Solidarity shed

Last year's house move meant some gains & some losses: we lost our greenhouse but we gained a shed.

We've not had a shed before, so that's quite exciting. The garage at the old house was mahoosive so most of the gardening stuff went in that: plenty of space, & alarmed too, in case some random scroat decided they just had to have our late 20th century flymo...

New garage is too small to house all the gardening stuff tho, so some of it had to go into the shed. But the shed was in a sorry state when we arrived: a leaky roof had left it sodden. It desperately needed some TLC.

Looking a little forlorn...

New hat

At some point it would be great to have a go at greening this roof, but new boards & felt will do for now.

New boards & felt

Thanks Hubby :)

The new roof gave the shed a chance to dry out, for the 1st time in many a year. Amazingly the walls & floor were still serviceable, so time for a smart new jacket.

Pick a paint scheme

Inspiration came from a couple of different sources:

• Last Summer, a mate revamped her shed in fabulous beach hut style.
• Also last Summer, Cuprinol had an ad of a little geezer buzzing round gardens, being sad at neglected sheds & delighted at brightly painted woodwork. Repainting the shed need not mean "Once all over in shit brown".
• Sochi. Yep, the Winter Olympics. & Putin & his goons & their anti-gay laws. & then there's the ongoing state-by-state fight in the US for gay marriage. I'm still stunned that some folk get so het up about which people choose snog each other, & try to dictate who people fall in love with. I'm also amazed at the grace & humour with which the LGBT community campaign. So I've been feeling the need to fly the rainbow flag in solidarity... & cos it's the best flag :)

The LGBT rainbow flag has 6 colours, which is handy cos the shed is 18 planks high at its tallest. It's all coming together...

Supplies!

Down the shops I was delighted at the range of colours available. But it wasn't all about the aesthetics, I had some practical requirements too:

• Water-based. I'm sick of the faff of oil-based paints. They smell bad, take ages to dry, require undercoats, are bad for your skin, are a bitch to clean off your brushes, then a special trip to the Household Waste Recovery Centre to get rid of the mucky thinners. Total palaver.
• Stain, not paint. Paint will flake & I'm trying to keep maintenance to a miniumum... That might be optimistic but hey.
• All colours from 1 range. This is a half-baked theory that, if they were designed as a set, they'll work better in combination & will weather consistently. Worth a punt...

Bit of a problem with the last rule: some ranges didn't have all the colours. So I took pics of the sample blocks:

That's none of yer shit brown...

And used Framatic to make my own colour chart:

& the winners are...

OK, so the red is the Coral it says on the tin, & the purple is actually Fushia pink, but I think it'll work.

Obligatory perspective tin line-up shot

Get cracking

When approaching jobs, I often like to do the hard bit 1st. It gets it out of the way whilst I've got the beans to tackle it, then I can coast when I'm knackered.

But not this job. This was done in a right old higgledy piggledy fashion.

Top down, to postpone scrabbling around on the floor

2 colours down - so far so good

I took the guttering off to paint behind - I'm not completely slapdash...

The back of the shed is shaded by the beech hedge. The boards got greener the closer they got to the floor. If I want vibrant colours all round, that'll need sanding back. Out with the power tools!

The flat sander is noisy but waaaaay quicker than sanding by hand

Some painting sessions involved sitting on the oil tank to do the window side:

The long reach radiator roller came in handy

What about the door?

Missed a bit...

The boards that make up the door don't neatly divide by 6. Continuing the horizontal stripe might work, but might look a mess if I can't do it well. Solid colour then? Would be a shame.

Then my mate Roger, an artist, had a suggestion: Offset vertical bands, a bit like Tetris. Genius!

Out with the chalk:

No formula here:
draw a line, then have a guess where the best place for the next line is

Yep, I think Roger's idea will work beautifully.

There will now be a whopping great intermission

That's as far as I got last year. I watched the unpainted wood get repeatedly drenched over the Winter, never getting the right combination of dry, warm (enough) & motivation. Pants. Have I mucked it up? Will the colours of next year look obviously different from this years? & is this just some lazy Grand Designs-esque fake jeopardy to inject some drama? (Clue: No)

Chip away at it

As the evenings lengthened this Spring, I tried to nibble away at it. Even if I did one colour on the door in an evening, it would still move the shed forward.

& it worked: in no time at all the door was done, along with a sneaky 2nd coat on (most of) last year's colours. Yay!

Wow the camera really blings some of the those colours...

So that's it then - all finished?

Well, not quite, cos the door wasn't the last bit. Nope, I'd avoided the whole side by compost corner. I managed to knock that off one sunny weekend.

Finished!

& I've not done the metalwork yet. Nor the inside... Hmm... there's a lot of spiders in there...

