£75 garden centre voucher - what to buy?

[WellTidy]

PIL gave us a £75 voucher for the garden centre for Christmas. I got properly into gardening last year and bought lots of shrubs and perennials and absolutely loved it. The garden had been in a very overgrown and neglected state, so a lovely gardener has been doing half a day a week here for 18 months. The result is that it is ivy and weed free, shrubs are properly pruned, bulbs planted etc and it is all coming together. I don't do any of the work, she keeps on top of it all.

I have no idea what to buy. I bought so much last year that the garden is pretty full. We need some hard landcscaping as our paths and walls of the raised beds are poor and crumbling, but obviously that is more than £75.

I would like to buy one thing that we can point to and tell PIL that we bought with the vouchers.

Any ideas please? Garden is about 80 feet deep, 35 feet wide, big patio, beds down the sides and in front of the patio, grass in the middle. Wooden Kids swing/slide/house combo and a trampoline and a football goal in the grass.

A tree, climbers for the fences, a rose arch (and roses), a fountain or statue, garden furniture or a parasol, bird feeders/next boxes....
I could spend it many times over!

Fuzzy when you said a tree, you made me think of dwarf fruit trees. We have cleared done raised beds next to our newly planted raspberry, blueberry and (thornless) blackberry and rhubarb patch. I've looked at the suttons website and they sell dwarf pear, cherry, apricot, plum and apple trees. We would love those. And the DC would love to be involved. It's either those or a nice piece of wooden sculpture type thing.

I've just ordered myself a "Stella" cherry tree. I had one in my last garden and it was really pretty with white blossom in the Spring and then lots if gorgeous red eating cherries. I got so many in my last year that I froze loads of them for crumbles etc. It's not a large tree and is self fertile so you only need one.

Sounds really lovely Fuzzy. I think we will get one. Do you by any chance remember how big it was when you bought it and how many years before it began to actually fruit? I also think we will get done other dwarf fruit trees as we eat so much fruit and I will only let the DC grow what they will actually eat.

Also, where have you ordered your new one from? Suttons are selling for £25 each or two for £40 and they are 4 litre pots I think.

I bought my original one from Wyevale (with "leaving present" vouchers from a job). I got it into my Nissan Micra so it can't have been very big and it fruited from year one, if only a few. The last year I had it, it would have been about 10 years old and was laden with fruit - I froze several bags of cherries.

The one I've just bought was just under £14 from Amazon (supplier Gowlers Plants) and is 3-4 feet. So little, but I want it to go in a pot and will nurture it carefully!

I’d buy a big pot or troughfor the patio. Structural items can really make the look of a patio.

I've decided to go with a sweet cherry 'stella' and an apple 'scrumptious'. Both self fertile and won't grow too big. In 12 litre pots online with wyevale for £40 each. Thanks Fuzzy.

JT I think I will get a trough for the patio too! I have wanted One for ages as I'd like to grow sweet peas in them.

You're welcome. Hope they do well and give plenty of fruit, as well as the lovely blossom.