Trowel and Error

[absley]

Looks fabulous, Baa. How's your home garden, do you have plans for that too?

I've not had chance to do anything else but my lovely neighbour is donating some pots to me next weekend, so I can start sowing things. I've also employed a gardener to look after our hedge and (very mossy!) lawn, plus he'll do other stuff on a tactical basis - I have 4 hrs of his time coming up, just need to work out what unrulies I want him to tackle!

My exciting news is that I think my lovely scented Daphne has a baby which I'm going to relocate nearer to a door so I have easier access to its perfume next winter.

Eta.i missed your post, Wendy. I esp love your rocket! What veggies have you planned?

[baargain]

I love the rocket :lol:

The greenhouse is in the home garden, and I also have a brassica cage, so I'll be attempting cauliflowers this year. Apparently they're fussy fuckers, so we'll see. The bean towers will live here, as will the shade tolerating veg (chard, turnips, turnips, beetroot).

I made a prison for my giant mangetout, it'll grow up the chain link fence between my home garden and the field.

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[Epponnee Rae]

You are basically Baaaarbara Good! And you absolutely have not lost track of anything with your spreadsheet The yields will be interesting!

[baargain]

I do love a surprise bonus baby, abs! I hope Daphne the second copes with the move OK. Having a man to do hedges and lawns is a good shout, I've managed to delegate those jobs to The Bf, he was out murdering moss yesterday.

The yields will be fun! I just need to remember to weigh everything :lol: and not get distracted.

[Mountain Goat]

My god Baa, you have so much growing space I feel quite overwhelmed just looking at it. :)) And Rosa, that is so exciting.

I love how mature and interesting your garden is abs (especially from the viewpoint of staring at a green block :)) )

I'm starting to think properly about this now. I might not involve the designer: I spent so long figuring out my needs/wishes so I could have a good constructive session with him that I think I've worked it out myself (I haven't even got his contact details yet so I'm not letting anyone down). I think I can manage without any more hard landscaping and can therefore do most, if not all, of it myself, which will free up money to buy a Kamado. But I am nervous about overlooking something in my plan and messing it up. I'm going to take it slowly and step by step: I've marked out my main big border with a hosepipe (and keep going out and slightly adjusting it) and I have ordered a sharp bladed spade for digging the turf off that part, so that's the next job. The back of that border is in shade, but there is a section of garden behind the garage that the developers planted up, assuming it would be in shade, and it isn't - I will move some of those plants over to the back of this new border. And that tucked away square where the shade plants were will become my vegetable garden, with four square raised beds (or two, I haven't measured), although I won't plant anything ambitious this year.

I've sketched in a separate herb/salad garden (including pretty things/edible flowers) by the patio but keep switching back and forth between digging a nice curved border or using raised beds. Or both. And I have sketched out a decent sized wildlife pond but won't be looking to dig that for a good while yet.

And I'm picking out native hedging plus some honeysuckle for the back of the back border, to cover up the ugly standard-new-build fence with concrete base, and moving that border forward so there is still plenty of room for more planting in front of the hedging. The birds WILL come to me, eventually. :))

There's so much to think about that I find it a bit daunting, so just trying to focus on one job (digging the main new border) at a time. It's too early for putting most new plants in anyway, so I can just let those ideas gently infuse away at the back of my mind for now.

[baargain]

That plan sounds great, and you don't need to do it all at once. Plus, if you do it wrong, you can just move plants about! The Bf has a kamado and loves it, so that's a good use of money :))

I think that I will definitely start feeling overwhelmed at harvest time, and will probably need a new freezer :lol:

[Mountain Goat]

Just the one? :))

Oh that's good to hear, I will be bugging you for kamado tips at some point. Yes, I've lost certainty about where the sun hits in summer, I was sure I knew but it's hard to imagine now and I'm plagued by concern that I'm digging an entire bed in the shade, even though in my brain I'm pretty sure I'm not.

Has anyone had luck with preplugged mushroom logs? There is a damp shady corner that will eventually be at the bog end of the pond, and where mushrooms were gaily growing in the autumn so it seems like a good place to try to actually grow some safely, but they are quite expensive. I saw them on Your Garden Made Perfect this weekend and went .

[baargain]

I had some of those logs once, and I killed em both. But that was before I really knew what I was doing in the garden, so ya know.

The BaaParents have three freezers, so haaahahahah. Mind you! I have one normal sized one and a chest freezer already, so I am not far off.

