A back street garden

And perhaps line the back with heavy plastic.

 

My next door neighbour built raised beds against my fence.
I asked him if he had buried the bottom of my fencing.
Oh no he replied I built a wall along the back of the bed one inch from the fence .
Its obvious what happens the soil falls down the back during the filling and cultivating stage.

If you're not going to leave a 6 inch gap, which can be cleared out from time to time, it's a waste of effort.

 

I saw one on the news once, and I've heard about one in Manchester, which may be one and the same, but haven't come across any others, not that I've searched. It would certainly be good to see more of them, but I doubt there could be much in the local area. Our street only has houses on one side of the back street, and is quite a short stretch compared to most. Also, there are no 'idiots' with access, not counting Victor. But I don't believe Victor would be malicious, just grumpy.

I think Victor is beyond salvation. At risk of repeating some previous comments, he is known for complaining, and by that I mean officially to the council. I've heard other comments, but don't know their source or validity.
One of his known gripes is the fact that we have the street gates in the first place. 'It reeks of deprivation', or words to that effect, have been attributed to him. I've heard that he has claimed the gates have reduced the value of his property significantly. They are, after all, normally installed to help reduced crime. To aggravate the situation, the last time he collected his bin, and closed the gate, he didn't lock it, as I discovered when checking later (he chooses to put his bin out there for emptying, rather than at the front of his house).

I check the local crime statistics every month on Streetcheck, and while some of the neighbouring streets have regular, or intermittent, crimes recorded, it's very rare that I see anything in the immediate area. Far from degrading the area, we all consider the gates a big positive. The low crime rate is probably the reason its taken so long to get the gates. I've been here 15 years, and even back then some of the neighbours were writing to the council asking.

I don't think Victor's accomplice (the one who claims ownership of the wall) is quite as bad. When Victor last came through the gate, along with his neighbour, one of my neighbours went to talk to them. While Victor maintained his negative, loud, attitude, the whole time, his neighbour did seem to quieten down as the situation was explained to him. Victor however seemed determined to get him riled up again. It didn't help that Victor's neighbour was also suspected of having his mood negatively effected by alcohol.

This is something we've already dealt with on the wall of the adjacent business we're using. Just about visible on the first image of the OP if you look closely, I added a couple of small raised beds around the telegraph pole, and large silver drainpipe. The owner asked that they be lined with a plastic sheet. I've improved on that, as a neighbour had some plastic trim left over from some recent roof work. It's just the right height to fit inconspicuously at the back of the bed, and it has a lip of about an inch, which allows the air (and slugs & spiders) to circulate at the back.

I still doubt anything will happen now as far as the bed and the end is concerned. If I did have a change of mind, there's enough stones that I could build a fully enclosed bed. I'd be reluctant to move it much further forward though as I wouldn't want to restrict access to the bin men. Sometimes one will come through dragging 2 wheelie bins side by side.
Then of course there's grumpy Victor. 'What if I want to bring my car down to unload it?'
I don't think there's ever been a vehicle down there, except for any hand held machines used by the utility companies to dig up & resurface. I think it would be extremely difficult to get a vehicle down there anyway. Vehicles sometimes park in front of the gates, or close enough to the side that manoeuvring would be difficult.
Just another reason for me to let it rest. I'm still half expecting him to come and complain next year, if/when all the wild flowers start to grow. (think of all the bees in the area! ) If the flowers are a success, and go unopposed, I'm considering moving some mint that I've had growing in a pot for years, and replanting it around there. If its roots were to find their way under his wall, and the mint took over his garden, I'd be denying all knowledge.


Anyway, after a lazy day today, I'll hopefully get back out tomorrow in the sunshine and sow the next batch of wildflower seeds. There's more space for more flowers, now the raised bed has gone.

While looking though the pile of seed packets today, I noticed one of the suppliers had sent a few small sample packets. To add to my list of plants to check for suitable locations, and growing instructions, I've now got some:
Delphinium 'imperial mixed'
Salvia hispanica
Aster 'Montezuma'
Platycodon grandiflorus
and some Antirrhinum

I'm familiar with most of the names, but that's about as far as it goes. Snapdragons were on my original list, but I decided I already had enough plants. I'll get to try some after all now.

And while I was doing a little online shopping today, I decided to buy the small grow-light I'd been considering. Only 13.2 inches long according to the listing, but it gets some good reviews, and may come in useful if any seedlings object to the relatively dim, northern, spring light that they'll be trying to grow in.

 

Oops.

I just noticed

Oh well, I'll just have to hope Victor's membership has slipped, and he doesn't have the latest newsletter.

 

Time for a break, since Google brought me here again. All because I bought some heather while I was shopping today. On getting home, I've found it to be the common Calluna type, though I don't think the label gives any clues as to the variety.
I've got some Erica x darleyensis that has been growing happily in a planter for a few years, and I'm sure it was just regular multi purpose compost I used, followed by years of neglect. I did buy some ericaceous compost once, but it was a long time ago. I'm probably going to have to make do with what I've got anyway, as the neighbours tell me they've struggled to find any compost locally this last week. Presumably no one does any garden work once the kids go back to school in this part of the country.

