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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Palustris on October 06, 2017, 03:33:36 PM

Title: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on October 06, 2017, 03:33:36 PM
After 22 years here we have sadly come to the decision that we can no longer keep the garden up to the standard we think it deserves, so we have put it on the market and are going to look for a bungalow with a smaller area to play in.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62117284.html
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy on October 06, 2017, 08:04:28 PM
That is sad news Eric. You have given us much pleasure over the years with your photographic accounts of your "Garden Tours".

I'm pleased to read you still intend to play in the garden of your new home. That will be exciting!

I wish you all the very best for the future.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on January 05, 2018, 05:44:38 PM
Had to put the house back on the market. The first house in the chain has lost its buyer. Gutted!
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy on January 06, 2018, 04:46:43 PM
That is very disappointing Eric. I hope you get a better price for it next time!
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: barryl on January 06, 2018, 06:08:41 PM
What a shame. It is of course a bad time of year to sell. Wishing you lots of luck!
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on January 08, 2018, 05:39:17 PM
Official confirmation in the post today that they have pulled out of buying ours. Annoying to say the least.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on January 14, 2019, 05:32:11 PM
Since I last posted in here, we have kept the house on the market and at last we seem to have sold it. The buyer came for a second visit the other day and confirmed that she intends to proceed. We have found a bungalow in town with enough garden to give me somewhere to play. Fingers crossed it all goes through smoothly.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy on January 14, 2019, 09:01:18 PM
That has been a long process Eric. I hope all goes well for you in this latest agreement.
Your new house sounds like something you are going to enjoy! It would be nice if you were moved in by spring so you can see a full season of what's in the garden already.

I wish you both health and strength to enjoy it!
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on January 19, 2019, 09:06:14 PM
You want stress? Try selling and buying a house!
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy on January 20, 2019, 07:38:00 PM
Yes, we have experienced that a few times.
Moving gets more difficult each time - especially if "one" is a hoarder ::)
I wasn't into gardening at the time of our last move - so no plants to worry about.
You have a few of them - and then there's all that stuff in the Alpine house :o
I wonder what you are thinking???
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on January 21, 2019, 10:17:12 AM
New garden is much smaller. Probably shady too, so most of my Alpines would not like it.  No greenhouse there either, but there is the base for one. Survey has thrown up a few problems which vendors would need to  deal with before we go any further. Gas heating boiler does not seem to work for example.
Here we have had to find out if we need a permit for our Septic tank. Try understanding the Environment Authority rules on that!. (As far as we can see as the system is probably 119 years old it does not need a permit). It is such a slow process,
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on January 22, 2019, 03:59:47 PM
Typical Gov't documentation. Loads of guff to read through and then right at the end "If your system was in place before 1983 then none of the above apply." So why not say that first and save a lot of time and effort?
Went for another look at the place we want after getting the survey. All but the gas boiler and where they had removed a gas fire, are really not as bad as the survey would seem to suggest. At least nothing needs doing before we could move in. The Gas boiler was on, but it did not fire, possibly because it was switched off in the house. Still it needs servicing before we go. Now I just want it all to go through. Every time we look at the place we like it more and more.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy on January 22, 2019, 04:42:32 PM
That's better today Eric and its good to read that you really like the new place!
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on January 31, 2019, 09:02:00 PM
Well the documents arrived today. All very complicated. Hope our sale is going through as well as our purchase.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on February 08, 2019, 05:39:50 PM
Seen the Solicitor and signed all the documents. Only fly in the ointment is that he thought the price was too high so he is going to ask if it can be reduced. Will still go ahead if they refuse.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on February 14, 2019, 12:36:13 PM
Price agreed upon. So it looks like go ahead for the moment.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy on February 17, 2019, 10:35:39 AM
You'll be a happy chappie when this is all over Eric!
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on March 06, 2019, 05:34:00 PM
Moving on March 18th. House full of cardboard boxes from the Removal company.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy on March 07, 2019, 09:43:53 AM
Good luck with all of that Eric.
Glad to hear you are finally making that move.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: barryl on March 07, 2019, 08:54:31 PM
good luck from me too. A big step.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on March 08, 2019, 12:49:33 PM
Thank-you. Packing has begun. So has the bleeding. Sliced my hand open, not bad, but inconvenient.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on March 17, 2019, 12:55:47 PM
Boxes to the left of them, boxes to the right of them. Boxes, boxes every where . Last day here. Last ever bath last night (shower only in new place). Going to be very naughty and take some garden stuff down this afternoon. No idea when we will be back on line so wish me luck and have a good day.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy on March 17, 2019, 07:16:03 PM
Boxed in eh?

Good luck to you Eric!
We look forward to you being back on line in your new home.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on March 21, 2019, 10:27:14 AM
So we did it. Parts of it were easy (watching the men load the van) parts of it were very stressful (waiting for the money to go through) Then we found that the heating did not work so were a bit cold the first night.  Boiler has now been serviced and all but one of the rads are warm. But the oven does not work.Fan comes on but no heat from the element. As you can see BT came and put in a new telephone line and connected us up. Seems ok up to now. Having trouble connecting the washing machine as we cannot so far find a socket for the plug. There must be one as they left a dish washer in the next space under the worktops and that works. Also the floor in the kitchen makes moving the machine incredibly hard as they do not slide over it.
Cats are VERY stressed, but what else can we do with them?
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy on April 03, 2019, 09:58:37 AM
Very best wishes and I hope you are settling in well Eric.
Have you had time to have a survey of the garden?
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris 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.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy 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
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris 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.