But the outside is done & looks better than I imagined. I posted a photo to Facebook & the Solidarity Shed got a whole lotta love. Thanks guys :D

The epilogue

While writing this post, we had sunshine with showers, & this happened:

Yay for April showers... in May

Paint the whole world with a rainbow :)

Compost corner

Just after we moved in last Easter, a friend offered us a spare compost bin. Great, I thought, I'll have no excuse not to turn the compost regularly if we've got 2 bins...

Should've known better - I only installed the 2nd bin this month. We've had it nearly a year.

The sticking point was getting around to buying a base plate (to let the worms in but keep the rats out). I finally ordered one a couple of weeks ago through GetComposting.com

& here it is in place:

(Yep, this muppet forgot to take a photo of the base plate in position & I only realised once the job was done.)

The big green ThermoKing we bought last year has been going great guns, although we still make the same composting beginner mistakes:

• Too much grass in big layers.
• Too many large stems not chopped up.

Despite our ineptitude, it soldiers on:

The plan is to use the King for the fresh stuff & the Dalek for the finishing stage. Advice I've seen recommends at least 3 bays but tended to only use 2 at the old place. We'll see how this arrangement goes & add a 3rd if need be.

I opened the bottom doors front & back of the King; dug out the bottom layers & decanted them into the Dalek. The front hatch was easy to deal with, but the back hatch is in the beech boundary hedge. Like an idiot I managed to whack myself in the eye with an thin whippy beech twig. Ow..

No matter. Let's get this done. Who needs eyes anyhow...

With about an hour's heaving & shovelling, the compost was split:

When splitting the compost, I did notice a distinct lack of worms... Slugs, yes, & woodlice too, but not a single worm now I think about it. I wonder if the clay underneath the King is too compacted? Maybe I should invest in some worms...?

& talking of investments, as well as buying the base plate, I splurged on a new pokey stick... erm.. aerator. In the past I've just used the fork, but it can be tough to get down to the bottom & really stir the muck.

New stick has flaps that fold flat as you push down & then open out as you pull back, just like a child's ears in a set of railings.

(Photo shamelessly blagged from GetComposting)

With any luck, & a bit more prodding, we'll have bags of garden-ready compost & not a moment too soon - our claytastic soil will take all the organic matter we can throw at it.

Early Spring blooms

Few things lift my heart quite like Spring's pioneers when they raise their beautiful heads from the cold ground.

Residents

The garden has a number of established early birds.

Snowdrops are up first, naturally:

We also have a giant variety:

Next up, the crocuses/crocii:

They're jewel-like in the low sunshine.

So chuffed this garden came with hellibores:

Still no clue what this shrub is: 

For most of the year it has kept on producing these clusters of white/pink flowers that go on to produce deep purple berries. What a trooper.
Update: Ali says Viburnum Tinus :)

Newcomers

On to things we've added since we moved in.

Hubby's pansies have soldiered through the Winter:

The 1st flowers have appeared in the 3 tier bulb pot I did last Autumn:

Many more to come, with any luck :)

The Great British Garden Revival

I'm in my element this week with some proper armchair plant porn:

The BBC's new series of The Great British Garden Revival kicked off this week, along with a bunch of other gardening shows (Big Allotment Challenge, also on the Beeb; Titchmarsh gadding about in ITV). I guess this glut is as we look forward to warmer times, just like the traditional New Year holiday adverts. Gotta say tho', everyone on Allotment Challenge looks very weird on my TV with their sunburn whilst it tries to snow outside my window.

Perfect format

Garden Revival is just the right mix of horti-TV for me: educational, inspirational & rallying. Each show gives us to 2 gardening 'faces'. Each has 30 minutes to exhort us to make space in our hearts for some old but unfashionable stallwarts that are at risk of extinction.

They give us some history on the plants, visit gardens with amazing collections, address the brutal truth of why we've stopped buying these plants, show us how we can overcome those hurdles, & then light a fire under our arses to get out there & save them.

Your country need you!

Each segment is a rallying cry. During episode 1, I was so buoyed up from Rachel de Thame's campaign for old roses, that when Joe Swift did his intro & asked us to make space for climbers & creepers is was shouting "Ok, Joe!" at the screen... I felt like Po in Kung Fu Panda at the Pool Of Sacred Tears (Go watch it. Not to understand this reference, just go watch it). James' Wong's section on Rhododendrons in episode 3 was a revelation - the invasiveness of ONE hybrid has poisoned our view of a whole species.

