Over the hedge

Giz a job

Last Sunday. The whole day in. Yay! But which job to tackle? I could stay indoors & sugar soap the walls of the hall loo... Nah, let's get outside!

But which outdoor job? Both lawns were buzzed during the week so I get to pick something else - double yay!

Weeding one of the beds would be good, but I still don't know what half the stuff is. Plus the thought makes my heart sink as there's soooo much to do.

The previous owner, Mrs |H, clearly had maintenance fatigue too...

 

How do I re-home saplings?

I could do a round of sapling eviction. Living on the edge of a wood it's no great surprise that it wants to claim our garden for itself. We have lots of vigorous youngsters that will totally dominate if they stay. I'd really like to donate them cos it seems a shame to trash them, but I've not found anyone willing to take them. Any ideas?

Go with your gut

Finally I use the decision-making technique we've adopted since moving - fix whatever's pissing you off the most. & casting an eye over the South Lawn, it's the overgrown hedge from next door. Don't get me wrong - the neighbours have done a fab job of keeping the level to about half a meter above the fence, but the hedge now overhangs on our side, & this house had been empty for a while before we moved in, so it's got a bit big...

The South East corner needs a haircut

 

It's so dark in that corner, Hubby thinks it's hampering the health of the Cherry tree that's down there. This member of the jury remains unconvinced about that theory but it'd be cool to neaten up that bit of the hedge. So let's have at it & test the Cherry theory - we can do science, us!

Getting cracking

First cut, along the fence line.

 

I kept a close line along the top of the fence.

 

Some of the panels have fallen in a bit, another sign of how unruly the hedge is getting, so we didn't think the folks next door would have any problem with this wrangling plan, but just to keep things friendly, we felt we needed a chat before tackling the biggest bit. However, the neighbours were out so I kept going with non-contentious bits.

As I pruned back, I discovered 2 shrubs. Unlike the lovely soft beech hedging, both of these were spiky spiny buggers. One was a large hawthorn, & its thorns were absolutely viscous. Time to get the welding gloves out.

Ouch! These guys take no prisoners.

 

Opps... we've found more garden...

Cutting it all back reveals a whole new corner of garden... I'm now wondering how wise this pruning plan was, cos the garden is already big enough!

I could hear Hubby talking, & twigged he had caught the returning neighbours. They gave the big trim their approval, so we started on the last bit.


The off-cut mountain grows...

 

Biggest last

The best point to cut the last big stem was over their side of the fence. With the neighbours' blessing in place, Hubby tied a rope above the cut, then I got busy with the saw.

I'm feeling the urge to stick googly eyes onto this pic...

 

As the branch started to fall, Hubby gave me the heads up. I ducked out of the way & he pulled it to safety. Like a well-oiled machine... ;)

Now we've just got the clear up to do...

Clear up operation

I hate the word 'just'. It's rarely true, & in my gardening experience, the clearing up always takes much longer than the job itself. I often try to clear up as I go, but those good intentions often evaporate once I'm stuck into the job.

There's a wheelbarrow under there somewhere...

 

We needed a strategy to process the huge pile of trimmings, so we set up a 4 pile system:

1. Composting leaves & twigs into the dumpy bag.
2. Firewood twigs into the round black bin.
3. Chunkier firewood into a pile.
4. Aggressive stuff (brambles, thorny things) into the garden waste wheelie bin.

Off-cut processing production line

 

Take a break

Half way through the heap & we're getting tired. The sun's come out, my head is starting to bake, & Hubby's getting blisters from all the snip snip snipping. The compost bin is full, the garden waste wheelie bin is almost full. We have a break while we reconsider our options.

Snax!

 

"How about we fill the dumpy bag and take it to the tip?"
Genius! Half & half seems fair to me. The rest of the trimmings can go onto the municipal compost heap.

Put a bit in, take a bit out

Talking of which, I totally failed to find any peat-free compost this week, but a friend reminded me about council compost. £3 a bag from the tip - bonzer :D We'll see how it is.

Why is it labelled "Soil conditioner", not "Compost"?
Should I be worried?

 

Job done

Stepping back, we start to realise what a big difference today's trim has made.

