A little Spring excitement... let's get garden planning!

This week I'm sitting down and taking a moment to plan what I want to do in the garden this year.

I think January is a perfect time to sit down and just carefully plan out things that you need to buy for the garden, things that you want to plant, changes that need to be made and get immersed inside some of your favourite books. Get inspiration and ideas, and find beautiful things that you want to plant in your garden. I'm going to be taking you outside to show you the things that I'm going to be doing in my garden this year.

I got into gardening later on. I broke my leg and was housebound, and I realized I've got so much here that I could create to make things look beautiful, but it was me that was going to have to put in the time and the effort to do it.

I had a year pretty much here the whole time. I used to bum shuffle around with a plastic bag around the flowerbeds, weeding them, and it was my therapy. And I realized actually how healing it is being outside in the garden. Whether you only have a tiny garden, whether you don't have a garden at all, you can grow things, and experience the pleasure that you get from growing a tomato plant inside or putting in a beautiful rose.

When Mum died, I created two raised beds outside in her memory, because she loved gardening and she was passionate about the garden, and roses were one of her favourite things.

Growing up as a child, our family home was a big Georgian rectory and the gardens were open to the public a couple of times a year to come and have afternoon tea and have a look around.

Mum spent hours out there, and at the time I didn't see the joy in it. I actually resented all of the time that she spent outside, but I understand it now. I find it therapeutic. I find it rewarding, seeing it change throughout the seasons, and always coming up with new ideas of things that I want to plant or do. So I thought I'd share a little bit of that journey with you.

Sigh and I have been having a battle for numerous years about my vegetable garden, and I'm going to show you the area around my greenhouse that I wanted to put raised beds in, but after lots of discussions, we're not doing that this year. I'm going to create an area that wonderful Reuben shall be building it at the beginning of March, and that's going to be my veg garden.

I'm going to be using Charles Dowding's no-dig method. I'm going to be putting a lot of cardboard down. I'm saving my boxes at the moment. And then I'll put compost on top and grow my veg in there.

The area's going to be fenced off in our orchard, and I am so excited about it. So I have been writing a list of the things that I want to get going in there. It might take time. I might not end up growing very much this year, but we can plan for the future.

I've currently got a few veg areas around the greenhouse. One area which I've had is my carrot bed. It's now going to become my asparagus bed. Asparagus takes quite a long time to get going, about three years, so we've got to be patient with these things, but I have ordered my asparagus heads and I can't wait for them to come. The bed is ready to go! There's a little bit of broccoli in there, but still, it's going strong. So I'm not going to remove that yet.

We're going to create a new bed for my dahlias, once they're coming into bloom and the leaves are looking good and there are no more frosts. I used to put them around a rose, but actually, the rose has grown so big that there's no space anymore.

I've also got a bed which is just for cut flowers. I've got tulip bulbs in there at the moment, and I'm going to go and take you and see if anything is poking through, but probably not yet.

I'm going to be planting Sarah Raven peonies in that once the ground's a little bit warmer. And again, it's probably going to take a couple of years before I have a wonderful selection of peonies in that bed to cut and bring into the house to make into flower arrangements.

I love peonies. They were our wedding flower, and I just thought I'm going to dedicate an entire bed for those. And then I will put some other cutting flowers in there, as well.

The orchard is a wonderful space, and I'm so excited to be having my vegetable garden in there.

Those of you who know me well know I love making elderflower cordials. So I've planted some elder (sambucus) along the hedge and various other bits and pieces. I've also got a fruit cage, which is a work in progress. I need to spend some time sorting that out, as well, but I do have a wonderful harvest of red currants, which is brilliant because I love making red currant jelly.

You need to plant things in your garden that bring you joy and that you are going to love. There's no point having a plant that you don't like. Just get rid of it. Life's too short to have things in our garden that don't bring us joy. I have things in my garden that I either want to cut and have as flower arrangements or things that I want to make into jams or preserves. And I'm hoping that the vegetable garden will get going and I can utilize all of the things that I grow in there, and we can enjoy eating as a family.

So let's go outside, and I'm going to show you around!

ASPARAGUS BED

This bed is where I used to grow my carrots, which is perfect for carrots because carrots like free soil, so they can grow down. We have decided that this is going to be perfect for our asparagus. I've got a little bit of purple sprouting broccoli, which I'm just leaving in at the moment because it's looking all right.

