How does your garden grow?

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francovendee
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Joined: 5 May 2009, 6:32am

Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by francovendee »

Blimey Paulatic that looks huge. Do you have a Land Rover to tour the estate? :)
francovendee
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Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by francovendee »

We've a friend who has decided to experiment rewilding part of her garden. She's hoping it will encourage more wild life and save her a lot of work.
At present it looks rather odd, completely different from the other half that is all mown grass and tidy borders.

I like the idea but I've yet to convince my wife.
Pebble
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Joined: 7 Jun 2020, 11:59pm

Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by Pebble »

Quite proud of our rockery at the moment
Image

this was a few before shots when I redone this part of the garden 4 or 5 years ago
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Tangled Metal
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Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by Tangled Metal »

Our garden is in two parts, lower part which is traditional garden with paths, raised beds, borders, etc. Then a fence and the wild garden of Hazel, Holly, big copper beech, hawthorn self seeded like the Hazel and three huge leylandii specimens we've got on sentence of death. Waiting for an executioner, I mean tree surgeon who will actually turn up.

That upper garden is too open and we leave it to the wildlife. Foxes even deer apparently. It's full of things like bluebells, wild garlic and hellebores at different times of the year. Plus other undergrowth.

The reason to remove the leylandii is that nothing grows under them and they're higher up the hill cutting out too much sunlight. No danger of them hitting our house or much of anything if they go in a storm but they're too big and will only get bigger. I think the biggest I can't get my hands around and I'm 4cm shy of 2 m with the arm length to match.

One thing we tried was a meadow instead of the front lawn. We cut it, completely scarified the section we test seeded to remove all moss and half the lawn growth then after sewing the seed we left it through no mow may into June.. nothing came up but dandelions and huge thistles. Oh and grass so high we lost our dog in there. All cut back now. Flower meadows can be hard to get towing I reckon.

As to rewinding... we don't because we've gone from a tarmac covered backyard to a house with a fairly large garden that had been unoccupied since the previous, keen gardener owner died suddenly. The garden had 2 years to rewild. We are still trying to get straight a year plus later. It feels like we clear an area to move on to another. Only to see the first area get overgrown again in front of our own eyes! It's a self rewinding garden!

Limestone slope where the bedrock won't be that far below the surface. The upper garden is like the natural woods locally. Lots of yew trees, Hazel, beech, hawthorn, Ash, etc in the area. A lot of yew trees. Several forms too. The single trunk through to amazing ones that look like multi trunks fused together into a really quite big tree trunk. Some must be rather old in the neighbourhood. Our wild section is just a small scale mirror with 3 inappropriate invaders.

We're not gardeners but we're trying to just keep it as close to in control as we can. If it's nice to sit in and listen to the birds then we're OK with that. Lots of birds, a real range of calls including owls of you're up at dawn. 4 locals calling to each other very close by too.
De Sisti
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Joined: 17 Jun 2007, 6:03pm

Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by De Sisti »

My tiny garden is just about manageable.
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Mick F
Spambuster
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Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by Mick F »

This is another part of our "garden".
I was in there yesterday afternoon with the dog, and took this photo.

IMG_1364.jpg
Mick F. Cornwall
pwa
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Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by pwa »

al_yrpal wrote: 26 Jun 2022, 2:06pm Our pond is the wildlife hub. Birds, bugs, dragonflies, and for 8 weeks in the spring a pair of mallards which became very tame. If we didnt feed them at the pond they would waddle up 100 yards to the house and wait outside the door. Saw a Slow worm swim across and nestle in the reeds. Had lots in our Devon Georgian House garden too.

Huge variety of birds including a frequent Heron after the fish. Thought I saw a Hopoe once but after seeing it more frequently realised it was probably a Jay. Pigeons are a pest eating my veg.