Before & after

 

1. We can now see the woods to the East, extending our views out.
2. This corner is in the South East, so when you stand here & look West across the garden, you'll get the last the evening sun before it snicks behind the house. Prime seating location I reckon, cos I love a garden seat, me.
3. It gives us a clue what sort of changes we'll get in this garden when we lower the Big Beech Hedge that is our Southern boundary.

That day gets ever closer, but we'll need help with that job...

 

What's flowering this week?

You blink round here, & something else flowers. Here's who's flouncing about right now.

Can anyone fill any of the blank name tags?

Smoke bush - identified by Kay when I spotted one at her house

Dunno what this is, but there's lots of it.
Love how the rain beads on the leaves.
Update from Roger: "Alchemilla mollis. Beautiful if a bit of a brute!"
Also known as Lady's Mantle.



We've several similar geraniums.
This lovely clump is at the foot of the South Lawn Cherry Tree.

Not a clue about this one but I see it about a lot.
A municipal planting favourite in our Drive Bed.

Another flowering shrub in the Drive Bed.
They're cheek-by-jowl in there.
Update from Bryony: "escallonia I think"
Certainly looking likely from interweb photos & descriptions.

There's 2 big clumps of this in the West Boundary Bed.
TBH it's probs a single plant attempting to swallow a third.

We currently have the most glamorous, most fragrant compost corner.
The rambling/climbing rose went boom!
Update from Kate: "Rambling rector?"
Looking very likely, & how fitting given that Hubby is a Reverend...
I may start referring to him as such here...

We brought these guys with us.
Still no idea what they are.
Update from Roger: "Some kind of veronica"
But searching Google pics I'm not so sure
(even after eliminating all the pics of ladies in their pants.)

Not flowering, but looking wonderfully fluffy in its new growth.
One of several conifers at the top of the North Lawn. 

A flush of buttercups, before I chopped their heads off yesterday.

No idea which leaves go with these flowers.
It's all a bit hectic behind the bench down at the Circle.

Our lovely friends gave us loads of plants as housewarming gifts.
Sarge's cactus bloomed!
Update from me (cos I read the label): Opuntia indica - prickly pear!

Tackling the Lawns

Small, or far away...?

This time of year, you really can watch the grass grow... You can almost see it heave itself upwards before your very eyes.

Hubby's done all the mowing since the move - a Herculean effort of one man & a flymo against the marching sward. Mind, this early Summer cycle of sun & showers means that keeping on top of it has more than a whiff of Sisyphus about it.

It's time I went to mow.

The South Lawn

Done & dusted on Wednesday evening. Yay!

It's about the size of the old lawn but the terrain is a tad more challenging. New house is on top of a small hill, & the land falls away quite rapidly on most sides. We're not talking cliff-side gardening here, but it's no snooker table either.

The South Lawn has 2 key obstacles: The sharp drop to the Big Beech Hedge; & the loop around the Laburnum.

On a slope & heavily shaded, neither spot is ever going to be lush & verdant lawn, but at the mo we're happy with bramble-&-nettle-free.

Even with these tricky bits, I guess it took less than an hour. Most doable on a sunny weekday evening. Marvellous.

The North Lawn

I didn't bother timing this task, largely cos I didn't want to rush myself. Getting it done Saturday morning before the rain arrived was going to be a close call, but let's not go mental & be exhausted by Noon, eh?

The North Lawn is an isosceles triangle to the West of the drive. A 20m run up by the side of the gravel, then 15m in front of the house, then back along the boundary hedge. It slopes mostly North West, is pretty damp, & is balding in many places due to mature trees past & present.

Not as flat as it looks...

Hubby gave it a weed n feed a few weeks ago & that's done wonders, but in some areas the measures may need to be more drastic - there's a row of Leylandii by the road & they are big. The heavy shade from them stops anything growing underneath - not even brambles or ivy dare to tread.

We already know our Westerly neighbours are not fans of the Leylandii, but they're also not 100% sure who they belong to. We'll need to have a sleuth around before getting the chainsaw out...

