Joining this thread as we now actually have a garden as apposed to a back yard. We have a small raised bed in front of the shed that husband and son put up just before Christmas with a couple of hellebores in it. I also got some snowdrops in flower that look good against the hellebores. The rest of the bed will be developed over the next few months.
I've also chased up the tree surgeon who is doing some work for next door. His is going to be trimming the bits of their willow tree that impinge on our garden and taking down a rather straggly pine tree. When that's gone I'm going to plant out a plum tree I bought with us that at the moment is sulking in its pot.
The big project that we hope to start this year will be taking up most of the decking that takes up about a third of our large garden and building a paved area, some more raised beds and a bit of lawn. Need to track down our gardener that planted up the back of our garden to see if it's something she fancies doing.
Has anyone had experience of those garden paths where a whacker plate something or other is used to compress… er…. something or other .
Gravel/ sand /something !
One of the uk gardening programs on telly seem to be very fond of them, if that helps?
This sounds like I don’t know what I am talking about, but someone here Might know what I am merely grasping at…..
Has anyone had experience of those garden paths where a whacker plate something or other is used to compress… er…. something or other .
Gravel/ sand /something !
It's making a hard base for your path so it doesn't sink - the more solid your topping, the more of a problem this is. Basically you compact a bed of something - hardcore, gravel, whatever - that will bind tight into itself and provide a solid foundation.
Yeah , think so. What’s your view of this sort of path?
Only we have a kinda sorta path all round our home, put in by previous owners. Two of three different types of concrete slabs interspersed with slate chips, square moulded stone things, what amounts to pebbles and some chippings. It’s functional but as we get older the whole thing is a ridiculous trip hazard. Plus anyone who uses a wheelchair have not a chance of moving independently.
Knew we would always Have to address the path / not path issue and it’s looking like that time might be possible over the next few years.
If it's done properly, you should not have to do it again for at least a couple of decades - but be sure that you know exactly what you want because if you don't like it, it's not going anywhere!
I second that. Using a 'whacker plate' on crushed stone is (IME) always a precursor to laying something on it - poured concrete, or perhaps brick (which are actually concrete) pavers, or real bricks (look nice, engineering (sometimes called 'Accrington') ones needed as soft bricks will spall), or concrete flags etc etc
@Sarasa , if the decking is any good, maybe you can make raised beds out of it, lined with pond liner. Timber is wildly expensive at the moment!
We are considering that, though both our professional gardener next door and the one we used to plant up the end of our garden were a bit sceptical. The decking is in good nick as the previous owner only put it down a couple of years ago. He basically turned the bit of the garden near the house into something you'd see in a pub with loads of tables, chairs, heaters etc. He must have had lots more friends than we do.
I’ve been away about two years. A year away from turning 70 I’ve decided it is time to hire someone to climb up ladders and on my trees for trimming. I’ve just accepted a bid to have them remove a Jacaranda mimsifolia and a couple quaking aspen. They’ll also prune what he says is the largest eldetberry he has ever seen, a Wigandia that has gotten huge and a big fig tree. We agreed I would remove the African Linden trees myself and they’d cart them off with the rest. I’ve finished that part. Now I’m working on replacing the steps up to a deck that rotted out under the constant rain of debris from that Jacaranda tree they’re going to take out. My arthritic wrists and thumbs aren’t making that as easy as it was to build them twenty odd years ago.
Oh I should add, since I’ve been away so long, that I garden in Berkeley, California in the states.
Sound like a lot of work, @MarkD !
I didn't know a jacaranda and quaking aspen could live in the same place!!
Well, sort of. Those poor aspens have tried so hard to fulfill their destiny by spreading all over the garden but I’ve nipped off every attempt and now these 25 or so year old trees are mostly necrotic. Looking forward to planting a palm with a whitish trunk in its place. The Jacaranda is too big and very messy but wouldn’t die of natural causes here.
I never saw jacarandas until I was in South Africa a few years ago. I had always thought they had red flowers for some reason. Nothing I can see, looking out through the rain-splattered glass, is likely to produce quite such a show: an elderly elder, birch, cherry, distant leylandii, all very Northern Europe.