Al

IMG-20200830-WA0009~2.jpg
Slow worms are one of my favourite creatures. Like moving jewels. I know you're not supposed to handle them, but I find it difficult to resist. As do you, by the look of it.
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Cugel
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Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by Cugel »

Rot - everything does, including the larch sideboards holding the garden back from the flagged steps going front garden to the back garden, down the side of the house. Out they must come, those rotters! In will go a much more resilient (and attractive) set of stone walls.

The stone comes from a local quarry some 12 miles away, along with sand and gravel. All of it is glacier-produced, long ago, and has ended up consisting of various rock shapes that are rounded to a greater or lesser degree. This stuff makes fine organic-looking walls. Colours are shades of orange, grey, yellow and blue.

The waller is also a local lad, very adept at many of the skills required in building and improving buildings. He's also painted our house, inside and out, top to bottom. His sideline is carving slate into many beautiful forms. The garden already has a good dozen of his slate objet d'arts dotted about.

The work so far .....
Before
Before
Rip, rip, rip out the rotters!
Rip, rip, rip out the rotters!
One side ready for a wall.
One side ready for a wall.
The waller views his work so far
The waller views his work so far
The ladywife checks for quality & work rate.  :-)
The ladywife checks for quality & work rate. :-)
Cugel, chief stone sorter & humper.
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
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jazzkitten
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Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by jazzkitten »

In my garden, it's all about the soil. I've learned that nurturing the soil is the foundation for a thriving garden. I focus on maintaining a healthy balance of nutrients, organic matter, and beneficial microorganisms.
ANTONISH
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Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by ANTONISH »

jazzkitten wrote: 21 Feb 2024, 3:57pm In my garden, it's all about the soil. I've learned that nurturing the soil is the foundation for a thriving garden. I focus on maintaining a healthy balance of nutrients, organic matter, and beneficial microorganisms.
In the 50's and 60's there was a radio programme on Gardening - there was regular ( a gardener of mature years) who had what became a catch phrase for many questions " I think the answer lies in the soil"
I can't recall his name.
Mike Sales
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Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by Mike Sales »

ANTONISH wrote: 22 Feb 2024, 11:35am
In the 50's and 60's there was a radio programme on Gardening - there was regular ( a gardener of mature years) who had what became a catch phrase for many questions " I think the answer lies in the soil"
I can't recall his name.
Arthur Fallowfield, played by Kenneth Williams on that earthy show Beyond Our Ken.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
Jdsk
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Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by Jdsk »

ANTONISH wrote: 22 Feb 2024, 11:35am
jazzkitten wrote: 21 Feb 2024, 3:57pm In my garden, it's all about the soil. I've learned that nurturing the soil is the foundation for a thriving garden. I focus on maintaining a healthy balance of nutrients, organic matter, and beneficial microorganisms.
In the 50's and 60's there was a radio programme on Gardening - there was regular ( a gardener of mature years) who had what became a catch phrase for many questions " I think the answer lies in the soil"
I can't recall his name.
Arthur Fallowfield, but it was a spoof in Beyond our Ken. It might have been based on Ralph Wightman in Any Questions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Wig ... ar_culture

Jonathan

Edited: Crossed post.
peetee
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Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by peetee »

Can anybody recommend a soil ph tester that actually works and is accurate?
I have having difficulty establishing a garden; many plants will survive for a year or two but will not grow significantly or fail altogether. Those that survive are general acid tolerant.
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
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al_yrpal
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Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by al_yrpal »

You are talking about Percy Thrower(spoofed by Kenneth Williams) Percy got sacked by the BBC for advertising. That was his catchphrase. But....never a truer word!

Been out there weeding, planting and tidying up in preparation for the installation of a new greenhouse cum sunroom in place of the hot tub. Ducks turned up yesterday enjoying our newly cleared pond.....
IMG20240221155147.jpg
Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
Jdsk
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Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: How does your garden grow?

Post by Jdsk »

al_yrpal wrote: 22 Feb 2024, 12:23pm You are talking about Percy Thrower(spoofed by Kenneth Williams)...
Please see posts upthread, and:
https://britishcomedyradio.org/beyond-our-ken/

Jonathan
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