The North Lawn is also home to a smattering of daffs. They made us feel very welcome as we moved in during April. Their dying back leaves make mowing a bit of a slalom though, so I used Mum's old technique of tidying them up. The theory says the longer the leaves are photosynthesising, the stronger the bulb next year.

Use an old flower stem as the tie - they're stronger than the leaves

Not that Mum uses this technique anymore. I'm not surprised - it's a bit of a chew on! But to me they look like little haystacks & I'm enjoying that :)

With a little help from Hubby, who mowed while I tied, we were done just as the first spots started to hit. Timing!

New house! New garden!

I've been stressing again. Moving house is stressful - we all know that. But I've been topping that stress with a whole bunch of blog guilt. It's a special talent.


But today that ends. I am reminding myself of my 'Post it!' resolution from the blog's First Birthday round-up. I will, as my friend Clair would say, rip it off like a plaster.

So what's the new place like?!

Vast!


Not quite Capability Brown-worthy, but our old back garden would fit into the new one several times over. It took hubby TWO HOURS just to mow The North Lawn. & yes, that means we now have more than 1 lawn - there's a smaller South one too.


I'll get around doing a map & some panoramas & stuff, but in the meantime, here's a few nice pics of some of the plants that came with the place. I freely admit I've no idea what half of the resident greenery is, so I think a horticultural soirée might be helpful - an evening of cake, cava & can-you-tell-me-what-this-is-please?

The new growth on this shrub is much more red than the pink in this pic.
Update from Sharon: "Pieris 'forest flame'"

It's a fairy grotto under one corner of the Big Beech Hedge.
These guys remind me of kodama.



The Cherry Tree on the South Lawn.

Snake's Head Fritillaries! We've always wanted some of these! *dribble*

One of the many large grassy clumps. This one is in the Shed Bed.
Update from Sharon: "Carex pendula"
The wiki page says "preferring damp, heavy clay soils"... sounds about right ;)

We had no idea what the large old tree in the middle of the South Lawn was...
until it flowered. Laburnum it is then.

They've got these in the Farmshop carpark beds & I've always admired them.
We've not got as much as them - only this small clump at the top of the North Lawn.
But it's a start.
Update from Steph & Clare: "Perennial Cornflower".

We brought our own, but there are a lot of ferns here already.
I'm amazed to see Hostas tho' - new place has an abundance of snails AND slugs.

One of the other grassy clumps turned out to be this gorgeous Iris.
This was in the Fence Bed, but there's another clump over in the Birch Bed.

Hibernation & migration

No posts since September, eh? A bit pants really, especially after the "Post it!" resolution in my end-of-year-one round-up :/

However, I have some excuses:

Not much to write about

The Autumn has been full of doing other stuff, like running away to gigs on the weekends (woohoo!) & learning Italian. I've not been out in the garden AT ALL.

We're moving...

Yes indeedy. Pretty serious stuff & lots to do. So I'll endeavour to post about that - which plants will we take? Which will we leave behind? What's the new garden going to be like?! It's all very exciting :D

So if you want to buy a 3 bed house in Bedlington with an awesome garage, a pizza oven & a lightly wrestled garden, check out hubby's rad 3D modelling skills & drop me a line. The house will be listed with an estate agent in the New Year.

How it's done

Last month my friend had a garden warming party. She's been in her new home for a year now & boy has she been busy.

The Layout

The North-facing front is paved parking so all the garden fun is out the back.

Previous owners added decking by the house to make the most of the Southern sunshine. The deck also organises the hefty level changes that come from living on the side of a hill. The staged drop to the main garden, combined with strategic boundary hedging, makes for a secluded spot, shielded from passing gusts & prying eyes.

Packed with treasure

I really struggled to get an overview photo that does the garden justice. This is a section from a Photosynth panoramic, hence the left hand bendy shed.

When my friend arrived a year ago, the main area was lawn with small edging borders and a couple of small trees, but it's all change now. The trees remain, jazzed up for the party with some beautiful glass globe tealight lanterns. But the changes are much more than a few cosmetic touches - the garden now has a series of distinct spaces, each with their own atmosphere - no mean feat in such a modest plot.

