Coral Sheena both gardens are lovely and I'm a firm believer that you can do anything if you have a mind to and you have made your new garden home. It takes a while for stuff to get established, mine was started over 20 years ago from a bare rectangle of soil and builders rubble etc. .
Sheena both gardens are lovely and I'm a firm believer that you can do anything if you have a mind to and you have made your new garden home. It takes a while for stuff to get established, mine was started over 20 years ago from a bare rectangle of soil and builders rubble etc.
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Thank You Coral.Been gardening for ever but now we only do low maintenance which is something else.
My old garden started a bit like yours, nothing, except it had 3 x 20 year old trees when we bought it.
An optimist sees the beauty of the complete rose.A pessimist sees only the thorn .
Kezsmum Coral Higgy is the garden man then! Hi Coral, Indeed he is! Not only a really good gardener, but he has a creative streak about a mile wide:-) I must ask him if he's left handed, lefties are really good at spatial stuff quite often, Himself is a leftie and a lot of tennis players are. Himself can look at a space and see exactly what should go in it and where. Me, I have to shift things about until it 'looks right'. Higgy has a gardening blog which you can access via the link at the bottom of any of his posts:-) Well worth a look. We came to this garden last August, so we're starting from scratch as well, but we have some natural advantages:- To the back is an old bit of scrubby woodland that belongs to our neighbour, neglected and great for wildlife:-) To the left as you face the garden is a bit of stately home parkland that rises to a ridge with a rookery and some great old oaks dotted about. Deer and hare wander about here (and cattle and sometimes sheep). Blocking off part of the parkland view is a huge barn, wood clad and covered in feeders, this belongs to another neighbour, no gardener, just keeps the acres of grass 'tidy' but a big bird lover:-) She also loves her ride on mower. To the right is next door's mature, overgrown mixed hedge that the birds love, it includes honeysuckle, beech, an apple tree, something I don't recognize with pink blossom and a large salix, the local willow that grows everywhere, not a weeper, more the sort you'd use for basket weaving etc. there's also an ornamental quince - all jumbled together with no breaks, forms a really good wildlife hedge. Then in the short stroke of the L (it's L shaped) outside the back door is The Glade, with the lovely Devon banks, drystone wall (ancient I should think) another hedge which includes dogwood and other stuff I'm not too sure about, this hedge has cow parsley, bluebells, the inevitable dandelions (we don't have grass, we have dandelions, moss and white clover in the Glade) and mushrooms in the autumn and winter. There are a couple of rather seedy looking buddleia (sp?) here that we've cut back, some shrubs that really suffered in the frosts, two we've had to cut to the ground because they looked, dead, they may come back. Another salix, the bees and birds love this. And some boring looking things, one a kind of laurel that have been pruned year after year but probably not at the right time - they've simply been kept 'tidy' There are a couple of conifers on the slope going up to the brick built and very old outhouse that is a bit rickety but has a wonderful, mature tree ivy growing over part of the roof that a robin and a blackbird are nesting in. The shrubs, the conifers, another shrubby thing I don't recognize, the cow parsley, dandelions, an ornamental cherry, the mushrooms, moss, bluebells and clover were the only things here when we arrived. We've put in a pond near the outhouse at the top of the hill and about 11 beds, some with wildflowers, some with herbs, others with perennials in. I also have a small strawberry bed and a raised bed made of ghastly painted wood which was once a bookcase. We need to paint that something other than the ghastly white it is now:-) I bet that's more than you ever wanted to know about our garden Coral. But I do so love a gardening 'chat'. I'll get Himself to take pics and post them and I look forward to seeing yours:-) Happy gardening, Kezsmum.
Coral Higgy is the garden man then!
Higgy is the garden man then!
We came to this garden last August, so we're starting from scratch as well, but we have some natural advantages:- To the back is an old bit of scrubby woodland that belongs to our neighbour, neglected and great for wildlife:-) To the left as you face the garden is a bit of stately home parkland that rises to a ridge with a rookery and some great old oaks dotted about. Deer and hare wander about here (and cattle and sometimes sheep). Blocking off part of the parkland view is a huge barn, wood clad and covered in feeders, this belongs to another neighbour, no gardener, just keeps the acres of grass 'tidy' but a big bird lover:-) She also loves her ride on mower. To the right is next door's mature, overgrown mixed hedge that the birds love, it includes honeysuckle, beech, an apple tree, something I don't recognize with pink blossom and a large salix, the local willow that grows everywhere, not a weeper, more the sort you'd use for basket weaving etc. there's also an ornamental quince - all jumbled together with no breaks, forms a really good wildlife hedge. Then in the short stroke of the L (it's L shaped) outside the back door is The Glade, with the lovely Devon banks, drystone wall (ancient I should think) another hedge which includes dogwood and other stuff I'm not too sure about, this hedge has cow parsley, bluebells, the inevitable dandelions (we don't have grass, we have dandelions, moss and white clover in the Glade) and mushrooms in the autumn and winter. There are a couple of rather seedy looking buddleia (sp?) here that we've cut back, some shrubs that really suffered in the frosts, two we've had to cut to the ground because they looked, dead, they may come back. Another salix, the bees and birds love this. And some boring looking things, one a kind of laurel that have been pruned year after year but probably not at the right time - they've simply been kept 'tidy' There are a couple of conifers on the slope going up to the brick built and very old outhouse that is a bit rickety but has a wonderful, mature tree ivy growing over part of the roof that a robin and a blackbird are nesting in. The shrubs, the conifers, another shrubby thing I don't recognize, the cow parsley, dandelions, an ornamental cherry, the mushrooms, moss, bluebells and clover were the only things here when we arrived. We've put in a pond near the outhouse at the top of the hill and about 11 beds, some with wildflowers, some with herbs, others with perennials in. I also have a small strawberry bed and a raised bed made of ghastly painted wood which was once a bookcase. We need to paint that something other than the ghastly white it is now:-) I bet that's more than you ever wanted to know about our garden Coral. But I do so love a gardening 'chat'. I'll get Himself to take pics and post them and I look forward to seeing yours:-) Happy gardening, Kezsmum.