Jacaranda trees are beautiful and very messy. I love admiring them in other folks' yards. Same with royal poincianas!
That’s something I realized by growing it myself. Having one near an area we eat in puts the canopy out of view. There are many in our area I can admire in front of other people’s gardens. Soooooo messy.
My husband misses those from Vietnam. He calls them "examination flowers" because of the time of year they flower.
I assume the Royal one is Caesalpinia poinciana? I can only grow C. gilesii (pardon the lazy spelling from memory). Also a fun flower but the other elicits the greater swoon.
In from a chilly hour or so clearing dead leaves and foliage (bin day tomorrow) and trying to head off the more forward weeds, which are, of course, already leafing while everything else is a timid shoot.
In from a chilly hour or so clearing dead leaves and foliage (bin day tomorrow) and trying to head off the more forward weeds, which are, of course, already leafing while everything else is a timid shoot.
I got in a very satisfying couple of hours doing the same before supper yesterday.
I have just discovered hundreds of daffodils coming up in the shrubbery from which I spent hours in the summer clearing undergrowth. There was no sign of them having been there before, and I wonder how long they have been dormant while the ivy and other things rampaged over them?
The first year of a new garden is such an adventure!
@Cathscats"; , I’ve found a few daffodils coming up in our new garden too, not many and I don’t think they are going to flower. I have also found some snowdrops and they are flowering, which I’m very happy about.
Yes I too have snowdrops, which I didn’t know about since we didn’t get the house till March last year. But that is daffodil season and there definitely weren’t any. Which is why I planted about 100. But not in the shrubbery, so these new discoveries are making me very happy.
It's the season where we find out how many of my winter bulbs the tree rat has eaten. Thus far it's looking pretty good (though the dwarf iris has only been in a fortnight, so that's cheating a little). Will the snakeshead fritillaries have made it, though?
Ooh, fritillaries; I planted some of those. But I planted a lot of bulbs. It's a continual surprise/disappointment to me what does and doesn't come up.
I just ordered this year's sunflower seeds for my patio. There were so many new shades to choose from that I went a little wild. I only have a tiny bed. I will no doubt be sharing some seeds with my neighbors.
@Cathscats"; , I’ve found a few daffodils coming up in our new garden too, not many and I don’t think they are going to flower. I have also found some snowdrops and they are flowering, which I’m very happy about.
Do you ever get daffodils that don't flower? That surprises me. If so, maybe the bulbs are depleted and need fertilizer or something.
Or just maybe, it might be what we get every year--where the first shoots look extremely like a bunch of leaves that are going nowhere--and then you get a wonderful surprise. Hoping that'll be the case...
I quite often get daffodils that don't flower, think I don't plant them deep enough or something, but as I didn't plant these maybe they will surprise me. We went for a walk today in woods with loads of snowdrops and aconites everywhere, not something I remember seeing in the woods near where we used to live on the edges of London.
We get quite a few daffs that don't flower. I'm not sure if they flower the next year. Pleased to see the great trio now, with snowdrops and crocus. Spring is springling.
Wow. Maybe I just got lucky with the (ancient!) daffodils we inherited. We do nothing for them, and they bloom every time. Unlike certain OTHER plants we have had...
My daffodil bulbs are being moved around the garden By Something. Last year saw bulbs half in and half out of the ground and Absolutely Not where they were the year before.
And two quite large clumps of snow drops are just Not There at all this spring.
We don’t (to my knowledge) have squirrels but we do have mice.
Sitting on my little corner deck with my coffee basking in the open sunshine let in yesterday by the arborist’s crew. First time I ever paid anyone to trim my trees or remove one. There were three guys manning the saws and another hauling the debris to the chipper. The whole operation required just under three hours and set me back 2200 US. But it would have taken me a month of sustained effort to do the part I would have been able to have done and even then I’d have needed to hire someone to haul it off or else paid to bring in a big canister for the city to haul away. But I could never have climbed up into the big elderberry with ropes to prune away all the dead wood manually. All told they took out my aged aspens and a large jacaranda and trimmed down the elderberry, Wigandia and largest fig tree. They also let me chuck the African Linden I already cut down and other trimmings into the chipper for them to take away.
