I've had a thought...

I think I'm trying too hard to get the exact preparations, so I'm off to get a book/website to tell me what to plant and when.  It's not like seeds are *that* expensive...  What can go wrong?

I'm trying to figure out what to do with this space. I got a free cold frame and made a raised wooden mount for it out of cheap decking boards. South is behind the camera, so it's bright without getting the afternoon sun. Decisions, decisions....

My back hurts!

After the wildlife extravaganza I got down to work. This effectively what the end result of an afternoon in the garden produces. And filling 10 bags of compost.

The raised bed on the left has cheap topsoil in the bottom third, them load in the middle third and 2" of mushroom compost in the top. Turning the lot makes the soil look like decent stuff. But it won't be 'till next year and the first harvest until I see if it's good for growing veggies.

The middle bit with the plant pots in is shaded 'cos south is to the right of the picture. But it gets evening sun so I'm hoping stuff will grow there - sweet peas, something climbing - elderflowers, perhaps??? Ideas, anyone?

The right hand bit I covered with compost today - Again, I', hoping it'll be able to grow vwggies here - it's went facing, so only gets sun in the late afternoon, as I've 2 mature Oak trees to the south of me which shade the garden during the middle of the day.

The path up the middle is all bark chippings - It's nice and soft, and with a membrane underneath it it should be nice and clean to walk on and at the end of the year should provide a load of nice mulch!

I moved my compost heap today - I've got 20 bags of mostly compost, intermixed with lots of twigs and sprouted acorns - roots galore! While moving a bag I saw this little fella - a Common Lizard, apparently. It's a young one as it was 4cm nose to tail. So I took a few pics and watched him wander off back amongst the bags I'd done earlier.
I just wish I had a good quality macro lens and a proper flash. These are taken with my Canon Ixus in Macro mode with the flash off. The flash seems to produce an image that looks un-natural to me. And I don't have photoshop.....





Now this chap appeared after I dumped a wheelbarrow load of compost onto a raised bed. So they must have been living deep in the compost heap. Lot's of worms, so I guess that makes sense. Unless I'm very much mistaken, it's a Common Toad. But this chap's a definate brown colour. The previous one was much greener.

So I've got two Toads!!


I'm trying to figure out where they've come from and what I need to do to keep them. There's a hedgehog as well, as I've definately seen some hedgehog poo.

Pond life...

... only we don't have a pond.

This little fella (a Common Toad, apparently) was on the new patio as I was clearing up last night.  I got confused as all the pics of them were brown and this guy was much greener than the pic suggests.  But at least I know what's been digging in the flower beds now - and where the little holes under the fence came from.  I was worried it was a rat!!

It's amazing what home composting can do.
At Easter I hired a petrol shreader( they're so much better than electric ones - which I always manage to jam or break), chopped back last years growth and, together with lawn cuttings and the leaves from the two oak trees behind us, set out to make compost. A Gardners World program (just about the only episode I've ever watched) suggested making a composter out of palets, so I di just that. 5 palets from homebase (for free) later and I got going. Having had weeds grow up through the ground on a previous attempt at home composting (using old fence panels) I got half a dozen concrete slabs from Wickes and put them down as a base. Then nailed the 5 palets together, cut up some old fence bits as slats for the front and got shreading.

I completely filled one half with shreadings, leaves and grass cuttings. And the pic is what's there 3 months in. It's absolutely heaving with worms now, which I guess is a good thing. I try to turn it every week or two and keep it 'sponge' wet. Last week it got too dry and the ants moved in, so todays task was turning it and watering it as we went. So I forked and Jenny watered. My back's now killing me.

I got a few plastic terracotta coloured pots at the dump today when I was getting rid of some old engine oil, so that's a win. I'm now on the lookout for cheap 'pots' - I was reading that one guy got a load of reject bathroom bins without lids for 50p each! Freecycle here I come!

Wisley
We had a good look through the 'Grow Your Own' section.  Lots of ideas.   We got a fair few ideas for pots too - mainly that plastic ones are the way to go.  Terracotta and stone ones are just daft prices.

And here's the finished article. I need some photo stiching software to make it look like I've got a swanky wide angle lens, but I'm hopeless at photo editing. I spent the day watering the turf and looking around Wisley for ideas on how to fill the patio. Man alive are terracotta pots expensive!!

Once I get the back fence sorted we're looking at putting Hostas in, as they should do well under the trees. And clearing the leaves in the winter will be easy, as Hostas die back to bulbs (or whatever it is they are - ryzomes or something?) 

We're thinking about what to put down the left hand side.  No clues yet.  Watch this space!

And here's what they left me with.
Riddling it to get rid of the roots and grass roots took ages.
We used to have a small tree in the back garden and its roots were still
in the ground. Grrrr.

There's no way I'd ever
move this much earth, so I got some one in to do it.
Apparently 20m³ of earth needed moving!
They were an entertaining bunch.




And here's what they left me with.
Riddling it to get rid of the roots and grass roots took ages.
We used to have a small tree in the back garden and its roots were still
in the ground. Grrrr.

 And this is the view of the 'difficult' bit of the back garden to the left of the pic above.  This bit is south west facing, so it gets loads of sun.  I hope to put in a raised bed here to grow veg and stuff.  I'm looking for a cheap 'half' greenhouse to put up against the wall.  There's some on the market but they're hellish expensive

Our garden - then and now

Well, it cost more than I wanted, but the back breaking work's been done.  We needed a garden that's level and that Jenny can enjoy without having to step up or down.  Kinda like getting another room to enjoy and use in the summer, or winter if it's not raining...  Growing stuff, like veg and herbs comes high on the list too.  I looked into doing it myself, but it is just too much work for one - ok, I could have done it myself, but it'd have taken all year, or more, and I'd be knackered.  So I earned a shed load of overtime and life's just too short.