We have a great sized garden with grass and a patio area but it is feeling very neglected. Although we have a gardener the last time I really put any effort in to our garden was in 2013. Back then it was all about swing sets and trampolines but with the girls growing older we are definitely due a change. In the last few months we have given away the trampoline and the ropes on the swing set have snapped so we need to take that down which gives us the perfect chance for a clean slate.
As well as a playhouse I also want to install a shed. When I organise my conferences my house becomes full of boxes and I could really do with somewhere to store it all instead of taking up our downstairs bathroom and everywhere else I can stack a box. I will need a waterproof one that is secure too so I will have a look at the rest of the What Shed site and see if they have any advice on what I should get.
Not only do we want to install a playhouse and shed but we also want to encourage more animals into our garden so I am going to be looking at ways to do that and I will also be planting some more flowers in our flower bed once I know that there will be no more frost. I am also going to get some bird houses to put on the fence out of the way of the cats as I love watching all the birds come in to the garden.
We currently have an old bench and swing seat which we need to take to the tip as they are falling apart but I would love to be able to have an outdoor dining area with some nice garden furniture that we can use when the weather is nice especially as I bought a gas barbeque last summer and we didn’t use it anywhere near as much as I would have liked too.
Now the girls are getting older I would also like to get them more interested in gardening and growing food. We planted some strawberry and chilli plants last year (I say planted, we bought pots that you just had to water) and unfortunately the strawberries all died and we only ended up with one chilli but to see the look on their faces when they realised they had grown a chilli was fantastic. I know that tomatoes are supposed to be easy to grow and as they both love eating them I think that this would be a good first project. I wish we actually had more of a flower bed in which to plant things as I would love to grow our own potatoes too but we just don’t have the space.
I love the fact that I can now plan to have a more grown up garden and I look forward to making this a reality in 2016 so that by the summer we can be relaxing out there in what I hope will be glorious sunshine!