Non-Gardener builds an Observatory, Garden Railway and even Dabbles with Plants!

25th October 2024

I was in trouble from the wifey on the 24th. I'd gone browsing garden centres while she was at work! I was looking at ferns, as I wanted a large one to fill a gap in the wood.

I had to redeem myself on the 25th, with a joint trip to several garden centres, as we wanted to price up some bark and see if it was available in bulk bags. All was well again after a coffee and caramel slice at one stop.

So the looking to find out prices, turned into another £85.00 shopping trip! So by 1pm, I'm unloading five ferns, nine Cyclamens, two 100 litre bags of bark chippings and a pumpkin for my daughter to get arty with. Lunch was lunched fairly quickly afterwards and I was out digging.

Six of the Cyclamens went into the railway, to give some late in the year colour. One might have been two plants in one pot, because as I tipped it out, the earth split into two even halves, each with a separate root system.



The three others went into the kitchen border, having cleared out some Daisy Pomponettes to make space.

 

Of the five ferns, four were Dryopteris austriaca, which were meant to spread around 18 inches. One of these was planted in the slowly disappearing grass area behind the wood. The others were planted in the wood.



The last fern was a Dryopteris affinis, which was meant to grow to around four feet in height. This one was planted towards the left end of the woodland, filling a gap that became more obvious as other plants began to drop their leaves.

 

After planting all the ferns, I barrowed the first bag of bark chippings to the wood and began spreading it out. I didn't work in the grass area, as this still needs lots more digging out. This is a view from the grass, looking back into the wood.



Following the path, brings us to the middle entrance. Where the path splits, there's one of the small ferns. Once the lawn edging is done next year, the bark part of the path will blend into the slates at the front edge of the wood.

 

Turning left at the split, there's another fern, planted to the rear of the space where the bulbs are planted.



As the path curves to the right, the last fern is on the right, just behind this tree. In time, as they grow, I plan to split them and spread them further.

 

The two bags of bark, covered the whole length of the path, from the grass to the Pinetree entrance at the top of the wood. We'll probably need one more bag to finish off in the Spring. Looking in from the middle entrance, there's two ferns in view, 'though the right one is a little hidden.



While I was digging by the kitchen border, I found this little fern type plant, hidden under a Weigela. I'm not sure what it is, but dug it out and potted it in the workshop, to see what it develops into. If it turns into something suitable, it may move into the wood in time.

 

That might be a Polemonium, Jacob's Ladder, pretty blue or purple flowers.

I like what you are doing in the wood.

 

It's all coming together well ArmyAirForce and you can be proud of what you've achieved.

But sorry - yes there's a but. The Choisya you planted on the bank looks too close to the conifer and I wouldn't expect it to thrive there. Its mature height and spread is 2.5 metres and with the conifer having drained the soil of water and nutrients in the area I think it will struggle.

 

It's about six feet from the trunk of the conifer, on a bank of earth at least two feet above the original ground level and the conifer roots. If it was going to suffer, I would have expected it to do so, soon after it was planted, while it was trying to establish itself. I don't plan to let it get anywhere near 8 feet tall. It's going to be chopped at around three, perhaps four feet at most, same as the Fuchsia will be. It seems happy enough.

 

26th & 27th October 2024

We took a break from the garden to have a bit of fun. We had planned a "Colours of Autumn" Jeep drive on the 26th, but one Jeep had a brake problem soon after setting off. I spent the rest of the day sorting it.

We tried again on Sunday morning, going for a 19 mile drive around the country lanes of County Durham, looking for nice Autumn scenes for photographs.



It was a perfect day for it, with bright sun, blue sky, warm temperatures and plenty of Autumn colours on the trees.



Despite the trip only being 19 miles, we were out about 2 hours, due to a number of photo stops along the way.



We got home about noon and it's a good job we went out in the morning, as it clouded over in the afternoon. It was a nice break from digging in the garden.

 

28th October 2024

This is the final catch up post, as we are now up to present day in the garden diary. From now on, the thread will slow down, as there's not going to be much happening in the garden until Spring. Autumn was well under way in the garden too, with plenty of leaves covering the woodland floor and lawn. I should probably bag some up for compost.



I did some more digging of the grass area, lifting off more turf and moss, trying to get as much of the grass roots out as possible. So far, I've cleared up to the remains of a brick wall ( centre foreground ), that was part of the air raid shelter.



Back pain finally got the better of me and I stopped for the day, but was pleased with what I'd achieved. Lynne's off work next week and the forecast is looking okay, so we might try for a little more clearing before calling it a day for the year outside.



I'm just about to start stripping the master bedroom and with loft insulation to add, which will require a hole in the ceiling, plus electrics moving, potential re-plastering and all new furniture, it's going to be another big job.

 

@ArmyAirForce, just when I thought you were going to take a well earned break you are now starting indoor projects!
Congratulations on all of your hard work and I look forward to seeing what you get up to next year.

 

What you've achieved there is fantastic @ArmyAirForce !
Looking forward to seeing next year's installments. And I know its off-topic here, but if you're taking astronomy pics over the winter I'd love to see some of those. I think there's a place on here somewhere for non-gardening hobbies/interests.

 

Here's a quick tease...

 

Hehe, I saw "the duck" being pointed out on The Sky At Night, sometime earlier this year I think.

 

31st October 2024

My daughter and I spent an hour this morning raking up two bags of leaves and grass to make compost. I've not tried this before, but after reading about it here, mixed in leaves, soil and grass. It took us an hour, so if you added labour costs to that at minimum wage rates, about £20 total. By the time the two bags rot down in a year or two, I'll probably have one full bag of compost - which I could buy for £8.00!! I can't see it being a regular habit for me!!