Mike's Evolving Garden

At the bottom of my garden there's a single track road that leads nowhere, and from it there was a driveway into an old garage which I never used - it was small and dilapidated, and it was easier to park the car in front of the house, especially after B (late partner) became disabled.
So I turned the garage into a ceramic workshop.



You can see how it was in the above photo, and that there's a way into the garden at the side of it.
(The cat was Blodyn - Welsh for 'flower' - and she died suddenly from a blood clot when she was 6 yrs old)

I had the roof renewed and it is now flat, and I had the door bricked up and a nice big window put there instead.
Then I decided that a cracked concrete driveway full of weeds was not the thing for me so I decided to have a flower bed there. I thought it would look better






As you can see in the above photos, I constructed a wall by placing some concrete bricks one on top of the other, and cemented them together, to form a sort of retaining wall,
and then filled it in with topsoil.
Here's the result :-







I crammed creepers in between the bricks, mostly Campanulas and Aubretia, and they flower every year.
I planted lots of things in the soli as well and it looks full now. Here it is last year :-





At the back of the patch I'd put plastic mesh to hold climbers, but they had broken and looked horrible, so earlier this year I decided to have wooden trellises there instead.



I put some upright posts secured with that ready mixed cement you can buy in bags, and then the garden-helping-lady who comes every few weeks now, helped me to screw the trellises in position.
Here they are :-






Next I want to put a gate at it's side but I don't know when I'll get around to that

 

What a wonderful transformation Michael. I love the Aubretia creeping out of the bricks and what is that standard to the right? You should be very proud. I love your garden.

 

Looking really good Michael.
Looks like you have a nice view out over the countryside from your position.

 

Thank you @Victoria and @pete

The standard tree is a Cotoneaster but I don't know what species. It flowers every spring and has berries every autumn. They're starting to form now.
I brought it here from a previous garden and it's about 30 years old. The branches would reach the ground if I let them but I like it that shape so I prune it.

Yes we are surrounded by fields here - it's in a cul-de-sac off the main road, at the end of a long straggly village. There are nice views from my garden, it's on a hill so you can see out over the gardens of the houses lower down.

 

@Michael Hewett ,..fantastic results Michael,..lots of work involved there but the results are a beautiful garden

 

Thank you @glengarry23

 

I had a wooden shed which was nice when it was new, and I'd painted it a light colour too ...





But it had become old and the wood had rotted, especially at the back where there were lots of big holes, and rain was coming in through the roof.
It had also become full of junk, and in the end I decided to take it down.

I was having an extension built on the side of the kitchen so I asked the builders if they'd build a greenhouse for me where the shed was.





The greenhouse has two walled sides and two glass sides. :-
The back wall is the boundary wall between my garden and next-door, and the other wall is the wall of the kitchen extension.
Outside the walls will be pebble-dahsed soon (I hope) and then I can tidy the patio, but there it is for now ...

At the side of the greenhouse, in the above photos, you can see a perspex-covered space which I use for potting etc.

I have now put all my cacti in the greenhouse and painted the inside walls.
I started with a teracotta colour but thought it was too dark so I did the long wall lighter :-











Looking in through the side window :-



Someone suggested to me that a wall mural of a desert scene would look nice on the far wall, on the flat bit above the bricks, so I'm in the process of designing one



I'll show it to you when it's finished ...

 

I liked the old white shed Michael ... but the new greenhouse is wonderful for you. I sure wouldn't want to water for you!!! I see you have an old milk urn. I have three, one English and two Portuguese.

 

Where did you get the green benches, Michael, I could do with one of those.

 

The old shed was nice when it was new @Victoria, I had my pottery wheel in there at first, but the wood had become so rotten, I think it was only the junk inside that stopped it from falling down

I don't water all the plants at the same time. Since they are cacti, and almost as many succulents in a perspex shelter, I can do them in stages.

I can't remember where I got the benches @pete, they were probably from B&Q or somewhere similar many years ago. I had them when I lived somewhere different in the last century

 

Michael you have an awesome collection of Cacti,..mind blowing in fact,..beautiful looking Greenhouse as well

 

Thank you @glengarry23 I have been collecting cacti since I was a teenager in the 60s

 

Your cacti collection would be the envy of some of the botanic gardens, I'm sure!

 

The long border of my garden between it and the next property had become an overgrown tangle and looked a mess.
I had put plastic mesh there for climbers to grow on and they had become saggy and started falling away. The climbers had become too big as well, so I thought it was time to take action.



I cut back all the plants, including the tall Roses and Clematises, and some very thick Euonymuses too.
Then I removed the plastic mesh and some old rotten posts that held fenses in the past.



My garden-helping lady came yesterday and between us we put the new posts in the ground, secured with ready mixed cement … and then screwed the trellises on with some brackets.





The fences look nice but the rest looks awful at the moment,
however next year I’ll be able to train the climbers nicely on the new trellises, and then it won't look so bad

 

That looks great Michael. A good job done.