This weekend the weather was glorious, it was warm and sunny for most of the weekend here in London. Just what I needed to sort the front and back gardens out.

I have decided to get some clip together decking this year similar to the type Ikea do, which you can pick up and store in the winter. So after getting the hubby to help me, we started in the back garden first deciding where we want the decking to go!

We settled with the top part of the garden as you walk out of the back door, for two reasons - it would stop us (and the dog) kicking up stones into the house and it also made sense! Otherwise it would be walking across stones to get to decking?? Nah!

So we had to measure and push all the stones back to reveal what was underneath and it was mainly concrete and rock. After a bit of levelling out its pretty much good to go. Just need to order the tiles..
I will post some pictures up of this once it is finished as I think it will look pretty nice.

After that we rearranged and put into place all the plants and trees that I have built up over the past year during my container gardening, Some new plants since then:

I purchased a pack of 6 ornamental grasses - 2 of 1 type. These have been planted up into the trough with my lavender.

I have also purchased a magnolia tree - its currently only small arrived in a 9" pot so it has a lot of establishing to do.

I also purchased a hydrangea which again is currently a few twigs in a pot :)

I have purchased a camellia tree also, this will be the last purchase this year as it will use my last spare plant pot :) Hopefully it will arrive this week.

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So I realised I haven't posted here in a while and now its a new year and spring is coming! I thought I would update how my first fruit and veg growing went this last year! There are a few things I would certainly do differently this year.

First thing, I am not going to grow runner beans. They grew and grew and grew and did incredibly well. We also got a lot of produce from them. We had the 4 bean poles climbing up a wigwam in a large deep tomato grow bag (the reusable kind). They were very thirsty so drank a lot of water but that was not the issue. We just didn't eat them, Im not a huge fan of runner beans. The main reason I grew them was a) they are easy first time vegetables to grow b) did I mention they were easy.

The tomato plants were really strong too, we had so many tomatoes from them and I still have around 40 in my fridge. I didn't seem to get many issues with these guys which I was surprised at because I expected them to be easy to catch blight etc.

The pepper plants were ok, however they did not grow to a very large size and none of them turned red, so were all green. They tasted nice but this year  I have bought a sweet red bell pepper to grow, it does say mini so they may still be small?

The chilli pepper plants did really well, I cook alot of spiced food so we were constantly cutting them off and using them in so many different dishes. These guys also turned red and had such a nice kick to them.

Carrots! after the first batch being a bit of a disaster - I replanted them which they didn't like! so ended up throwing it away. I decided to grow a second batch, after around 12 weeks of waiting I did get around 2 - 4 meals worth of really yummy baby carrots. They did not grow as big as I expected however I think this was due to them a) being two crowded and b) not on the full sun side of the garden. So this year less seeds planting and more sun! Im starting to sow these next month!

Managed to get some nice strawberries, but not that many? I may buy a few more this year in addition to last years plants (which have survived and are growing!)

Overall I was happy with my small crop of vegetables I did make the mistake of not feeding them enough tomorite so this time I will follow the labels directions and stick with it.

I have started them indoors again which is the same as last year, around end of Feb. I have cut down on the amount of the same vegetables and im trying a smaller tomato variety this year. I will get 2 different types of peppers growing and perhaps the one chilli plant. I have replaced growing beans for a squash and courgette which I will start next month indoors. A new addition to growing veg I am sowing some marigolds and petunias. In the hope of repelling the nasty pests.

If you have anything you think I should try to grow - let me know! I am a container gardener and have a small garden - but happy to try anything else you would recommend!

Update on the plants, a few (2) have been eaten by some bugs or overwatered? But most are doing so well and fruit & veg is growing! I am looking forward to being able to eat some of the crop however it will be a few weeks yet.