Cats in the Kitchen, Flora in the Garden

Last week I was able to get out into the garden every day as the weather was unseasonally hot for May, but, alas, over the weekend we have had two days of heavy rain. My garden, when we moved into our house, was just a small one which was reached by walking down an alley way at the side of our barn. It was a small patch of grass with four borders around it and a gravelled square in front of two outhouses. It has a small gate at the bottom in the side wall that lets you into my neighbour's garden [this is to do with old rights of way over both our properties]. We also have a shady area that is concrete between our kitchen door and the barn. It has taken five summers to fill the alleyway with pots that in mid summer overflow with blooms and greenery, change the layout of the garden and make the narrow shady concrete area interesting. By next summer the garden shall be exactly as I want it and this summer almost as I want it. My husband has laid paths of concrete flags and surrounded them with bark chippings, I have added more flower beds and found places to place more pots. We will do away with the little patch of grass that is left with the garden table and chairs on and replace it with bark chippings, although the little patch of green is nice it did not stand a chance as there was not enought room to move the table about and there was too much wear and tear on the grass. By next summer the climbers should be covering the walls better, as it is a low walled garden on two sides and a high wall on the third with the back of the sandstone barn as the fourth side. It is a real suntrap! We already have a honeysuckle from last year that is flourishing up a wall and a clematis I planted late last summer. I am thrilled with my little garden and cannot wait to see it in full glory later in the summer. I decided that it would have to be for flowers only, as it is not big enough for both flowers and vegetables, although I do grow herbs in it.