Series 2 episodes

There's 10 shows in this series, some of which are already on iPlayer. There really is something for everyone:

1. Roses - Rachel de Thame
   Climbers & creepers - Joe Swift
2. Daffodils - Carol Klein
   Blossom trees & shrubs - Chris Beardshaw
3. Rhododendrons - James Wong
   Carnations - Christen Walkden
4. Scented gardens - Toby Buckland
   Tulips - Tom Hart Dyke
5. Lavender - Diarmund Gavin
   Knot gardens - Alys Fowler
6. Irises - Rachel de Thame
   Ornamental grasses - Toby Buckland
7. Conifers - Carol Klein
   Pelargoniums - Tom Hart Dyke
8. Lilies - James Wong
   Woodland gardens - Christen Walkden
9. Bog gardens - Joe Swift
   Soft fruit - Alys Fowler
10. Wildlife gardens - Diarmund Gavin
    Peonies - Charlie Dimmock

Now, to see if I can convert this inspiration & enthusiasm into motivation... & a plan.

Feed the birds

I'm sat in bed typing this (int tech brilliant). Out of the North window, I can see next door's pine tree. Up the top is a Great Spotted Woodpecker. This happens a lot. I love this house.

Back at the old house, we tended not to feed the birds. It sounds heartless or irresponsible, but I'd heard they can become dependant on food sources & starve if their main supply dries up. I couldn't cope with the pressure - the risk of birdie blood on my hands just cos we had the audacity to go on holiday.

That's not to say our old garden lacked birdlife. The blackbirds were more than happy to scrabble through the compost & puncture the lawn. & then there was that time I was serenaded by a robin. We once had a sparrowhawk swoop all the small birds that were hanging out on the red hot poker one morning. We were one of the few gardens on the street with mature trees & shrubs, so we offered plenty of accommodation.

But that was the old house. The new place overlooks a wood & is hopping with birds most of the time. There's no point trying to hold a conversation with me if we're overlooking the South Lawn cos I've developed a bad case of Twitcher's Tourette's:

Oh really, that's fascinat... NUTHATCH!!!

Table for 4?

To get a better look at all those feathery critters, Hubby bought a seats-4 seed feeder. I was surprised by this move - he'd hitherto been firmly from the 'If it's black & it's a bird, it's a blackbird' school of ornithology. But he says that the quantity & variety of birds at the new place has piqued his interest.


The new feeder was instantly mobbed - they emptied it in 2 days flat! What does that mean? Surely there's not a food lack situation on the fringe of the woods. Was it a bumper Spring for chicks?

Fortunately, I've been able to dismiss the starvation theory completely - the neighbours have 9(!) feeding stations, so no one's going hungry. This gives us the leaway to be a bit more sporadic in our provision without getting all fretful about it.

After the success of the seed feeder, I buckled & bought a peanut feeder too. Both hung in the Laburnum all Summer & Autumn & proved very popular. But last week we removed the tree, so the feeders needed a new home. Some friends made us a bird table as a house warming pressie - time to press it into serious action.

Bird table house-warming pressie

As well as the 2 shop-bought feeders, I've had a go at an old school, half coconut shell affair. I've been a bit wary about the whole feeding-cow-fat-to-birds thing, but the RSPB reckon it's ok (with caveats). Their recipe is 1 part fat to 2 parts seeds - looks alright, doesn't it? Like a health food bar. But with hidden lard... hmm... starting to feel bad again... This bird feeding thing is a minefield.

The old coconut shell came with the house...

The coconut shell appears to be a bit challenging for the small birds - some have worked it out but the shop-bought tube is still most popular.

A visiting Coal Tit, captured in incredible blur-o-vision.
The only little fella brave/hungry enough to hit the seed feeder while I was sat next it.

I'm going to stop agonising now, & just enjoy our visitors.

Appendix: Rollcall

Since moving in, we have seen in or from the garden - if they haven't landed in our garden, they are marked with a star (*):

• Blackbird
• Blue tit
• Bullfinch *
• Buzzard *
• Chaffinch
• Coal tit
• Dunnock
• Goldfinch
• Great spotted woodpecker
• Great tit
• Gulls (assorted)
• Heron *
• Jackdaw
• Jay
• Kestrel *
• Magpie
• Nuthatch
• Pied wagtail
• Robin
• Starling
• Woodpidgeon
• Thrush (can't remember which one)
• Tree sparrow
• Wren

Mouldy trees, part 2

In October, tree surgeons lowered our South Beech Hedge & gave us some advice on the ailing trees in the South Lawn. This month, they came back to trim back the North Leylandii hedge & to take the poorly trees down... :(

Rip it off like a plaster

As I posted last time, since the triage trim the trees had taken a turn for the worse. Every time I looked at them, it made me sad to know they were dying.

Whereas every time I looked at the Leylandii (every morning - they're part of my breakfast view), they seemed to be taller. I have literally been watching them grow, swamping the oak & the birches at either end of them.