I made another pea prison

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And planted foxgloves at the end of my paths

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[Mountain Goat]

This is my concern, I should probably start with easier things. I killed one once before, but I don't think I tried with it. :))

OOh! Your peas look happy already. And who doesn't love a foxglove.

My bladed spade arrived yesterday so I hope to start digging out some borders- or one border, we'll see - at the weekend, and moving some plants over. I have a LOT of sketches and lists, but they are all subject to change, I am sure. I'll start with a few key plants and fill in around them gradually rather than buying loads at once to limit the impact of my mistakes. :)) Oh and we ordered some garden furniture.

[baargain]

Hurrah for new spade! It sounds like an exciting spade. Planning a whole bed is stressful, I had to do this with one of mine, and my plan mostly worked, but took an inordinate amount of thinking. Good luck!

[Mountain Goat]

I'll have...five new beds to figure out*. :)) Blank slates are daunting for sure. I'm going to start with some of the existing shade happy (if a bit boring) shrubs that I'll move and then add in a couple of viburnums and hydrangeas I think (as backbones of the big bed that's shade at the back, sun at the front) and will figure out what goes round them later. There's so much isn't there, whether they are likely to be happy, will the colours work, is there colour through all the year, are they good for pollinators etc etc etc. In my last garden it was a case of squeezing things in gaps between mature planting rather than starting from scratch. I feel similarly to indoor stuff, that I have to get some things in place before I can work out what looks nice with them. Which is tricky with plants that are not going to be their true selves for a good year or so. :)) I suppose keep it simple for now and fill in with annuals until I figure it out.

* this makes it sound like I have a huge garden and I don't!

[baargain]

Here is the spreadsheet :lol:

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[Mountain Goat]

Oh my god. :lol: Who knew there were so many types of leek? You're going to need more than three freezers. :))

I've dug out about oooh a metre squared and I've come in for a break. :lol: This isn't a job I'm going to get done this morning and then pop to the garden centre in the afternoon, is it. Christ. :))

[absley]

Oh, Goat! I've been horrified at how long it's taken me to remove weeds etc from my final two veg beds. Exciting that you have a plan though.

I'm very impressed with your list Baa. I really need to get sowing. This weekend, hopefully.

[Mountain Goat]

Last time I did this ( in my old house) it took me two solid weeks ( I was off work) but that was awful clay soil that someone had improved by shattering tea cups in it. This is easy soil, fairly recently laid turf, about as easy as it can be - but turns out that's still not exactly easy. :)) Right! Back out for another metre and then I can have coffee.

[baargain]

You can do it, goat!

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The tunnel is netted! It's a bit fecking windy out there, so it was all a bit flappy, still, I know it can withstand 40mph gusts at least. :lol:

[Mountain Goat]

Bloody hell, well done, that's massive and it's VERY windy today! You are nails. :))

I did the big bed ( by which I mean it's dug, it now needs weeding and the soil needs improving but not today). Jon helped, though he did more hacking than lifting so I have to go round picking out bits of grass root in his section . I needed the help though, my wrists are now buggered. Any advice for soil improving very well received. I have some compost ready in my compost bin but nowhere near enough, and there were not nearly enough worms in the earth. Manure? Earth is generally ok ( ex cow field, now topped with builders crap and topsoil - plants/weeds broadly thriving and underneath layer I think is good stuff, but the top section isn't great).

You can't see the right hand part here but you get the idea. More beds to come when I can be arsed. :))

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[baargain]

All the netting was spare from my home cage, so it feels like a bargain!

That bed looks excellent! Your hands must feel like they've snapped off at the wrist.

Your local council might do cheap green compost, or if you can find a local farmer, then some do deliver pre-rotted manure apparently. Although if stuff is growing, then it might be OK, you should be able to get away with 1cm of compost.

If you turn all the spare turf upside down, and pile it up, then it'll break down and you'll get loam. Though that is a longer term plan.

[Mountain Goat]

That definitely is a bargain!

They do! I am picking up my mug with two hands.

I've definitely seen signs about manure at a local farm? horsefield?, but not any actual manure, so I reckon it gets raided as soon as it's put out. I'm sure there must be others....there are more cows than humans round here. :))

We have artfully piled up all the spare turf upside down. :)) How long will it take? I can't dig the other beds yet as the heap is as high as it can be already. Also because I don't want to. :lol:

[baargain]

Try Facebook marketplace! I just had a look and I can get 25 builders bags (well rotted) for £25. I can get fresh horse shit from next door, or fresh pig from down the road, but I have to rot it myself.

I think the loam will take about a year :lol: though, if it's like compost, the bigger the heap, the faster it'll go. Make more room :))