Author Topic: You could own this.  (Read 18073 times)

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Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #25 on: April 07, 2019, 05:18:58 PM »
Only survey of the actual garden is by me and the Boss. Hydrangeas and Hydrangeas and even more Hydrangeas. No sign of any herbaceous perennials except Lysimachia Firecracker which is all over the place  and only Daffodils as bulbs.
Tree stumps all over the place. There are TPO's on 4 of the trees and we think they caught wind of them happening and had all the trees which were in the wrong place cut down, but did not get in a stump grinder. We may have to do that ourselves. Also the place is stuffed full of conifers which are going to have to be removed. There is a massive Monkey Puzzle tree too. All the soil we have looked at is acid clay, but not too sticky and full of tree roots. A big job ahead methinks.

Online ideasguy

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #26 on: April 08, 2019, 11:18:00 AM »
That is a nightmare Eric! Its going to take a lot of hard work to get that garden into shape.
I HATE dealing with roots.

Well, at least Lysimachia Firecracker is a pretty flower  ;D
I have grown it in the past. (Un?)fortunately it died out.

You could be lucky - the Hydrangeas might not all be the same variety :D

Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #27 on: June 07, 2019, 08:49:38 PM »

One of the first projects in the new garden. Eventually it will be either a small Crevice garden or just a gravel bed with 6 inches of gravel over the clay soil.











It was edged with rotten wooden log roll type stuff, set in concrete. I had to use my big wrecking bar to lever them out and break up the concrete into small enough pieces to move.

Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #28 on: June 07, 2019, 08:50:59 PM »
This was a very dead stump with various self sown tree seedlings in and around it. There was also a very poor conifer in the way too.

The stump was very rotten and collapsed while I was clearing the weeds away.




The Laurel was a self seeded one too.




The roots of the tree had rotted away so it was easy to turn it over


It just fell to pieces.


It filled a few boxes and bags.


All cleared away and the hole raked over.


Replaced the conifer with a Magnolia lilacifolia rubra.

Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #29 on: June 07, 2019, 08:53:06 PM »
Needed a path to get to the Summer House


Path to the Summer House.













Finshed!



Online ideasguy

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #30 on: June 08, 2019, 07:29:11 PM »
I am well impressed Eric :)
I'm guessing you did all that heavy work yourself! I know only too well that those path slabs are HEAVY! Getting them into position and then levelled is hard work.

The structure looks good and all in a very short time from moving to your new house.
Keep up the good work ;)

Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #31 on: June 09, 2019, 12:22:36 PM »

The Auricula path

Bed along side the path

The Auriculas

One side planted

The other side planted
Some of the ones along the path'















« Last Edit: June 09, 2019, 12:24:41 PM by Palustris »

Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #32 on: June 09, 2019, 12:25:27 PM »
Done a lot more than I have shown , will post later.

Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #33 on: June 09, 2019, 12:40:51 PM »
This was a rather weedy area with rocks sticking out of the ivy covering.





I cleared away the ivy and the rocks and found this stump.







After a lot of digging and root cutting the stump came out.



Dug over.



The rocks.





First line of rocks.



Rocks buried.



Second row of rocks.



Rocks put in place.



Final row.



In place.



Raked over and ready for gravel.



Need to be left now to settle and for any missed weeds to grow back and be removed before we plant anything.





Online ideasguy

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #34 on: June 13, 2019, 11:27:17 AM »
Its all looking good Eric. You are making amazing progress in such a very short time.
It looks like very heavy work!

Its good to see you posting photos of plants again :)

Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #35 on: July 27, 2019, 08:17:27 PM »
A raised bed.

We had a goodly number of pieces of limestone rocks from dismantling the fireplace in the living room. We decided to use them to build a small raised bed in the first part of the gravel area.

The gravel area.



Underneath the gravel was a piece of blue plastic and under that a sheet of clear plastic.



I decided not to remove the plastic for the whole area, just where the raised bed was to be made.



The first stones put in place.



Building along a curved line, keeping the correct distance from the wall.



The first level completed.  The paving slab at the end just sits on a brick pillar. We have no idea what its purpose was.



I filled this level with a mixture of top soil, potting compost and the gravel which I removed from this area.



I used some old bricks to create the height for the lsecond level.



A second layer of stones along the front wall.



Stones placed on top of the bricks for the second level.



Filled up with the same soil mixture as before.



Planted up with Silver saxifrages and a few other alpines and gravel mulch in place.




Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #36 on: July 27, 2019, 08:19:04 PM »
The Monkey Puzzle tree has no grass worth talking about underneath it, so we decided to put in a bed round it and fill it with bark mulch.

The circle marked out with tent pegs.



Trench round with the top part skimmed off.



The first bricks put in.



Round and round we go.



Very happy to find that the circle could be completed without having to cut down a brick.



The remaining grass skimmed off and now all we need is the mulch.



Half of the bed mulched with Pine bark.



And finished.




Online ideasguy

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #37 on: July 28, 2019, 10:39:45 PM »
Eric, you are phenomenal :o

I thought you were downsizing to take life easier :) How on earth do you do it????
Each of those projects are both very time consuming and very strenuous.
Thank you for posting and please don't overdo it!!


Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #38 on: July 29, 2019, 05:43:15 PM »
Never been known to overdo anything. :)
Actually done a lot more in the garden than I have shown. Will put the pics up sometime.

Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #39 on: July 30, 2019, 02:00:15 PM »
Pieris Bed


At the top of the garden on the South side of the house was a huge bed of Pieris.


Next to it was the remains of a bed with a huge tree stump at one end. The stump was too big to remove. So I dug it over.



It seemed more sensible to remove the Pieris and make a bigger bed.



It was easier than I thought as the shrubs had fairly thin branches.



That still left the roots to be removed. I marked out the size of the bed we wanted.



Then I began the task of digging out the roots. Again easier than I had feared. The roots were fairly shallow and the soil quite soft.



The branches and roots I took to the recycling yard.



I marked out the shape of the bed with a lawn edging turf and began removing the turf.



The turf was stacked elsewhere to turn into top soil. The bed did not take long to clear.



I began to dig it over. Very soon I found a lot of large roots from the felled tree. These I removed.



It did take a few days to dig it over as there were some very thick roots which had to be cut out. Eventually it was done.



The next job was to hoe over the soil to make a fine tilth.



Finally the exciting part, planting it up. We have put a prostrate Ceanothus to eventually cover the stump. At the far end we planted a Magnolia.



Now all we have to do is wait for the things to grow and fill out the space.

Online ideasguy

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #40 on: July 30, 2019, 07:37:03 PM »
"Our boys" would be horrified if I did that big central bed. It looks like a perfectly good football patch ;D
I like it Eric. Now as you say, the fun begins in planting it up.
I presume you have "a few" plants brought with you from your previous abode?


Offline Palustris

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Re: You could own this.
« Reply #41 on: July 30, 2019, 08:30:23 PM »
A few, but nowhere near enough to fill the beds we have already made.