I could get used to this. No more tall ladders or tree climbing for me. But I am going to buy a 40 volt battery operated chainsaw on an 8 foot pole to extend my reach from atop my six foot for orchard ladder.
We have daffodils encircling the base of our apple tree which were there when we moved in in 1979. Most years they flower but some years they don’t; we guess they’re having a rest.
My daffodil bulbs are being moved around the garden By Something. Last year saw bulbs half in and half out of the ground and Absolutely Not where they were the year before.
And two quite large clumps of snow drops are just Not There at all this spring.
We don’t (to my knowledge) have squirrels but we do have mice.
Frost heave? Or mice, I suppose. We've had that too, but I'm not entirely sure it wasn't Mr. Lamb, who is energetic and ill-informed about what is a good bulb and what is a wild onion.
Daffodils are poisonous, so anything that takes a bit probably won't try it again. And you can replant the bulbs.
It looks like I might have one or two flowering daffodils after all, that is if the wind doesn't totally flatten them. Our big excitement is the tree surgeon is coming tomorrow to take down out spindly and not doing anything pine tree and hopefully trim the bits of next door's large willow that overhand our garden. They are also doing things for them, which is just as the easiest way to access our back garden from the outside is through our removable fence panel that abuts their drive.
Local gardens showing lots of flowers now, quince, blackthorn, tons of hellebores, and gorgeous mimosa. It's odd to see them as the weather is stinking, reminds me of stinking hellebores.
Sitting on my little corner deck with my coffee basking in the open sunshine let in yesterday by the arborist’s crew. First time I ever paid anyone to trim my trees or remove one. There were three guys manning the saws and another hauling the debris to the chipper. The whole operation required just under three hours and set me back 2200 US. But it would have taken me a month of sustained effort to do the part I would have been able to have done and even then I’d have needed to hire someone to haul it off or else paid to bring in a big canister for the city to haul away. But I could never have climbed up into the big elderberry with ropes to prune away all the dead wood manually. All told they took out my aged aspens and a large jacaranda and trimmed down the elderberry, Wigandia and largest fig tree. They also let me chuck the African Linden I already cut down and other trimmings into the chipper for them to take away.
I could get used to this. No more tall ladders or tree climbing for me. But I am going to buy a 40 volt battery operated chainsaw on an 8 foot pole to extend my reach from atop my six foot for orchard ladder.
Thanks for this @MarkD I'm in a similar position to you, having tall things growing which I try to maintain but I'm not keen on going far up a ladder - OR paying peole to come and do it for me!
I want to see more sky (my horsechestnut is getting out of hand and blocks the lowest part of the sky I can see when there are leaves) and I want maintain some privacy from the people whose houses (three houses) would overlook my garden if I cut my big hedge down a bit.
The closest house has security lights which seem to be on far too frequently and they shine in to spoil my sky view. If I cut the hedge much lower it'll be worse for privacy and light pollution but I'm not sure I'm diplomatic enough to ask them to adjust their lights. If I get professionals in to do something, they'll focus much more on a 'tidy job' than my desire to decide which bits to keep for privacy etc.
I very much share your preference not to bring in professionals, @Furtive Gander. Though as my moving parts wear out I have to make some concessions.
I also prefer a natural feeling garden to a neat and regulated looking one. When I come into the garden I don’t want it to feel like another room in the house; I want it to put me in touch with the vibe we get out in nature. Of course that doesn’t mean I want it to be 100% plants native to the region, though I do want some of those too to bring in and sustain beneficial insects and birds, the more diverse the better. However I’m also enthralled by the diversity of plant forms and love a lot of exotics from all over the world. It’s a delicate balance trying to enhance the local habitat and please myself aesthetically at the same time. Definitely keeps it interesting though.
When I come into the garden I don’t want it to feel like another room in the house; I want it to put me in touch with the vibe we get out in nature.
Would that your aesthetic was more widely shared. I live in a band - two streets deep - of maisonettes built in the 1920s. The result is an enclosed strip of adjoining gardens which have now been there for a century. Changes in ownership tend to be slow - generational even. Some of the evolution of the landscape has been natural - trees that were saplings when the houses were built, have grown to maturity, some felled by storms, but some by owners who thought them too big, or two messy. But by and large I would say that until recently there was a consensus that trees are an amenity, hedges and fences are of modest height, structures run to a garden shed and some outdoor seating, but mostly the garden is grass, shrubs and flowers.
