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The Fruit trees
Garden transformation Part 11 – The Fruit Trees Buying a property with a 160ft long south facing boundary, it was just asking for a wall to be built and fruit planted along it. Luckily I am a self-taught amateur bricky, married to an excellent labourer. We started building the ‘great wall’ as it’s become jokingly known, in May 2014 and it wasn’t completed until October 2016 – other priorities in our new garden, bad backs and appendicitis got in the way! Who wants to climb a ladder to pick an Apple? I love the idea of an orchard, it sounds so idyllic, but it’s only really an option if you have…
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Greenhouse – Take two
Garden transformation Part 10 – The Greenhouses We’d both longed for a greenhouse for years, we considered building a bespoke one to fit our tiny veg patch, but by then we’d pretty much decided to move. We moved in summer 2013 and set about turning our new garden into a kitchen garden. April 2014 – Greenhouse number one In spring 2014, we ordered our very first greenhouse. This was our joint birthday present that year, and put it together with great excitement. We had planned for the food growing area to be close to the house, so we would be able to clearly see the greenhouse. With this in mind we…
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The Holly and The Ivy
Garden transformation Part 9 – Tackling the holly hedge The 8ft high, 80ft long holly hedge, on the right hand side of the garden. Starts at the old sandstone wall by the bamboo bed, and carries on down to the walnut tree. It had got completely out of hand, in places it was at least 10ft wide and so spindly inside. November 2013 Three months after moving to our new overgrown garden, we left the other jobs and finally set about tackling the mammoth hedge. We had read that holly should not be cut until November, so we had waited – it wasn’t as if we’d got nothing else to do!…
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Biological slug control, after a G&T
If you garden organically, then nematodes are really the only option if you want to kill slugs. Slug pellets are an absolute no no, as they are poison. They contaminate your soil and can lead to the deaths of beneficial predators of slugs like, hedgehogs, birds, frogs, or even worms. They can also cause harm to your pets. The RSPB offer advise on different methods for deterring slugs. Using Nematodes Firstly order Nemaslug, it should take two to three days to arrive. When it arrives, start by making yourself a nice Gin & Tonic. You need to have more than one to use up all of the tonic. Put the…
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The Majestic Walnut Tree
Garden transformation Part 8 – Freeing the walnut As you’ve probably realised by now, I love our walnut tree! In fairness I love all mature native British trees, but this is the first one I’ve had in my garden. It goes back to my childhood and lovely walks with my dad. It’s when he taught me all the ways of the countryside. Including, always walk towards the traffic on narrow lanes, that way you’ll see the car before it hits you lol. NEVER shelter under a tree when it’s lightening! Always shut gates behind you. Keep your dog on a lead when there’s livestock around. It all seems so obvious, but…
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Tulip’s – Rain stopped play!
The tulips were doing so well! Admittedly the single early’s had pretty much finished, but the Darwins, Doubles, Fringed and Lily Flowereds were hanging on in there. My late doubles were just coming out, so are looking a bit sorry for themselves, but fingers crossed they’ll dry out. When I’m asked what is my favourite flower? I always say tulips. It’s not exactly true as I think it’s impossible to choose, I love all flowers. But the tulip slightly stands out for me. Whether it’s because it’s so early in the season and we’re still desperate for bright colours after the winter? The different varieties of tulips I have, grows…
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Bamboo and Hosta raised beds
Garden transformation Part 7 – Raised shady beds A month after moving in, we’d taken out some unruly overgrown conifers. There was a beautiful old sandstone wall hidden behind the conifers but it wasn’t high enough. We needed to put something back in their place to give us privacy from a house at the back. As we’d had a raised bed with bamboo growing in it at our last house, we thought of it straight away. It’s a perfect screen as its evergreen, but somehow feels light and airy not heavy and overbearing. I love how it sounds and how delicate it looks as it moves in the wind. October 2013…
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Creating a walled garden from scratch – The Great Wall
Garden transformation Part 6 – The south facing wall The ‘Great Wall’ is what it’s become jokingly known as. It starts in the front at 3ft high, runs for over 65ft. Then goes up to 6ft high and runs for a further 160ft to the end of the garden. It’s a south facing boundary, so we knew from the moment we moved in that we wanted to grow fruit on it. We both love walled gardens, more than any others and so set about the ambitious task of creating one. With the small exception of our 80ft long holly hedge, which has to stay for the birds and wildlife. When we…
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Creating a walled garden from scratch – The Shady Wall
Garden transformation Part 5 – The north facing wall This is a 30ft long border on the right hand side of the garden, near to the house. It had an existing old fence that the foliage had entwined itself through. As I mentioned previously in Lets get stuck into the garden makeover, we took down and dug out some very large conifers from this area. Hidden behind them we found a small section of lovely old sandstone wall. We also discovered that the old crazy paving patio in the corner was substantially larger than we’d been able to see. We weren’t really surprised that this had been a seating area.…
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Ladybird plague? Hopefully not quite that many!
I’ve never seen so many ladybirds overwintering in the garden, as I’ve seen this year. I’m really pleased that they all seem to be our classic 7 Spot Ladybird ‘Coccinella septempunctata’, rather than some non native invaders. Every pile of leaves I started to clear had ladybirds under them. All of the covers on the raised vegetable beds, when I lifted them to get at the kale or Brussels sprouts had a few under them. Every nook and cranny more ladybirds. When I was winter pruning the apples, I started to loosen their ties, only to find ladybirds under every one. I’ve just remembered to go around loosening the ties…