(https://i.imgur.com/c5EfPyh.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/xO1h1Sy.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/IuoYNE9.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/c58s7S8.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/g7yfZuH.jpg)

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.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris 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.
(https://i.imgur.com/gRbsSh0.jpg)
The stump was very rotten and collapsed while I was clearing the weeds away.

(https://i.imgur.com/unajecM.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/1IM23El.jpg)
The Laurel was a self seeded one too.

(https://i.imgur.com/xwFQD0F.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/ZleaYp4.jpg)
The roots of the tree had rotted away so it was easy to turn it over

(https://i.imgur.com/9LjXLy0.jpg)
It just fell to pieces.

(https://i.imgur.com/rQwyLiP.jpg)
It filled a few boxes and bags.

(https://i.imgur.com/Tw356Ax.jpg)
All cleared away and the hole raked over.

(https://i.imgur.com/r67aTuC.jpg)
Replaced the conifer with a Magnolia lilacifolia rubra.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on June 07, 2019, 08:53:06 PM
Needed a path to get to the Summer House
(https://i.imgur.com/z74plvk.jpg)

Path to the Summer House.

(https://i.imgur.com/6SLp6HT.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/o04GOrM.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/UwCpW1Q.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/P2dVA9f.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/Xp05vsE.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/6xhWiwD.jpg)

Finshed!

(https://i.imgur.com/lKTJtUS.jpg)
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy 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 ;)
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on June 09, 2019, 12:22:36 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/a0nbws1.jpg)
The Auricula path
(https://i.imgur.com/FHHCAks.jpg)
Bed along side the path
(https://i.imgur.com/iCv79W8.jpg)
The Auriculas
(https://i.imgur.com/i8btKwj.jpg)
One side planted
(https://i.imgur.com/NfzXMwv.jpg)
The other side planted
Some of the ones along the path'
(https://i.imgur.com/IlgVAdT.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/0WQHC5k.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/H9Zk5ex.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/STc9YEK.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/Am4kGWD.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/YJr4pmN.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/Sklqgl4.jpg)


Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on June 09, 2019, 12:25:27 PM
Done a lot more than I have shown , will post later.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on June 09, 2019, 12:40:51 PM
This was a rather weedy area with rocks sticking out of the ivy covering.

(https://i.imgur.com/XxBVS9T.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/3DtMeBh.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/ALPDL6X.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/jFmNx4P.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/9EvdW50.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/h20WdZZ.jpg)

Dug over.

(https://i.imgur.com/TIL6paU.jpg)

The rocks.

(https://i.imgur.com/a0nbws1.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/i7HNZtL.jpg)

First line of rocks.

(https://i.imgur.com/7R7VBX0.jpg)

Rocks buried.

(https://i.imgur.com/2gKCHfO.jpg)

Second row of rocks.

(https://i.imgur.com/dQqz6jA.jpg)

Rocks put in place.

(https://i.imgur.com/MxO9wUP.jpg)

Final row.

(https://i.imgur.com/smU0bHx.jpg)

In place.

(https://i.imgur.com/XhGMPKI.jpg)

Raked over and ready for gravel.

(https://i.imgur.com/TyjSzYn.jpg)

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




Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy 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 :)
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris 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.

(https://i.imgur.com/6g3Lyjv.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/HVEZOlp.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/yA6kfHI.jpg)

The first stones put in place.

(https://i.imgur.com/kdZFLOn.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/lOFP7t4.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/sZ2WZGd.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/Wqiff2C.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/29OZTCK.jpg)

A second layer of stones along the front wall.

(https://i.imgur.com/qQID2v7.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/u1fMmMX.jpg)

Filled up with the same soil mixture as before.

(https://i.imgur.com/yKOd6WN.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/2h87Ute.jpg)

Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris 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.

(https://i.imgur.com/fza1H51.jpg)

Trench round with the top part skimmed off.

(https://i.imgur.com/I0eVTLy.jpg)

The first bricks put in.

(https://i.imgur.com/GrvG4kB.jpg)

Round and round we go.

(https://i.imgur.com/GrvG4kB.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/rdxVxFG.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/fvsEcTU.jpg)

Half of the bed mulched with Pine bark.

(https://i.imgur.com/tNzp7mc.jpg)

And finished.

(https://i.imgur.com/DEidfkx.jpg)

Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy 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!!

Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris 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.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris 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.
(https://i.imgur.com/8M4aZg7.jpg)

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.

(https://i.imgur.com/U9UwN2Y.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/LMgNiYp.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/HEZ00rn.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/2u8VK3T.jpg)

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.

(https://i.imgur.com/TDGeijD.jpg)

The branches and roots I took to the recycling yard.

(https://i.imgur.com/bo4Q91Y.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/L2Rvbjz.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/uqEebAO.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/kvT81kI.jpg)

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.

(https://i.imgur.com/COZz38x.jpg)

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

(https://i.imgur.com/ZDq0JvR.jpg)

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.

(https://i.imgur.com/kDIbX2e.jpg)

Now all we have to do is wait for the things to grow and fill out the space.
Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: ideasguy 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?

Title: Re: You could own this.
Post by: Palustris on July 30, 2019, 08:30:23 PM
A few, but nowhere near enough to fill the beds we have already made.