I have been reading Annie’s How Does Your Garden Grow posts ever since she started them last year.I can’t tell you how jealous I was seeing all the beautiful flowers, home-grown vegetables and fruit.Until April I had been living in a flat for 12 years, bringing up 3 children on my own for the last 3 and a bit years.

It was horrendous.

But two months later (it does seem longer) we are now in a 3 bedroom house with a garden.

It IS amazing.

Although the garden doesn’t seem to have been cultivated in what seems anytime in the last century, we do have a few plants growing that were already here and I’ve growing my own stuff and happily accepting lots from my mum and dad.

Since we moved in the back and front garden have had a little bit of a make over.All down to my dad with me throwing in ideas of what I want, he has dug up 1/3 of the back garden so we can have a patio.As we’re in social housing we’re limited to what we’re allowed to do as I really want to dig up the path as it slopes upwards making the whole back garden do the same.

All the turf has been thrown into a corner at the top of the garden where I plan to make a wildlife area and the soil is being used to level out the front garden which sinks below the path.This will become a raised garden for our fruit, vegetables and salads.I’ve always loved the idea of having them all in the front garden like a house we passed every when we lived back at the flat.

In containers I have nasturtiums, a very versatile plant as you can eat the leaves, stems, flowers and use the pods in pickling.I bought a packet with 6 different varieties, of which I have only planted 3 seeds of each  kind for now.

Rescued Geranium from a skip

I rescued a red Geranium from the skip of a local Homebase which flowered two days after I bought it home.Truth be known I hate them and any park garden plant but it gives me the happies knowing it living in our back garden and not on some landfill.

My mum has given me a few herbs, now I’ve been studying and growing herbs since I trained as a chef at 19.It is the one area of horticulture I’m really home and at ease with.There so many reasons why everyone should have herbs in their garden and they are not just for using in cooking.Herbs will definitely be a prominent feature in our garden in the coming years.

Back left is lemon balm, back right is rosemary, next to the lemon balm is two pots of parsley, in the middle sweet woodruff and far right is a small cutting of a bay tree.

I may have killed the Marjoram but there is a small leaf in the centre so all may not be lost.

Whilst away at BritMums none of my plants got watered.My Marjoram seems to have suffered the most but I’m hoping it will make a come back.

These Chives will be divided in the Autumn to provide more plants.

Plants we already here are a pink rose which has just come into flower this week.I’m not a fan of pink but along with the red geranium it provides a nice splash of colour.

Both sides of my front garden have neighbours’ Fuchsias poking through my fence.

I bought the middle tomato plant from a house that was doing an honesty box just after we moved in.It was really bushy until I took out the non-flowering shoots to let in more light to the flowers to ensure larger tomatoes.The tomatoes either side were from my next door neighbour.I have put them into a tomato grow bag and I’m feeding them 3 times a week with a tomato feed.

The most gorgeous plant in my garden right now is Jasmine.It’s highly perfumed star like flowers cover the fence that faces my back door.It’s almost all in flower and the heady smell really takes over the garden and the bathroom as I have the window open after my morning shower.

Last week when we went to buy the compost, tomato feed and some other bits for the garden I bough this Asiatic Lily.I actually bought two and gave the other to my dad as a thank you for helping me out so much.

Mixed salad lettuce, which I’m sowing every couple of weeks.I have put the containers for the lettuce on a high table to keep them away from slugs and snails.As I don’t want to impact the wildlife in my garden or our local area I’m choosing not to use slug pellets.

Whilst in the back garden we have a huge raspberry bush coming through from next door which has sent up shoots into my garden too.I’m waiting until the Autumn before I dig up the new shrubs to plant elsewhere in the garden.

New shoots from the raspberry bush on my side of the garden.I’ll transplant these in the Autumn to another part of the garden.

So that’s my garden until next month.I don’t expect much will change in the next few weeks as I’m trying to finishing decorating indoors, get storage sorted and get shot of some large items that taking up huge amounts of space left over from our move.

I’m looking forward to the gardens for How Does Your Garden Grow.