Trunky's New Garden

Quick update. We've been here just over a year and a half now, and although there's still plenty to do, things are gradually taking shape in the garden. Progress has been frustratingly slow over the past winter - a combination of weather, a bout of flu and Mrs Trunky insisting that jobs which needed doing in the house were more important has stopped me from doing as much as I'd hoped.

However, today I finally finished a project which has taken me the last two months to complete, due to my usual ineptitude with anything which involves DIY or hard landscaping. It's a small paved area incorporating a step, in a tricky little area as you come through the gate into the back garden. It caused me a few headaches due to the various different levels I had to work with, but I'm pleased with the final result and it's a vast improvement on how the area looked when we moved in.

18 months ago.





The same area today. Ugly conifer and pampas gone, new paving and step in place.





It hasn't cost much either, as I re-used slabs and block paviours which we already had, and simply adapted the size and shape of the area to fit what I had available.

 

That was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle Trunky, not an easy job. I like the combination of pavers and blocks.

 

You're right there Sheal, it wasn't an easy job, but I'm reasonably happy with the end result.

I didn't quite have enough paving slabs to do the area I wanted, luckily we had about 50 or so block paviours we'd bought with us when we moved and it turned out I could arrange them in squares which exactly matched the size of the paving slabs - couldn't believe my luck there!

I've deliberately left a few small gaps around the step, I think it will look better and help to 'soften' the appearance of the step with some small plants in those gaps. I'm going for Erigeron and dwarf Alchemilla (A. erythropoda), both of which should happily grow there and seed themselves freely around in the cracks and crevices nearby.

 

Very neat block work there

 

Quite pleased with how this has turned out.

This small bed is near the front of the house. The previous owners had covered it with weed membrane and slate chips, it had no plants in it whatsoever.

So, back in December I scraped off all the slate chips and used them elsewhere, then removed the membrane and the 2ft paving slabs which I found under the membrane.

The front edge of the bed is constructed from pieces of broken concrete slab which were arranged in a fairly haphazard fashion, so I removed the top two layers and rearranged them to give a reasonably smooth curved edge to the bed which is a little more visually appealing.

The soil is very sandy and the bed sits against a south facing fence so it's a hot, dry bed. I've used plants which should be ok in that situation - Osteospermum, Helianthemum, Euonymus, Iris and Salvia. There's also one Erigeron planted at the front of the bed which I'm hoping will seed itself in among the other plants and colonize some of the cracks along the edges of the bed.

All the plants are ones I've propagated myself from cuttings or division of plants we already had, including a few favourites brought from our previous garden. I'm particularly pleased with the Irises which were freebies I found in this garden. Just looked back and found my post in this thread from January 2018:
...as I was removing the conifer yesterday I discovered some irises growing underneath it which were just about surviving in the deep shade of the lower branches. I saved as many as I could and this afternoon I potted up about a dozen small rhizomes which will hopefully provide some good plants for the new garden in time. It'll be interesting to see what colours they turn out to be.

A little over a year on and the Irises are doing fine. Considering the bed was only planted four months ago, I'm quite pleased with it now and hopefully it will fill in nicely over the next year or two.

 

Wow! I’ve just scanned over your thread @Trunky what a fantastic job you’ve done, your garden is really taking shape now

 

Things are gradually taking shape now, we've made a little more progress this weekend.

Yesterday we created this new small bed along the front of the decking in a dry, sunny south facing spot. We've planted a dozen lavender and added three Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Summer Sorbet' to give some variety and contrast.



The new bed we created just over a year ago is doing fine. There are plenty of established perennials in there now and I'm going to fill the gaps with Rudbeckia 'Rustic Dwarf' which I'm growing from seed, this is one of my favourite plants for providing a blaze of colour throughout the summer.





The area at the bottom of the garden which was formerly occupied by a small yew tree now has a small raised bed, which I made from scrap timber. This is used for growing lettuce, radish and spring onions.
Yesterday I spent an entertaining few hours removing the the roots and the rest of the ground out stump which remained after the removal of the yew last year, got the whole area dug over and it's now ready to become a small veg patch. The soil will need plenty of compost added to it if I'm going to grow any decent veg, I've had a couple of pallet compost bins on the go for a year now so I'm using the contents of those to improve the soil.




It's certainly an improvement on how the same spot looked about 18 months ago



One thing I decided to keep in this garden was the Wisteria chinensis which scrambles over a wooden arch and a small beech tree. After a little pruning and training, the Wisteria is putting on a good show this year.



It's lovely to see things beginning to take shape at last. After what has been, at times, a frustrating and difficult 18 months or so, this is at last beginning to feel like our garden.

 

I know it’s frustrating, but I can understand where she’s coming from. Keeping on top of what you’ve already done is one thing, starting a new project is a different kettle of fish. If it’s any consolation, I have the same problem, with hubby insisting that we sort the house, before I can go “play” in the garden. It’s no coincidence that the pond was installed whilst he was out of the country!

So pleased to read that! As I looked at the photos, I saw the little triangles as points of potential! My immediate thought was a creeping thyme, or even a wild-style viola, probably because that’s what I have lots of in my garden. We find that violas cross with the local wild violets, giving us loads of miniature bursts of colour that thrive in our poor sandy soil.

Looking at the rest of the photos wow!
You’ve done so much in the garden - and judging by the first point, probably in the house as well?!
Mrs Trunky and you must be really pleased!!

 

Another quick update. The garden is coming along nicely now, the recent rains have brought things on well and it's at last beginning to feel like our garden as things begin to establish themselves and our plans begin to take shape.

The herbaceous bed we planted back in April 2018 is becoming well established now that the plants have had a year to settle in and I'm quite pleased with how it looks now.





The new bed we created back in April next to the new oil tank has romped away and once the climbers cover the trellis it should screen the tank nicely.





The new veg patch is up and running - I've got sweet corn, courgettes, squashes and climbing french beans on the go and the raised bed is providing plenty of salad stuff.





This small raised bed has four Manx Marvel tomatoes and more climbing french beans growing up the frame in the centre. I've also sowed nasturtiums around the edge of the bed as an experiment in companion planting and I'm hoping they'll trail over the edge to make the whole thing look more pleasing to the eye.



My small 'nursery area' where I raise a few plants for stocking the new garden and also for the village charity plant sale which takes place in April every year.



A happy accident - these Lychnis seeded themselves in front of the shed and I left them to grow there. I quite like the rustic look they've created.

 

It's looking good Trunky. I'm still yet to get some colour into my garden.