Our garden
- Thread starter Ian M
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Isitme
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- Joined
- Nov 2, 2020
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- Mike
Did you have to show us your garden 
Now she wants me to get out with the fork and shovel and dig up half the road - no idea where the busses are going to go....
Being serious, the garden is a credit to you, just wish I had the enthusiasm to do the same, but with my gardening skills there would not be a living thing left growing....
Now she wants me to get out with the fork and shovel and dig up half the road - no idea where the busses are going to go....Being serious, the garden is a credit to you, just wish I had the enthusiasm to do the same, but with my gardening skills there would not be a living thing left growing....
Thanks, I dont use either. I know Horse manure can contain a lot of weed seeds so avoid that. Cow is not to bad due to their digestive system. Still Dont use it. Dont fancy having it stock-piled in the garden. Within a 1/2 mile we have pigs, horses and cows so very easy to get but generally to much hassle!
Next door has chickens so get some of that once in a while.
The weed situation was not to bad befor, however a warm wet spring saw all the dormant seed wake and go nuts. I'll get there in the end. Just need to be able to keep the compost holders hot! Mine get cold and stop!
If you want to get a hot composter back up to temp quickly then throw in some grass. It get it hot but only for a short time.
Do that already. Most of the grass gets mulched but have a few places where I collect the grass for the compost... I suppose I will just have to turn the heap more often!
As a change from fighting the weeds in the back garden: The weather has yet again been perfect for weeds this year, add to that a few health issues, covid round two locking down every thing again. OH we had the B&B again last summer so that bit into my time as well. Short version the weeds got away from me and I am paying the price One years seed is seven years weed as the saying goes!
I digress. As a diversion from the back garden we started on the front garden....
For the last year it has been grass. Long grass. up to 4foot high some places. This was divide into islands with a cut grass path making 7 or 8 beds around the meandering pathway.
Had some plants in our own nursery bed and a visit to the garden some saw the rest of the plants home.
We now have ONE bed done.
A total mish mash. There is a Budliga, peony, lavender, chocolate flower, fairy bells, Garden lady's mantel, echinacea p. a couple of Salvia. harvest anemone and a few other I cant remember. (yes already)!
Oh a couple of winter hardy grass.
The only idea was a mix of hard and soft leaf forms, dark and light, low and high. Just two things I need now.
A beer and some lambs ears...As in Rose Campion. Not actual lambs ears!
One of the Wisteria. There was a good flowering this summer. this was the start. We added the screens at the back due to the thin hedge. So we can enjoy a cup of coffee with out passers by stopping for a chat!
The rhodos, put on a fantastic show, but due to the sudden heat and dry, short lived
The show was good though.
Even in the bed that I made a bit bigger.... cant see so much but this edge is a good four foot further out than it used to be...
One years seed is seven years weed as the saying goes!I digress. As a diversion from the back garden we started on the front garden....
For the last year it has been grass. Long grass. up to 4foot high some places. This was divide into islands with a cut grass path making 7 or 8 beds around the meandering pathway.
Had some plants in our own nursery bed and a visit to the garden some saw the rest of the plants home.
We now have ONE bed done.
A total mish mash. There is a Budliga, peony, lavender, chocolate flower, fairy bells, Garden lady's mantel, echinacea p. a couple of Salvia. harvest anemone and a few other I cant remember. (yes already)!
Oh a couple of winter hardy grass.
The only idea was a mix of hard and soft leaf forms, dark and light, low and high. Just two things I need now.
A beer and some lambs ears...As in Rose Campion. Not actual lambs ears!
One of the Wisteria. There was a good flowering this summer. this was the start. We added the screens at the back due to the thin hedge. So we can enjoy a cup of coffee with out passers by stopping for a chat!
The rhodos, put on a fantastic show, but due to the sudden heat and dry, short lived
The show was good though.
Even in the bed that I made a bit bigger.... cant see so much but this edge is a good four foot further out than it used to be...
Jim R
SMF Supporter
Just beautiful Ian. It must be good for the soul to sit out there on a nice day with your thoughts and a cold beer. That wisteria has grown well.
rtfoe
SMF Supporter
The fruits of labour has been rewarded with blooms of flowers and the they have filled up nicely Ian. How do you keep the weeding to a minimum or have you found a way to stop them from etching into the beds?
Cheers,
Richard
Cheers,
Richard
Absolutely gorgeous Ian!!!...........looks like a lot hard work has paid a wonderful dividend......Now go and get the backyard done!!!.......
Prost
Allen
Prost
Allen
Very nice Ian , I see you have some maples as well .Watch those in very hot weather the leaves can suffer burn up, so plenty of water at the base and if you can shade .
Love the wisteria, give that a couple years and it will be a great cover to the top .
Love the wisteria, give that a couple years and it will be a great cover to the top .
Well chaps,
You certainly have put some great effort into your beautiful gardens
,
So much so,that you inspired me to get to work on mine,in the past my Greenfingered skills have been,shall we say,a tad lacking
,
HOWEVER ,spurred on by your success,i read up on techniques and processes,invested in the latest equipment, and went and got stuck in to the patio and shrubbery which was looking a bit sorry for itself
.
I think you`ll agree that my new found Percy Thrower esk talents are plainly evident
,
It is quite hot and sunny here today,so the pic is a little glary ....
No,No.... hold back with the praise...... i couldn`t have done it without your inspiration
!!
You certainly have put some great effort into your beautiful gardens
,So much so,that you inspired me to get to work on mine,in the past my Greenfingered skills have been,shall we say,a tad lacking
,HOWEVER ,spurred on by your success,i read up on techniques and processes,invested in the latest equipment, and went and got stuck in to the patio and shrubbery which was looking a bit sorry for itself
.I think you`ll agree that my new found Percy Thrower esk talents are plainly evident
,It is quite hot and sunny here today,so the pic is a little glary ....
No,No.... hold back with the praise...... i couldn`t have done it without your inspiration
!!
Well, it’s red so it could be Devon…..Well chaps,
You certainly have put some great effort into your beautiful gardens
So much so,that you inspired me to get to work on mine,in the past my Greenfingered skills have been,shall we say,a tad lacking
HOWEVER ,spurred on by your success,i read up on techniques and processes,invested in the latest equipment, and went and got stuck in to the patio and shrubbery which was looking a bit sorry for itself
I think you`ll agree that my new found Percy Thrower esk talents are plainly evident
It is quite hot and sunny here today,so the pic is a little glary ....
View attachment 457839
No,No.... hold back with the praise...... i couldn`t have done it without your inspiration
Cheers Richard. The beds are reasonably easy to weed, there is some crabgrass that is a bit of a pain but generally a quick walk around and we can get to most of them. It's the boarders that are a pain. The back out onto open farmland. = loads of weeds.
The new bed we just made in the front garden is after the no dig principle. Grass cut right down to the ground, a couple of layers of wetted down corrugated card, that stops the light, thus perennial weeds. Then 10 - 15 cm compost and soil mix on top.
.... Better Dead than Red!!
My mums old garden in Mineheadm the soil was almost terracotta colour. But that was Somerset.
Very nice Garden Ian
Just thought I would share a photo or two of the Hortensia bed. I have a problem with the one end of the bed! They are all planted the same day but those at the right Just will not grow! one of them has even almost died back and has a singe stem with a couple of leaf and a single flower!
Thinking about it the two red ones at the back are planted a year later and are cuttings taken from a large plant that was getting a haircut.