Moving left to right:

• Raised veg beds, on the deck near the house.
• Lounging seating area, also on the veg deck.
• Crafting hut terminating the veg deck (the bendy shed above). This doubled as the party's bar.
• Pond, in the back left corner - the latest addition.
• Pergola with chimenea, for evenings round the fire.
• Potting shed/glass house (right, above).
• Dining table & chairs on the right hand deck off the kitchen/conservatory.
  and finally, the star of the show
• Major central flower bed.

My friend used to work in horticulture so she's far more interested in a range of interesting plants than a monoculture. Up came the old central lawn, and in went the huge central bed. With a gravel edge and a winding bark chip path through the middle, you can get up close & personal with the planting, to weed or just to drool.

Here's some pics of my favourites - I have no idea what most of them are, so if you spot some familiar faces, please shout up!

Update

My friend has now kindly provided me with some names for the plants below. She's not 100% about them all, but hey, they'll be close enough & better than nowt!

Flowers

Thistle-type thing

Little spiky blue & silver thistle globes
Echinops ritro (globe thistle)

I've been looking longingly at thistles for a bit, but I hear they can be invasive - perhaps why this pale blue beauty is in a pot on the path.

Fiery daisy

There was a lot if buzzing in the garden but this clump of fiery daisies were particularly popular.
 

♪ Fire! (Do do do)... ♫
Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer'

I love the flame coloured petals, surrounding a raised black pompom shot through with gold - just like glowing embers. Gorgeous.
 

Foliage

Freaky frenzy

The garden was packed with foliage of all shapes, all colours.

All the foliage
Sedum spectabile 'Autumn Joy'
Artemisia 'Powis Castle'
Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' (smoke bush)
Philadephus 'Belle Etoile' (mock orange)

What fabulous contrasts here, so much texture cheek by jowl. Just blew my mind.

The gold leaf edge is brighter than this pic shows
Berberis thunbergii 'Golden Ring'

Fancy corn

In pots dotted around the garden & deck were these statuesque sweetcorn stems.
 

Fancy candy-striped corn
Zea mays (Japanese ornamental corn)

 

She picked up these as seeds on holiday in Canada. I've seen multi-coloured corn cobs before but not on the plant. Those bold stripes remind me of the seaside windbreaks of my youth!

 

Frosted fern

Lots of leaves were from the red end of things, but some aren't always the same colour. There were nice examples of leaves that change colour as they mature.

Candy-floss fern
Sorbaria sorbifolia 'Sem'

I love this kind of thing - plants with changing interest as they age & with the season; so useful in small gardens where everything needs to work harder to earn its keep.
 

Green grey shrub

Along with the reds, hints of silver were another recurring foliage theme.

A wall of silver green fluff
Euphorbia characias

This beast sits below the crafting hut and was taller than me. It's cool to have interest at eye level, especially something so bold.

An old friend

Also below the hut was something more full-on silver; something familiar:

We used to have one of these!

I know this! It's a curry plant, so named cos it gives a fenugreeky niff when you brush past it. Ours is long gone, possibly due to over-zealous pruning on my part, but at least I now know who to talk to if I want to re-introduce it.
And I think I might.

2 stars out on Sunday

I was out having a bit of a tidy on Sunday & a couple of beauties caught my eye.

Japanese anemone

A light in a dark place

I bought it & planted it out late last year, & crossed my fingers. I had no idea if I'd put it in a suitable location. I had not a clue what soil type it preferred. Then we had a long cold Winter. & then a bit of the boundary wall fell off & landed on it. Talk about a rough ride.

But it's made it through all that trauma & has just started flowering under its own steam. Hooray! A late season glow in The White Corner.

Common frog

Can I go now?

I found this fella at the bottom of the raspberry canes whilst doing the annual tidy-up. Every year we spot a frog in the garden: sometimes in the compost; even in the greenhouse! This always confuses us as we don't have a pond...

After posing for its close-up, this healthy hopper headed toward the house. Aha! Hubby's hunch was spot on - there's a rainwater drain & soakaway in that corner, right under the raspberries. Suddenly it all makes much more sense.

& while we're on about the raspberries, The Alnwick Garden loop method for corralling long canes worked brilliantly. I heartily recommend it.