new garden - deciding how to start!

It's going to be stubborn then.

 

We...

...did...

... ... ... It!



Finger photobombing again. But too knackered to go back up and re-take the photo...

The remaining hole...
I don't care what the kitchen hands say, it's time for a shower, and then it's beer o'clock!

 

Well done Sian! Did you have to cut any roots as it looks fairly compact?

 

It was about 6 hours of two people cutting roots with a pruning saw, scraping away a little soil, then cutting the next root....

To be honest, most of the roots went out either 4-6" below the ground, horizontally, or about 8-10" down, going down at about 30 degrees from the horizontal. We were delighted to find that there was no tap root.

After this experience, the larger hazel stools are staying exactly where they are!!

 

That's a lot of effort just for one stool. It may be worth hiring a mini digger to get the others out.

 

I think if we wanted to get the others out, a mini digger would be the way to go!


However, we do have quite a few squirrels in the area, and so I will probably be keeping the group of three larger stools (probably double the size of this one), and coppice them on rotation, one every 6 years. This will stop them getting too big, and will still allow the, to be big enough to supply nuts for my red-tailed friends.

 

just catching up. looking good.

 

Time for an update on the garden.

The woodstore and fruit trees. There is a new little pear tree there (stick far left), and Lord Lambourne apple tree (stick far right), with the Gloster 69 and Braeburn trees starting to settle in.

The island bed with the new medlar tree, and three new Golden Celebration roses are looking good, with the bushy stick of Herefordshire Russet looking good.

My birthday apple tree, Schone van Boskoop (normally called Belle de Boskoop in the UK, as people can't pronounce "Schone"). The start of our bank of daffodils, and the tiny green-yellow specks are cowslips, that I have brought from my parents house, seem to be happy now. Oh, also in the background is another new Apple tree, Laxtons Superb.

The angle bed to the left, with the centre plant of a plum tree. The herb bed to the right is looking good! (And you can see that the top border is looking more controlled)

Another shot of the island bed, with the Kilmarnock willow in the centre.
...and another angle...

The raised veg bed, and the fruit bed to the left - the new raspberry canes should take off soon, and the strawberry plants have taken well.

 

A few shots of the top of the garden...

The cleared area of the top border, with pots of hydrangeas, in trial positions, to see if they w in the right positions when in flower

Still looking a little scrappy to the right of the border, with our new damson tree just coming to the end of its first flowering

The sweet cherry tree is definitely happy, a couple of years in, and a little gooseberry bush

The geranium bed is greening up, now that all the bulbs have gone over

The under planting of the ornamental cherry tree is definitely taking off! The primroses have been flowering since New Year! With mini daffodils, and wood

They really look good!

Another birthday tree, this time a sweet morello cherry, looks tiny, so hope it will grow quickly!

The passion fruits look a little sad, so hope they recover....hubby teases me that even with the big garden, I still have a parade of pots!!

Finally, the barrel pond - a lot of green algae, but the iris and water mint are growing well. The water lily is coming up, and I love the varigated grass to the right ...

 

How wonderful it all looks I always enjoy your updates (and descriptions: stick, far left; stick, far right )

If your pot doesn't have vine weevil grubs and you haven't had a hard winter, your passionflower should perk up. Mine always looked a little sulky in winter months and then, come Spring, it came back vigorously! Have my yours does too.

 

Hehe! When I write my descriptions, mentally I have my hubby sitting on my shoulder. "What's that stick then?" Of course, in reality, he gets as excited about the potential of the trees as I do - well, he has to, really...!

 

You've made a lot of progress Sian and it's definitely a big improvement from when you first started. How many fruit trees do you have now? An orchard in the making I think.

 

I'm having to count...
6 new apples, plus three existing (had to remove one) - 9
2 new cherries, plus one existing (one new cherry turned out to be mislabelled plum) - 3
1 new pear, plus one existing - 2
4 new plums/greengages, plus one bonus mislabel - 5
1 new damson
1 new medlar
1 peach on order, to be collected next month!

I was very fortunate for my 50th birthday last year. I had already placed the apple/damson/medlar order, and then different friends (who obviously know me well!) turned up with an apple tree, two cherry trees, and a voucher from a tree nursery...

I think we could be there, although I am hankering after a quince tree, having tried my quince jelly from last year... I am starting to run out of space a little, as we do want to have an open grass area as well.

 

Wow! That is an orchard! All that lovely fruit to look forward too.

 

Wow!

Ive just been round the garden taking some update photos - so strange to see how it looked about a year ago, and then again earlier this year....

Here goes...
The view from the patio bed. Really pleased with how the Japanese acer is doing. Mallow in full flower, with intense pink colour coming from bergamot. The cream roses are taking a break, but you might be able to make out the pink geranium sanguinium underneath...


Across to the woodstore. The deutzia is a lovely blob - not really sure if I need to prune it more? About 1.5-2 metres tall. The three apple trees in shot all have fruit...


The lower part of the fruit area, with lots of trees. Braeburn (really whippy in form, so has guy ropes in for the storms), Gloster 69, unknown Apple tree, Lord Lambourne, sick cherry tree, Hereford russet, and finally the "August" tree.


Schone van Boskoop carrying its first crop (a Laxtons Superb further back, to the right, also with the first crop) and the refurbished compost bays are looking good!