I got into gardening a little later in life. I always wanted the garden to look beautiful, but it dawned on me about 6 years ago that the only person who had that control was me!

Growing up we had a beautiful garden at home. Mum would open it up to the public in the Summer and put on Afternoon Teas for the village, it really was wondrous.

I find it so therapeutic being out in my garden, watching things evolving and growing. I love to watch and read things like Gardeners World, with your garden each day is the opportunity to learn something new! The inspiration for my garden is really to grow things we can enjoy not just outside but inside too, so fruit and vegetables plus flowers for arrangements.

Watch my latest vlog below to take a tour of my garden as we come towards the end of this Summer - I hope you love it as much as I do!

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The front of the house...

I like to call this area my secret garden. The children don’t spend much time here, and it’s my own little quiet sanctuary.

We’ve gradually covered the front of the house with beautiful wisteria, which is pretty low maintenance yet impactful. It just needs a prune twice a year - once in the summer and once in the winter. I like to untangle any wild tendrils, pull them down and snip them back to 5 buds from the main stem. That way it stays a little more under control!

The back garden...

I have two rose beds here in memory of Mum. These are so beautiful, and I can clearly see them from the house which always reminds me of her and brings a smile to my face.

The children spend a lot of time out here. We have the climbing frame, rope swing, a football goal and are lucky enough to have plenty of room for them to play. I also have a summer house with a bed alongside filled with more roses and foxglove which I love in the early summer.

I also have a cutting bed filled with tulips.

Alongside the house...

This is Billy the tortoise’s outside area once he’s out of hibernation! He’s a Greek Spur-Thighed tortoise, and we think he’s around 15/16 years old.

The pathway...

Along the pathway I have Box edging, which needs a little prune in the Summer to cut back the new growth and keep the shape under control. There’s a belief that trimming your box is best done after Derby day, a popular horse racing event here in the UK, but I think any time in the Summer is just fine!

Around the front door I have my favourite Pelargoniums, ‘Attar of Roses’. They smell absolutely incredible, and the scent as you walk through the door is just so wonderful. I think it’s so important to have things in your garden that bring you joy, and these certainly do that for me.

Though the gate into the greenhouse area...

The children have the trampoline out here, and I can see them from the kitchen so that works well. I also have some of my cutting beds out here too. like to have designated cutting beds so I know I can cut them as much as I want, and enjoy around the house. I also have a rose gifted to me for Mother day from the children over in this area too, which is needing a good prune!

Inside my greenhouse I now have some tomatoes going well, alongside some courgettes which will be so enjoyed this season.

Around the greenhouse I have more cutting flowers, rhubarb and my new asparagus bed which I am very excited about! I’ve got to wait a couple of years until we can enjoy it but it’ll be worth the wait!

Through the orchard gate...

Sadly the fox got the chickens whilst we were away in Devon, so we no longer have free-roaming chicken around here anymore.

This area was a total scrubland when we bought the house, not being used for anything. We fenced it off and have since planted elderflowers and fruit trees which are such a pleasure to watch grow.

We also built the children’s treehouse down here - within which they’ve spent many a happy hour playing! It includes an attached zip wire which whizzes them down to the end of the field.

Last but absolutely not least, the orchard also houses my new Kitchen Garden, one of my greatest pleasures and something I wished and worked for for many years.

The Laundry Area!

We have our rotary washing line tucked away around a little corner where it’s out of sight. Hanging from the line is my homemade peg bag, created during my online Sewing Course! If you have a fabric peg bag, never leave it outside as it can ruin, bring it in with you. I use Minky pegs from Lakeland, which I’ve found are the best for not leaving marks on clothes.

An important thing to remember with a washing line kept outside is to wipe it down frequently, once a week is best. The last thing you want to do is peg your clean washing onto a dirty line! Also to bring your clothes in once they’re dry, you don’t want little critters landing on it and leaving marks. Plus we do get a lot of dew here in the UK as the nights draw in so it can all get quite damp.

I love the different areas that we've got in our garden. I like to think of them as rooms. We've got the more formal area at the front of the house, my secret garden. We’ve got the back garden where the children can be wild and free and it doesn't matter if things get battered and bashed around. And then when we go through up to around the stables where the grass is a bit longer, followed by the orchard, where I like to have the grass quite long and wildflowers. It's much looser, natural and wilder.

I think that's what's lovely about creating a garden. You can create these different feelings in different areas.

I hope you’ve enjoyed wandering around my garden with me today, please do subscribe to my youtube channel to be kept up to date with everything Ask Charlie in the future and lots more content from me!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Love, Charlie x

Walk around the Ask Charlie garden with me!