that!
                                                      I have been asked in the past where we got all our
                                                     plants and the answer is yardsales,local garden centers,
                                                     seedlings I started,family & friends and some I sent
                                                     away for.
                                                        This year I would like to add more azealeas and rhodo's.
                                                     I would love to add some naturalized plants around our pond,
                                                     but sometimes time gets away from me and it is busy enough
                                                     with what we have and it just possible that I have slowed down
                                                     a little in the past 25 years!

                                            We do have some lupins growing on one side and 

                                                since they grow wild here they should spread nicely.

                                                                We love having arbors and fences in the garden
                                                                and fortunately my husband can build them.

                    I love having the beds packed full so there

is no room for weeds.

                                                            Our garden is about 97% perennials. I
                                                            do like to use some annuals in new beds to
                                                            fill in faster the first year or two. One of
                                                            my favorite annuals for the garden is cosmos.

                                                         I always plant lots of new bulbs in the garden
                                                         to have early season color. I love how daffodils multiply
                                                         each year. Soon, I will dig up some big clumps and
                                                         plant them in urns etc. to bring cheer to the doorstep etc.
                                                         Tulips don't seem to last as good from year to year so I
                                                         always plant some new ones.
                                                         The foliage of the perennials soon cover the foliage of
                                                         the daffodils and tulips when they are past.

                                         I love small enclosed nooks in the garden.

                                        This one is enclosed mainly by roses and

                                   a beautybush. It is at the south of our

          Gardener's Cottage.

                                                      I think the last question was how do I keep
                                                               bugs off the outdoor furniture. Sometimes
                                                               earwigs might be a problem but I just swish
                                                               them off before I sit down and relax.

                                                               Thanks,Andrea for your questions  and I hope
                                                               that this has been helpful to some degree to you and
                                                               other gardeners that were curious as well.
                                                               If you would like more info you can check out
                                                               The Making of our Garden from an old post.


                                                                               Happy gardening!

                                                                                             Carolyn