Off to a flying start

Cheers Strawman

 

wow looking great gingernutsman.... mrs gingernutsman must be proud of you

love the pic of the burnt effect looking sunflower

Di

 

Hi all,
Here are some pictures of the progress in the new front borders. I am working on the area at the propellor and the new arch. I have been digging out borders for a couple of weekends and planting up as I progress. I have also created a new path and formed a sandstone monolith on a 3ft x 3ft area I layed victorian clay slabs on.
The path has a membrane under 2 - 3ins of pea gravell to match the new main path.

This was the first border planted a couple of weeks ago



Same border from front gate



The next border and the edging along the side path off the main pea gravel path.



Then more digging and planting



Setting out the position for a small slabbed area for a feature




New offshoot path with the turf removed, membrane layed and gravel spread




Sandstone standing stone layed and a few palms sited (2 Canariensis and one fan palm)



A closer view.



From the back of the prop.



From beside the new arch.






All in all, not a bad couple of weekends work and there is still Sunday to come. Who needs to get away for a bank holiday when they can have so much fun at home?

:yho: :thumb: :D

 

Hi Di,
Thats Velvet Queen. Thanks for the compliment btw. Yes she is very proud. Came out about 2.30pm with tea and biccies to keep me going she said. We sat looking out onto the lawn and didn't feel like getting back up. You know what it's like when you sit down and your muscles start to ache. you wish you hadn't stopped! But thats digressing.
G.Man

 

Hi all,
Disaster has struck I uploaded about 50 pics from my camera to a folder on the computer on Sunday evening and since I am rained off today, I decided to upload the best ones to photobucket to add to this letter. Sh*t, they have dissapeared into the ether. I think baybe they fell out the back of the laptop when I carried it through to my wee office from the living room where my OH uses it. :cnfs: I have gone through every file, done a search and I have shken the damned thing, no pics! :skp: The OH says she has done nothing that would make them dissapear????? Ho hum I will just have to remember what I was taking pics of and do them again. The only ones I can't duplicate are the Macro ones of some Red Admirals on my Buddlejas. :(
It has poured with rain since goodness knows when last night and the river at the bottom of the garden is really dirty brown and raging. Luckily for us, the drop to the water level is normally about 25ft. At the moment it is about 18ft and rising.





It would have to rise another 60ft before it reached the back door, so their is absolutely no chance of the house ever being flooded.
The river is what is known as a spate river and usualy at this time of year has a prolific run of salmon. I was speaking to one of the local angling club members at the weekend who tells me the salmon are not much in evidence this year. Probably have all been flushed back out to sea what with all the rain we have had. :hehe:

The rain has certainly kept everything in the garden fresh, but the nutrients are being slowly depleted. Here are some pics I took this morning.

 

Hi All,
The weekend was great and so was last weekend, I managed to get into the garden last Saturday all day and on the Sunday I managed until lunchtime. I took a run down to Carsphairn in the afternoon to collect some hopefully fertile eggs to let my broody hen Mable sit on. This is her third spell of broodiness in 7 months so we thought we would let her try and hatch a few.
On Saturday the 12th and sun 13th, I was at the garden "hammer and tongs" I managed to plant a few Acers into the area I am tuning into an Acery. I managed to negotiate a load of 12 tons of topsoil " free of charge" from some contractors and it turned out to be pretty good sandy loam. I raised the level of the bottom lawn to get it level from the fence to the driveway.
I used turf from the digging of the borders to make a temporary "wall" to hold the new soil because later on I am building a 3ft sandstone wall along this line.

This is what the 2 areas looked like last month and the Acery pic is before the path was finished.






This is them on Sunday.







It's not a very good pic of the Acery because of the low sunlight and the fact that I was shooting into the foliage, but I will update the pics on my next visit here.

Since then I have planted 3 more Acers and a small Sumach. The bedding has more or less gone over now, so I will have to spend some time clearing the borders ready for tulips etc. Garden Bargains via Ideal World has some fantastic bargains at the moment. They have 2 types of pansy, primroses, wallflower, shrubs and exotics. Mouthwatering stuff and the prices are really good.

 

Hi All,
The weekend 19th and 20th was quite productive and I managed to get on with clearing the annual bedding.







I also managed to move a few plants that were getting overcrowded.
Another 4 tons of sandy loam topsoil was delivered FOC by the company working in the grounds of the Whiskey Bond over the bridge from me.



I planted up my 2 Canary Palms and the Fan Palm as they were being blown over in the high winds last week.



I moved a couple of Calamagrostis which were becoming too big for the area they were in and planted some Carex in place of them.

Next job is to try and finish leveling the bottom lawn and prepare it for sowing in the spring. Overwintering will let the anual weeds show their heads and I can get them sorted before seeding.
The sand stone wall will have to wait untill the spring because it will take some time to prepare the stone for building and the winter months will give me more time to spend doing that.
I bought some Tulip bulbs at the weekend. Queen of Night, Black Parrot and some white ones to contrast but can't remember the names of them. I have a couple of dozen wallflower plants I sowed in the spring, ready to put in with them. I haven't decided what else to plant for the spring as yet but I would dearly love to have some snowdrops in clumps.
Think I will plan the borders out over the next few nights before rushing into buying.

 

Hi again,
Over the last couple of months, I have been working in an area of Glasgow called Mearnskirk and I spotted a new Garden Centre called Braidbars. I popped in on my second day working in the area and met the owner. He has certainly made a great job of the displays in the covered area and I couldn't help noticeing that he had a 60s - 70s theme going. He has an old plough, an old farm cart, planted with seasonal bedding, the front end of an old Morris 1000 ( I think ) and various other eye catching objects. I told him about my Butter Churn project and couldn't help notice his reaction. I asked if he was interested in maybe doing a swap for some trees / shrubs and was told that he would be delighted to negotiate a swap.




The outcome of the following barter was 3 trees and a couple of shrubs of my choice. I have chosen, A Liquid Amber, A Silver Birch, A Quercus Rubra, A large Magnolia and finaly a large Phyladelphus Double.
Not a bad deal I think!! I don't really have the site for it now and also I was afraid someone might pinch it as I would have to have it in a position outwith my field of vision from the front window. I really will miss having it, but the trees and shrubs were all ones that were on my wish list for the not too distant future. An old man once told me " Cut a stick when you see it son" and that is exactly what I am going to do. Hands were shaken on the deal and he has informed the manager of the deal.
Roll on next weekend when I am back in the area. :thumb:

 

I only discovered this thread yesterday and have enjoyed reading and looking at the pictures. A great job and what looks like a fabulous garden in the making. I pop on to read most days and will be looking out for further news on this project.

Well done, and an excellent deal on the butter churn too.

 

Thanks Jovi,
I am a bit worried about the Photinia and one of the Acers, they look a bit stress despite having been given plenty of tlc and watering to keep from dehydrating. The leaves of the Red Robin are curling and darkening and the ones on the Acer are browning. Not a good sign for either i'm afraid. I will keep my fingers crossed and hope that in the spring they will recover.