A slightly different garden project...

So far in the revamp of my garden, I've not been able to do much with the front, as I knew that a lot of it had to be dug to lay in council water and sewage facilities. The arrival of the required sewage pump a few days ago meant that this digging could begin. At the start, the affected part of the garden looked like this...



Somewhere in it, I had to plant this pump....



As it is over 3 metres tall, I needed a big spade to dig the hole for it. Fortunately, Komatsu had one...



The day after it arrived, a hole was dug, and the pump placed in it...



The next stage was to dig the trench in which to lay the pipes. This is the start of it...



...and the pile of soil it created...



With the trench completed, pipes were put in place. One for the sewage, one for fresh water, and a third empty one for the fibre optic cable that will arrive next year...

The pipes can be seen here. This is the street side of the pump. The one with the blue connector is for sewage, the yellow for the fibre optics, and the black is fresh water. A second yellow pipe can be seen in the above photo. This is to run the power cables to the pump. And yes, there was a wire in it to help them be pulled through!



Next up was to start back filling the trench, starting from the house...



The existing sewage pipe was then spliced into, and a pipe added to allow easy flushing of the system in case it got blocked. Yes, I know it is crooked in this photo, but a helping hand straightened it up when I continued to backfill.



Finally, everything was filled in, and tidied as best I could...



Today is going to be an easy day for me.

All that I need to do is go to the tip with the uprooted bushes, and return the spade!

 

well done that man

 

Wow @Sandy Ground that really is a tidy finish. As I looked through the photos I thought the end result would look like a good place to re-enact the Battle of The Somme but given a couple of months and all should look great again. I know you are a wizard with the wood work, did you do the work yourself of is there leg pulling going on?. Thank god the weather was obviously dry and had been so for a while. It could have been a very different scenario if your garden had been wet. Glad you've got what has been looming over you complete. Hope all works and nothing needs dug up again. Think of all the lovely plants you'll now be able to get to fill in the gaps.

 

Thank you ladies.

No leg pulling going on, the only thing that I did not do was the electrical connections. Two reasons. 1) I'm not legally allowed to make them 2) The local council paid for the electrician.

Although I do have some planting ideas, any suggestions will be gratefully accepted...

 

You'd put all our beloved council workers to shame. Great job. Re suggestions, how many pages would you like?. Can you give me an idea of you minimum temperatures over winter/maximum summer but that probably isn't quite so important unless really hot. What aspect the bare border has, and soil structure ie free draining /sandy or clay/ moisture holding. Any ideas of the PH? if not can you grow the likes of Azaleas/Rhododendron/Pieris/Heathers? What shrubs grow well with you/your neighbours?I'm presuming you want a shrub bed, maybe you'd like herbaceous instead? Obviously you can mix them but to me it usually looks better to have shrubs and herbaceous separate altho there are exceptions.
Certainly if you decide to maybe plant a tree/trees it won't be too difficult digging. Also maybe have a think about whether you want such straight edges to the lawn. I know it makes for easy mowing but a gentle curve isn't bad for negotiating a mower either. There is an old saying that there isn't a straight edge in nature (probably are!). I just prefer a softer, more natural look but that's only my choice, I've seen modern gardens which are very regimented and "sharp" which can look good too.

 

Neat job sandy Did you drive the Komatsu ? You can do a lot of damage with one of them.

 

I can do a lot of damage with anything...

Seriously, yes, I did drive it. It was hired from what we call a Machine Station. Dangerous things, I agree, but a doddle to drive after the older types.

 

The soil is alkaline, so rhododendrons, things like that wont grow. Its sandy soil, but having said that, the top soil is deeper than anyone would expect. Temperatures can get well below zero here, -15C is not uncommon in winter, sometimes for weeks on end. Generally, if a plant has 3 stars in the RHS book, it will work, but there are exceptions.

I do have a few ideas, but would appreciate any input. I am thinking (but not more) of splitting the area into two rectangles. The smaller one being the one closest to the camera (which is looking SW) being an easily maintainable one, the larger, possibly behind a hedge, more "artistic."

 

Top job, Bob!

 

I hope that seeing this job inspires others on here to be willing to tackle something similar if it ever arises. It not the digging that I have done over the past few days that was the hard part. That was the waiting caused by the whole village taking the local council to court 4 times over the last two years, and winning all but the first.

As a sideline. The Komatsu I used has now been hired by another member of the village, and will be used to dig in his pump & pipes (Ooer!) He has 140 metres of trench to dig, which is many times longer than mine. At 72 years old, he's no spring chicken! The local water is known to be good, that proves it!

 

I'm more knowledgeable on Acid loving plants but a few shrub suggestions which should be fine for your garden would be.

Sambucas (So called poor man's Japanese Acer BUT tough as old boots so good for where you and I live)Sutherland's Gold. Golden lacy foliage with white flowers.

Sambucas (tough as above) Black Lace. Delicate almost black lacy foliage and pink flowers

Cotinus Coggygria Royal Purple. Rounded Red/maroon leaves,

Weigela Florida Variagata. Variegated green and white foliage pink flowers

Rosa Fruhlings Gold. yellow flowers

Rosa Nevada. white flowers

Rosa Glauca small pink flowers attractive blue/green foliage.

Buddleja Davidii. Lots of different cultivars so pick your colour!

Salix Lanata (Wooly Willow) Nice fury bluish leaves and golden catkins. Interest early in the season.

Berberis Thunbergii. Loads of different cultivars with great coloured foliage


I am a great fan of different coloured foliage and textures of foliage as flowers are so fleeting. That said it's still lovely to have gorgeous flowers too. I grow all the above The Rose suggestions, tough as old boots, no special requirements pruning wise, I don't prune mine. Mine have never suffered from Blackspot which a few of my other types of Roses do. They only flower once but are normally smothered in flowers. Buddleja, pretty tough and great for encouraging Butterflies and Bees, if you religiously prune really hard then they look lovely later in the season when many other things are past their best. Salix because it gives interest early in the season. Like Berberis as some have terrific foliage. Orange Rocket (really red leaves and stay that way all season) is superb. Also have a brilliant yellow foliaged 1 (can't remember the variety sorry). Very prickly so good for discouraging unwanted visitors if planted as a hedge but I grow them as specimen plants
Have a look at the above and see if any of these appeal. I'm also a big fan of Sorbus but not sure how they would do with Alkali soil. probably ok. They certainly don't object to sandy soil as I grew loads of them in a previous garden which was basically silt as right on the bank of a big river.
You may have completely different tastes to me so won't go on and on! All I do know is that they are all pretty tough and religiously give a great show every year here with not much tlc and at times less than gentle weather!
If you want some herbaceous suggestions just ask.

 

Of that group, the only one that I know of that will not work here is the Buddleja davidii. I'll look into the others...

 

... what?

 

Hmm, slightly surprised. I have about 7 or 8 different coloured Davidii ones and they all survived the horror winters of 9/10 10/11. We went down to around -13 for weeks (quite ghastly!)but perhaps because we had snow cover the number of plants that didn't survive was miniscule to my surprise and delight. Certainly many of the other cultivars aren't as tough. Globosa and Alternifoli are 2 which are often sold in garden centres around these parts which can be ok but not as hardy as Davidii. It's funny how some plants will flourish in 1 garden and not in another even with very similar conditions. I have a Geranium which was bordering on being a weed in a previous garden. I all but lost it here and have to keep a supply of seed off it so if all that are growing decide to die off I have back up.

 

Thats part of what makes gardening interesting...one never knows what will happen.