"The Garden Man"!!??....
Sounds like a title I could make a lot of money out of!.....May be I should change my dream of writing a novel to writing a gardening book instead!..LOL
Very kind comments which are appreciated, but I have to say that much of my garden design is based upon whatever materials I have managed to 'blag' and then recycle into my garden!
I was out this weekend 'recycling' the rockery rocks which someone at work wanted to get rid of.....they have been used to finally finish my dry river bed.....
Oh I also recycled another old builders wheelbarrow which is now a feature in my shade garden and is home to some ferns and heuchera.....pictures to follow.
Hope you enjoyed the blog Coral and you don't now think that I am completely mad?
Kezsmum, You are wrong I'm afraid, I'm right handed but most of my family are in fact lefties so maybe some of it rubbed off.....
Many thanks
My Garden
http://www.northsomersetwildlifeandnaturephotography.com/
higgy50Very kind comments which are appreciated, but I have to say that much of my garden design is based upon whatever materials I have managed to 'blag' and then recycle into my garden!
That's where the creativity comes in Higgy, for a lot of people it would remain just a load of old materials:-) Creative use of this and that is also one of Himself's great talents. Recycling has got to be one of the main attributes of an evironmentally aware gardener and the inspirational use of other people's unwanted items is a real talent in my view.
higgy50May be I should change my dream of writing a novel to writing a gardening book instead!..LOL
Here's the glade I keep on about - detritus in front of table is moss twigs collected for wildlife stack:- Which is the other thing shown The weedy growth behind stack is the scrubby woodland behind our garden. I've got all the labels in the wrong place, technoklutz!
Lovely bug hotel Chip, I'm afraid mine is a bit more 'rustic'....
Also as promised pictures of my recycled builders wheelbarrow in my shade garden.....
Cheers
The Bug hotel and wildlife stack on this thread are wonderful. You have inspired me to make one. !! I can't wait now, they are so much better than just shoving old boxes etc in the undergrowth like I do, I shall follow your examples. This is a great thread !
The truth is I'm mad. We are all mad and many are too mad to know the truth.
Wow Sheena, you have worked really hard, it looks lovely now. Gardens change so much over the years, every year we add or take and add a bit more, we hardly notice the changes, untill we look back over our photos, you have made a lot of change in a short while and it's a massive improvement from your other photos, well done.
I've been a bit busy to get on here much for a while but I've really enjoyed catching up with everyones gardens. I've finally manged to get some veg in and Zara has tidied up one flower bed but the weeds are still in charge with the rest of the garden!
As you can see our marsh marigold has come out quite well. Its the best its been since the first year I planted it. The pond is in quite a shady area unfortunately but hopefully this coming out so well will lead to the irises coming out nicely too.
Charlie and I did a bit of pond dipping last weekend and caught a couple of smooth newts which he loved.
Cheers all
Stoat
I'm not bald. I've just got ingrowing hair!
These are lovely shots of peoples gardens on this thread. I love your wildlife/wildflower areas Folks & the Snakeshead Fritillary is a super wildlife plant to have in a garden.
Our garden isn't good at present as neither OH nor I have been fit enough to do it properly. It has been taken over by the brambles in a lot of places. Some plants have managed to flower though, despite the neglect.
Best wishes
Val.
I have enjoyed this thread - especially the pictures of 'untidy' gardens! I have the zeal of a convert regarding untidy gardens, and for some years have resisted the urge for an end of year 'tidy'. Now at last I can look at untidy gardens with real pleasure - as I am sure do all the creatures needing accomadation from October till April!
I can`t even get the dock leaves right! I swear this picture is not doctored.
Quite chuffed this weekend. I put a hedge in a couple of years ago to screen the chicken pen and I've just noticed this flowering amongst the trees
Its also the first time the flag irises have flowered since the year I bought them. They are in quite a shady part of the garden so perhaps the sunny spring weather has helped
Nice one Stoat, I have flag irises out also and they love our damp clay soil. Unfortunately the other irises in my collection are struggling a bit this year for some reason, I'm presuming it's the dry spring that we have had? I planted a load of different varieties around my stone bridge feature last year but haven't seen a flower on them yet so I'm hoping that this bit of rain might bring them on now?
How are your raised beds coming on mate?
Here's a picture of mine.......
That 'Dandies' top soil certainly seemed to do the job!!.....
They seem to be coming on quite well thanks Higgy. I'll get some photos up soon. The wildflower lawn is a bit sparse but thickening up slowly. I think you are meant to sow them in the autumn rather than spring so that might cause a bit of an issue but we will see. The veg patch is comong on ok too but not as well as yours by the looks of it!