But increasingly I see a move to turn them into rooms, spaces for occasional social use. Fences are high as walls, paving spreads, there are summerhouses, dining areas, barbecues, sofas and armchairs - even a hot tub. There is little or no planting - a patch of lawn, a few tubs of bedding. Leaves, and by extension trees, are a nuisance.
That's my experience too Firenze. The trend seems to have accelerated in the 2 years of Covid as many folk round here would have been working from home and not spending their salaries on commuting, lunchtime/after work spending and foreign holidays. Garden buildings, loft extensions, new driveways etc etc etc. seem to be the result. And yes - I have come to dread the sound of chainsaws!
Sorry to hear that @Firenze. Since we seem to be in a permanent drought here in California I do have wide pathways, flagstone patios, decks, a pond and even a hot tub mostly so as not to require so much irrigation. I also restrict watering to just a few areas; everything else has to tough it out. But where I do plant I like a feeling of abundance and even flamboyance albeit still with a natural feeling. I’ve actually come to appreciate the unplanted places as calming negative space.
From google earth it can look like I live in a forest. But on the ground it isn’t claustrophobic. My wife took the first of these photos recently out back. I took the second looking from the side to the back garden and the last was courtesy of Google Earth twelve years ago.
For my suburban area, I have a large lot: 100’ along the street and going back 120’. That’s great for an obsessive plant collector but a heck of a lot of work for one old guy to keep up.
Comments
I've also chased up the tree surgeon who is doing some work for next door. His is going to be trimming the bits of their willow tree that impinge on our garden and taking down a rather straggly pine tree. When that's gone I'm going to plant out a plum tree I bought with us that at the moment is sulking in its pot.
The big project that we hope to start this year will be taking up most of the decking that takes up about a third of our large garden and building a paved area, some more raised beds and a bit of lawn. Need to track down our gardener that planted up the back of our garden to see if it's something she fancies doing.
Gravel/ sand /something !
One of the uk gardening programs on telly seem to be very fond of them, if that helps?
This sounds like I don’t know what I am talking about, but someone here Might know what I am merely grasping at…..
It's making a hard base for your path so it doesn't sink - the more solid your topping, the more of a problem this is. Basically you compact a bed of something - hardcore, gravel, whatever - that will bind tight into itself and provide a solid foundation.
Is that what you were asking?
Only we have a kinda sorta path all round our home, put in by previous owners. Two of three different types of concrete slabs interspersed with slate chips, square moulded stone things, what amounts to pebbles and some chippings. It’s functional but as we get older the whole thing is a ridiculous trip hazard. Plus anyone who uses a wheelchair have not a chance of moving independently.
Knew we would always Have to address the path / not path issue and it’s looking like that time might be possible over the next few years.
Oh help, anyone know which gardening program I m talking about?
We are considering that, though both our professional gardener next door and the one we used to plant up the end of our garden were a bit sceptical. The decking is in good nick as the previous owner only put it down a couple of years ago. He basically turned the bit of the garden near the house into something you'd see in a pub with loads of tables, chairs, heaters etc. He must have had lots more friends than we do.
Oh I should add, since I’ve been away so long, that I garden in Berkeley, California in the states.
Cheers!
I didn't know a jacaranda and quaking aspen could live in the same place!!
Well, sort of. Those poor aspens have tried so hard to fulfill their destiny by spreading all over the garden but I’ve nipped off every attempt and now these 25 or so year old trees are mostly necrotic. Looking forward to planting a palm with a whitish trunk in its place. The Jacaranda is too big and very messy but wouldn’t die of natural causes here.
I have one in the backyard. It needs a haircut. Beautiful tree but so messy!
That’s something I realized by growing it myself. Having one near an area we eat in puts the canopy out of view. There are many in our area I can admire in front of other people’s gardens. Soooooo messy.
