We have Blossom

I made a short visit to the garden this week - we are having some work done on the house before we move in and I'm staying some distance away.

Identifying the existing plants is always an intriguing part of a new garden and I wanted to see if anything unexpected was coming up. So far, it doesn't look like the lawn is hiding many secrets - no sign of snowdrops, crocuses or other bulbs.

But some of the trees are starting to come to life with some early blossom.

Not a great picture but it was very grey and overcast and these trees are pretty tall so the camera was pointing up into the sky. I'm guessing these are some variety of prunus but I'm going to need a closer look and probably some leaves to identify them.

Also coming to life is this stump which is displaying remarkable resilience and throwing out some stems which are in bud. Any ideas?

It doesn't look like I'm going to have many constraints when it comes to design - all the trees are at the edges of the garden and I should be able to work around them.

I don't plan to do anything for a while until we see which areas get sun. So for the next few weeks, I'm going to be thinking about the style of garden I want and the features I want to include.

Why Hostas and Herbs?

It took me a while to find a name for this blog.

Did I want a straightforward, does what is says on the tin, title. "Confessions of a novice garden designer" maybe?

Or should I go for something witty and clever? Trouble was I couldn't think of anything.

In the end, I took inspiration from another blog which combined 2 plant names.

Both herbs and hostas have featured in my previous gardens - but with dramatically different results.

Here's my herb border from my last garden in York:

Somewhat lacking in design, but at least the plants are healthy and gave us a good supply of fresh herbs.

However, when it comes to hostas, I have a 100% failure record. No hosta of mine has ever made it above 2 inches before being stripped bald and giving up the ghost. Maybe I'm just too kind to the slugs and snails. Or am I missing some important detail?

Unfortunately every article on plants for north facing gardens recommends hostas. And they do look great when other people grow them.

So one of my missions for the new garden is to successfully grow hostas - and of course, a beautiful, tasty herb garden.

My new garden challenge

I love gardens. Sitting in them that is. Enjoying the sunshine and the plants (preferably with a glass of something chilled in hand).

I'm less keen on all the back breaking work that goes into creating one.

But I'm just about to move into a new house and this is my new garden:

It's about 3 times the size of any previous garden I've owned. It's north facing and it's in Manchester.

My aim is to transform it into an urban oasis.

Luckily I love a challenge.

I hope you'll join me on my journey of discovery into garden design and creation.

Maybe even learn how to grow hostas successfully.