In April this year I set myself a Garden Photo Challenge, to take a photo in my garden here at Dovewood in Dorset, every day for a year. Why? To prove that even a small garden can be interesting 365 days of the year. The task was and is to find and photograph something of interest whether it is a flower, leaf, seed or whole plant in my Garden, each day. I’m not using any fancy equipment, just the camera on my Samsung Galaxy J5 phone (it takes better pictures than my old camera) I then post the photo on to Instagram and my Facebook page. You can follow me on either for the daily update.

The weekly round up of photos are made into collages which you can see here for weeks 1-10 and here for weeks 11 – 20

100 days…..and counting

Last saturday I reached the first milestone of 100 days of my Garden Photo Challenge, only 265 to go! Of course, starting in the Spring has made it a lot easier to find things to snap. So far there has been little repetition of subject matter, which, in some ways is disappointing in that some plants are flowering their socks off here at Dovewood but you have seen them only once or on the rare occasion twice. I recently reviewed the list of plants that have appeared in my ‘Hall of Fame’ at the start of the Challenge over three months ago and some are still flowering, for example Erysimum Apricot Twist

The next milestone and beyond

One of my followers remarked to me the other day how watching the progress of my quest has made her look closer at her garden, and make discoveries, as she finds plants she didn’t even know where there! The Garden Photo Challenge has made me look closer at my garden, and on several occasions I have found plants in flower that I didn’t even know were in bud! However, I am already anticipating the change of Seasons and the next 100 days which will take me to the end of October and into Autumn. I know that I am fortunate living in the south of the UK where we usually experience a milder climate than more northerly areas. Our first frost is generally about the middle of October (the last being about mid-May). Traditionally Autumn is full of colour from late flowering plants to the seasonal colour change of leaves but it all depends when the first frosts arrive. Too early and we lose blooms. Little or no frost can mean we lose out on Autumn colours as plants drop their leaves without the glorious changes we associate with the time of year.

The following 100 days will take me through the winter months to the first week of February. This is really making me think more about the continuation of interest through the year, which is good! I like to think my garden is interesting all year but can I prove it? Will I manage it? How much can I squeeze into my garden to make sure that there really is interest even through the winter months.

Margery Fish wrote a book called  An All Year Garden which I am reading avidly  as well as “ A Flower for Every Day” and there is also a book by Rosemary Verey, which is also on my reading List “The Garden In Winter” and a Hillier book called The Winter Garden (All available from Amazon, please – note these are Affiliate links which means if you click to buy I earn a small commission!)

Planning ahead and a FREEBIE

The new Plant and Bulb catalogues are beginning to appear on our doorsteps but this year instead of a random collection of favourites being purchased, I will be paying close attention at the flowering times. Confession: I got caught out badly this Spring when I was bemoaning one variety of Narcissi being flowerless only to realize, some weeks after, that they flower much later than others I grow! It always helps to make a note of the flowering times.

Talking of making notes I have a new FREEBIE PRINTABLE available to help you do just that. I’ve designed Printable to be suitable for any month and with space for you to make notes for each of the main areas of gardening; Flower Garden, Kitchen Garden and Lawn Care, as well as General Tasks. Each section has some general prompts to nudge you into which tasks may need to be done. There is also space to make lists, sketch ideas. If you print the Sheet out and laminate it, you can use a dry wipe pen to have a perpetual list. You could attach a pad of sticky notes on the sketch block so that you can take a list with you into the garden with the tasks for that day.

You can get your copy of the FREE GARDEN TASKS PRINTABLE below or by filling in the form on the right side of this page. I am sure that you will find it super handy.  And don’t forget, if there is anything you would like help with, do send me an Email – you can use the contact form to get in touch with me here or on the Contact Tab at the top of this page – I would love to help you make the garden of your dreams.