I assume the Royal one is Caesalpinia poinciana? I can only grow C. gilesii (pardon the lazy spelling from memory). Also a fun flower but the other elicits the greater swoon.
https://flic.kr/p/2m5ZvpT
https://flic.kr/p/2m63kya
And yours are very pretty!
jedijudy-one of the Helpful Heaven Hosts
I got in a very satisfying couple of hours doing the same before supper yesterday.
Thanks Sandeman.
The first year of a new garden is such an adventure!
Do you ever get daffodils that don't flower? That surprises me. If so, maybe the bulbs are depleted and need fertilizer or something.
Or just maybe, it might be what we get every year--where the first shoots look extremely like a bunch of leaves that are going nowhere--and then you get a wonderful surprise. Hoping that'll be the case...
And two quite large clumps of snow drops are just Not There at all this spring.
We don’t (to my knowledge) have squirrels but we do have mice.
I could get used to this. No more tall ladders or tree climbing for me. But I am going to buy a 40 volt battery operated chainsaw on an 8 foot pole to extend my reach from atop my six foot for orchard ladder.
Frost heave? Or mice, I suppose. We've had that too, but I'm not entirely sure it wasn't Mr. Lamb, who is energetic and ill-informed about what is a good bulb and what is a wild onion.
Daffodils are poisonous, so anything that takes a bit probably won't try it again. And you can replant the bulbs.
Mr Alba could be a culprit, but upon sober reflection possibly not, he ‘d just point out what had to be done instead……
The wind has taken the onions but I think established daffs are a whole other thing.
May I did? And forgot?
Could it have been rats? Surely not.
Whatever, there are bulbs coming through in strange places right now!
Thanks for this @MarkD I'm in a similar position to you, having tall things growing which I try to maintain but I'm not keen on going far up a ladder - OR paying peole to come and do it for me!
I want to see more sky (my horsechestnut is getting out of hand and blocks the lowest part of the sky I can see when there are leaves) and I want maintain some privacy from the people whose houses (three houses) would overlook my garden if I cut my big hedge down a bit.
The closest house has security lights which seem to be on far too frequently and they shine in to spoil my sky view. If I cut the hedge much lower it'll be worse for privacy and light pollution but I'm not sure I'm diplomatic enough to ask them to adjust their lights. If I get professionals in to do something, they'll focus much more on a 'tidy job' than my desire to decide which bits to keep for privacy etc.
I also prefer a natural feeling garden to a neat and regulated looking one. When I come into the garden I don’t want it to feel like another room in the house; I want it to put me in touch with the vibe we get out in nature. Of course that doesn’t mean I want it to be 100% plants native to the region, though I do want some of those too to bring in and sustain beneficial insects and birds, the more diverse the better. However I’m also enthralled by the diversity of plant forms and love a lot of exotics from all over the world. It’s a delicate balance trying to enhance the local habitat and please myself aesthetically at the same time. Definitely keeps it interesting though.
Would that your aesthetic was more widely shared. I live in a band - two streets deep - of maisonettes built in the 1920s. The result is an enclosed strip of adjoining gardens which have now been there for a century. Changes in ownership tend to be slow - generational even. Some of the evolution of the landscape has been natural - trees that were saplings when the houses were built, have grown to maturity, some felled by storms, but some by owners who thought them too big, or two messy. But by and large I would say that until recently there was a consensus that trees are an amenity, hedges and fences are of modest height, structures run to a garden shed and some outdoor seating, but mostly the garden is grass, shrubs and flowers.
But increasingly I see a move to turn them into rooms, spaces for occasional social use. Fences are high as walls, paving spreads, there are summerhouses, dining areas, barbecues, sofas and armchairs - even a hot tub. There is little or no planting - a patch of lawn, a few tubs of bedding. Leaves, and by extension trees, are a nuisance.
From google earth it can look like I live in a forest. But on the ground it isn’t claustrophobic. My wife took the first of these photos recently out back. I took the second looking from the side to the back garden and the last was courtesy of Google Earth twelve years ago.
https://flic.kr/p/2n3pXMp
For my suburban area, I have a large lot: 100’ along the street and going back 120’. That’s great for an obsessive plant collector but a heck of a lot of work for one old guy to keep up.
We live in an old warehouse, nothing fancy.