BEHIND THE GREENHOUSE

In the area behind my greenhouse, I have got my rhubarb which is just beginning to poke through, and is super exciting. I will be forcing this rhubarb because it's been in for a couple of years.

I've got some chard in here, and I also have grown lettuces as well in this area, which has worked well. But they're going to be moved in the vegetable garden, I haven't quite decided what shall replace them in here yet.

GREENHOUSE BED

This bed along the front of my greenhouse needs completely clearing, but I have got some foxgloves coming up. I put my sweet peas in here and some cutting flowers that I've brought on from seed in the greenhouse.

THE FRUIT CAGE

So this is my fruit cage, which we put in a couple of years ago. I have a great harvest of red currants along there, but unfortunately, the raspberries haven't done so well.

THE ORCHARD

We put in this orchard about five years ago. It was previously complete scrubland and wasted space. I had the muck heap here, and it was just horrid, so we created this area for the children to have their treehouse and play in. They've also got a zip wire, too, which they love.

We planted lots of fruit trees. We've got apples and pears, quince, all sorts in here, and it's lovely watching the fruit trees grow. The chickens normally free range in this area, which is secure for them, but at the moment, with avian bird flu, they're confined to that little area over there.

THE NEW VEGETABLE AREA

This is going to be my new vegetable area. We're going to put it alongside the fruit cage, and it will pretty much be the same dimensions as the fruit cage because we've got to allow enough space. I'm planning to have a row of veg along one side, a row of veg along the other and a pathway in the middle. It will be securely fenced off, because occasionally we get rabbits in here and I don't want the chickens getting in, either. I'm excited about creating this space and getting lots of things growing that we can eat and enjoy as a family.

THE HEDGE LINE

A few years ago I planted lots of elders (sambucus) along the hedge line, which just bring me so much excitement. Hopefully this summer I can pick lots of elderflowers and some elderberries, as well, to make into delicious things for us to enjoy.

MY GREENHOUSE

My greenhouse is my happy place, and a lot of my seeds I've ordered for this year have arrived!

I've got a selection of tomatoes from Sarah Raven. Now, I missed the boat on tomatoes last year. A friend kindly gave me a few plants, but I also took the seeds out of some delicious supermarket tomatoes, dried them, and planted them. And they worked a treat, which is very exciting. You can grow tomatoes inside if you don't have very much space or a greenhouse. I grow all of my tomatoes down here, on the back wall of the greenhouse.

I've got carrots and I have also got some sweet peas. I use root trainers for sweet peas. I treated myself to new ones because the last ones I've used for years and I was not going to get another year out of them.

I've also got some seeds from Paris Alma. Paris is local and she creates these wonderful seeds from the flowers that she has grown. I've got sweet peas, cutting garden mix, cornflower, scabious and hollyhocks.

I have got a cut flower seed collection, because I might grow some cut flowers in my new vegetable garden this year.

I've got some pumpkin, baby boos. So these are quite fun little mini pumpkins for Halloween, so I thought I'd plan ahead.

And lastly my Sarah Raven peonies. I can't wait until the ground's a little bit warmer and I can get them in.

It's really important to store your seeds safely. Occasionally, we get little mice in here that love eating seeds. So I've got some Tupperware that I keep my seeds in, with the lid securely on, and we have no problems with pests.

THE ROSE BED

This was where I used to put my dahlias, but you can see this rose has got overexcited and it's taking up all the space. This was a present from the children one Mother's Day.

DAHLIA BED

I've decided to put a bed in along beside the rosebed, and I'll have all of my dahlias in a row along here, which will look pretty. When I'm in the yard and I'm doing the ponies, I can enjoy looking at them.

TULIP & PEONY BED

This is where I have planted all of my tulip bulbs that I can pick and bring into the house and enjoy. There are just a few signs of them poking through, which is exciting, but this is also going to become my peony bed.

I've got all of those peonies from Sarah Raven that will be planted out in here once the ground is warm enough and after the tulips have finished, or I might just have to put them in around the tulips, but we will play that by ear.

Have you started planning for your garden yet? Get your gardening books out now and use your imagination - it's such fun and you won't regret it once they start to bloom!

Love, Charlie x