Not posted for a while, but I have been busy. Up the drive. On the right hand side of the drive is a shady bed between the drive and the hedge which borders the garden. The hedge is Holly underneath various mature trees. Parts of the border are very shady, but some of it does get good light. We are hoping to fill this border with various shrubs. The firs step was to dig out this Laburnum stump. I marked out the bed, leaving a section of turf next to the Drive and another next to the hedge. The hedge side has Hellebores, wood anemone, Epimedium etc. in it which I planted when we first came. The turf was skimmed off and stacked at the end of the garden to rot down for future use. I had intended to dig over the soil and incorporate some leaf mould, but the soil is so full of stones that it proved impossible. So I cleaned up just the part where I want to plant shrubs.
Eventually this bed will be extended all the way up to the Summer House at the top. The bit between the bed and the Drive we are hoping to fill next year with hardy annuals.
It just looks better and better, Palu. You have big plans, but you are truly capable. I shall be happy to see more progress as it occurs. Pace yourself, pace yourself .
A raised bed. We had a goodly number of pieces of limestone rocks from dismantling the fireplace in the living room. We decided to use them to build a small raised bed in the first part of the gravel area. The gravel area. Underneath the gravel was a piece of blue plastic and under that a sheet of clear plastic. I decided not to remove the plastic for the whole area, just where the raised bed was to be made. The first stones put in place. Building along a curved line, keeping the correct distance from the wall. The first level completed. The paving slab at the end just sits on a brick pillar. We have no idea what its purpose was. I filled this level with a mixture of top soil, potting compost and the gravel which I removed from this area. I used some old bricks to create the height for the second level. A second layer of stones along the front wall. Stones placed on top of the bricks for the second level. Filled up with the same soil mixture as before. Planted up with Silver saxifrages and a few other alpines and gravel mulch in place.
Despite going over the gravel top dressing with the flame gun, it is now full of Oxalis cornuta. Had to cover the plants and carefully spray with Glyphosate (the only way to control the pernicious stuff).
Crevice Garden 2 Having looked at the first one we made, we decided that there was room for another on the opposite side of the gravel area. The first thing to do was to work out the angles The first piece set in. The gravel here was very deep so it took a lot of doing to dig down for the upright. The next piece, slightly lower and shorter than the first. The third set are longer than the other two. Next row is longer again. This row is shorter again. Just a single piece in the final row. Filled up with a mixture of top soil, potting compost and fine grit. Covered in gravel and awaiting plants. Still not planted it up as I am waiting for the Oxalis cornuta to appear and be killed off.
I feel your pain. I know there are a lot of naysayers about some of the weed killers but some weeds are so bad that I also have to resort to using them. especially when it is over and over and over weeding. the roots will just not give up. bind weed? horrors... mile a minute weed... horrors!, Mugwort?... canada thistles... Sheesh. JUST DIE!
Pieris Bed At the top of the garden on the South side of the house was a huge bed of Pieris. Next to it was the remains of a bed with a huge tree stump at one end. The stump was too big to remove. So I dug it over. It seemed more sensible to remove the Pieris and make a bigger bed. It was easier than I thought as the shrubs had fairly thin branches. That still left the roots to be removed. I marked out the size of the bed we wanted. Then I began the task of digging out the roots. Again easier than I had feared. The roots were fairly shallow and the soil quite soft. The branches and roots I took to the recycling yard. I marked out the shape of the bed with a lawn edging turf and began removing the turf. The turf was stacked elsewhere to turn into top soil. The bed did not take long to clear. I began to dig it over. Very soon I found a lot of large roots from the felled tree. These I removed. It did take a few days to dig it over as there were some very thick roots which had to be cut out. Eventually it was done. The next job was to hoe over the soil to make a fine tilth. Finally the exciting part, planting it up. We have put a prostrate Ceanothus to eventually cover the stump. At the far end we planted a Magnolia. Now all we have to do is wait for the things to grow and fill out the space.
Alongside the back of the Bungalow was a line of very over grown Heathers. At one end was a very overgrown and weed infested Hydrangea. I took it out. The rest of the bed was so badly infested with self sown Holly, couch grass, and various other weeds that we decided to remove all the Heathers. The heather had killed of much of the grass on the edge, so I extended the bed. Then I dug out the heather roots and the weeds and lots of roots from the Conifers across the garden. The soil was in not too bad a condition. I planted it up with some baby Fuchsias and one or two other small perennials. They grew quite well, but the grass alongside was still in very poor condition, so we decided to widen the bed. The turf skimmed and the bed dug.
Mate, you have done some really wonderful work there. I know how hard it was too! Lots of planning and lots of graft. Chapeau. It is just so inspiring to watch hoe you develop your property. Sometimes I do wish that I had bought a free-standing home with acreage. I do realize that when I become old that it would be a burden to maintain it, and hiring a workforce just wouldn't seem right.
Daft as it seems we actually moved here because there was supposed to be less work to do. Ah well, got to have somewhere to play.