In both cases, I thought it best not to prolong the agony:

1. The sooner the Leylandii are curtailed, the easier it will be to maintain them in the future.
2. The sooner the dying Cherry & Laburnum are out, the sooner we can get in something healthy. 

But it would appear that these thoughts were mostly in my own head... apart from contacting the tree surgeons for a quote, I definitely did that bit out loud. But crucially I hadn't really chatted to hubby about it... well, I might have, but he was probably jet lagged at the time so it doesn't count.

So it was a shock to him when I wanted to discuss the quote. Whilst he could see my logic was sound, it was all a bit, well, sudden. He's suspicious of pruning at the best of times, & we're still getting used to the open, bordering-on-exposed feeling from the lowered Beech Hedge. Removing the 2 ill trees will remove our last bit of cover to the South.

But fair play to him, in the spirit of "Do something rather than do nothing", he agreed, & so I mobilised the troops.

Nice day for it

I'm on my Xmas hols now (woop!) so I was home the day the tree surgeons came. We confirmed we were dropping the Leylandii by a third & the 2 sick trees were coming out completely. Unfortunately, these guys don't offer stump removal so we've decided to save that cash for now - we might have them ground out later, when we're feeling more flush.

I left them to it, heading out walking with a mate - after, that is, she'd asked them to quote for her too ;) We weren't out for long though. The plan was to take her dogs to the top of Simonside crag, but it was soooooo windy we stuck to the shorter route along the forest paths.

When we got back, most of the chainsaw action was done. The guy up the top was swaying all over, & loving it. He still had all his limbs by the end of the day too, which was nice.

The Laburnum is certainly pretty on the inside...
Does that make me sound like a homicidal maniac?



Revamped log pile topped up with all the new off-cuts

Too much?

Neither of us go to the hairdressers very often, mostly cos of that feeling when you leave & you realise they've been a little enthusiastic...

As a species, we like to kid ourselves we're logically beings. But really, we're a seething vat of emotional soup with a gift for plausible post-rationalisation.

Now you see 'em...

As sad as it was looking at dying trees, it's really bare out there on the South Lawn now... :/
Hubby summed it up: The heart's gone from the garden.

Fuck.

The Laburnum is the biggest miss - hardly surprising as it was slap bang in the middle.

What to do, what to do? Have I already done too much...?

Moving forward

Playing with trees is always a long long game, & I need to keep this in mind. 

The logic is still sound: they were dying; sooner out, sooner replaced, sooner something beautiful & healthy. So rather than dally with the ultimately useless regret that's creeping around in the shadows of my mind, it's time to get busy deciding what trees we're going to plant next year, whilst gazing at the extra splash of deep blue Northern sky afforded by the shorter Leylandii.

Crap photo alert. The sky was blue, honest.

Anyone got any suggestions for medium sized feature trees for a South facing lawn on clay soil with intermittent drainage issues? Am I sounding panicked? :/

Mouldy trees

Sad times - the trees in the South Lawn are not well.

Both the Laburnum & the Cherry have struggled this year. 

We conjectured the cause:

• Not enough light?
  The cherry in particular is hard up against the tall South Hedge. Maybe that's why all the leaves are up the top?
  
  
• Water logged?
  We're sat on a hill of clay & the garden was sopping over Winter. But then again it's been a long, dry Summer & there's no sign of a late recovery.
  
  
• Insect attack?
  We have a lot of red spider mites kicking around. I've heard gardeners whinge about them, although I've no idea exactly why.
  
  
• Age?
  Are they just old? The photo of the house we have from 1974 shows a blurry yellow smudge which implies the Laburnum in & established. If it was planted when the house was built, it'll be about 65-70 years old now. Not ancient then, heading into its twilight years.

I need a Doctor...

We've got more questions than answers. We need a pro.
So when Richard the tree surgeon came to quote for lowering the Big Beech Hedge (another story, another day), we asked his advice.
On the Cherry, he spotted some extensive bark damage on a low branch. Could it be birds...?

But then he spotted this:



Bracket fungus, right at the base of the trunk

Pants. It's right at the base of the trunk. He says it's pretty terminal. Sad times :(

As for the Laburnum, he wasn't sure.

He said he'd trim back the dead, dying & diseased, then we could see how they got on.

1 month later...

Oh dear. Both trees are sporting new & 'interesting' mould:



Ewww! Do you need ice cream with that?
Something gelatinous at the base of the Cherry.

A different mould, covering the end of a cut,
but also bursting out all the way up the Laburnum...

Looks like both will be hitting the log pile soon :(

Anyone got any tree replacement advice?

Is it a bad idea to plant healthy new sapplings in mouldy locations?