I'm starting to think about spring bulbs now too, since the neighbour came home with a few. I was hatching great plans to fill a couple of planters with snowdrop bulbs, but then I read conflicting articles on whether or not they grow well in containers. My current 'understanding' is that they're okay in containers, providing the compost is fresh & nutrient rich, and the container reasonably protected from frost, but the compost needs renewing every year, so no good for naturalisation.
I may just try them for a year or two, and if I'm not getting good results, I'll plant all the bulbs in the rough patch at the end of the street.

For the neighbour's bulbs, I've increased the height of one of the small beds I built.



She has since removed the plants, added a bag of daffs & some snowdrops, filled with compost, and replanted flowers. If it were me doing it, I'd still be at the procrastination stage (1st phase).


I've been trying to take a photo of the street in the evening, but neither of my cameras have managed anything good yet. A neighbour has been more successful. We almost went public when it was posted on the local Facebook community page, but it was removed shortly after. Sadly, there are too many 'village idiots' who would probably try to spoil it, so it looks like we're going to try and remain discreet for now.



It sounds like there are a few people out there now on bat-watch, so I may go & join them for a while.

 

Galanthus Nivalis (the common Snowdrop) are supposed to be happy growing in woodland or on river banks - liking a moist soil. Mine are quite happy growing in starved, sandy loam amongst pine trees. I've not grown them in pots but changing the compost every year seems to be over the top to me.

I like the evening shot, looks a bit like Christmas. Ooooo did I really say that horrible word!

 

Like Sheal I grow G nivalis under conifers at one end and oaks the other, poorish soil and dryish shade. I think the important thing is that they don't get too dry or too hot when dormant.
I have some in small pots and they are more temperamental. Never tried them in large containers.
Tulip, daffodil, crocus, hyacinth all seem to do well in containers.

 

That will depend on where your neighbours had been buying compost from. The likes of supermarkets and discount store will have already emptied the shelves of garden goodies to be replaced by Christmas goodies. They only tend to stock garden goodies from the Easter Bank holiday, maybe a week or two sooner depending on when Easter falls up to the August bank holiday. A garden centre will still have compost supplies in stock though, maybe not as much as in the spring months.

 

Two and a half years later!

As I found my way back, I thought I'd add a little update.

I decided to replace a few of the planters with a couple of raised beds


I've not decided what to fill them with yet. I'm trying to add a few 'low maintenance' perennials, but it's still in the early stages. I'm also experimenting with the idea of placing potted plants (complete with pot) in the beds, which I can then lift out and replace with something more seasonal. Potted pelargoniums worked quite well last year, but the idea of a few tubs of spring bulbs didn't work as well. Only 2 daffs have flowered. Probably my fault for overcrowding the containers with too many bulbs in each.

My other main area of interest is the 'wasteland' at the end that I'm trying to improve the look of. Over the winter of 2022 (or 2023 - I lose track of time) I brought a load of manure & leaf mould from the nearby allotments (with the blessing of the then secretary), which I left to the worms for a few months. Added to that, I've created a good compost heap, and with all the neighbours throwing their old plants, and usually compost too, on to the heap, I've probably added a good half a dozen wheelbarrows full of compost to the soil.

The first picture show the whole patch, except for half of the compost heap on the right hand side.





It's becoming a 'dumping ground' for everyone's unwanted plants, which is great as I can find out what grows well there. The first plants I noticed were primulas They don't seem to last long in our tubs & borders, but on this bed they're thriving. I don't think they've completely stopped flowering since adding them. The next big success story, hopefully, are wallflowers. I planted a few last autumn, and they're really growing well. I think I had a few more mature plants that I planted there too, and they're also doing well.

Wallflowers seem to like our back street. In the second of the raised bed photos you can see some wallflowers that have started growing in the cracks between the cobbles.

Hardly any of the bulbs have flowered on the end bed either. I don't know if that's just lack of sunlight, or some other factor, but I'll probably just leave them there, as I've no other good place for them.

Other plants of note; my hydrangea only managed 2 flowers last year, so I decided to give that a new home at the end. I'll have to wait a few months to see how well it likes it there, but it has plenty of green shoots, so I'm taking that as a positive start. There's a couple of buddleias that have self seeded near the compost heap (between the compost heap & the unidentified big green bush. Some mint I moved there is, unsurprisingly, taking over. Some raspberry bushes are also growing quite well, although they didn't bear much fruit last year. I've also stuck in some cuttings from a few native shrubs, including a dog rose, to see if any of them take hold.

I've been sowing various wildflower seed packs there too, so I'm never sure just what's growing.

One last pic on the back street for now. Back when I was after climber suggestions, I got some honeysuckle. I don't know how fast or bushy it normally grows, but mine is doing really well. It had already grown up to the neighbours extension roof, but with so many shoots, I thought I'd see if it will grow across the back street and form something of a canopy. I'm not sure if I'll like the results, so I'm just trying it with some string tied across for now.


Sorry, large image won't seem to load, although you can click through to it.

 

Good work @Chris20 ! Are you still troubled by your Victor Meldrew?

 

That's a great project @Chris20 which I've enjoyed reading about. Good luck with your endeavours to brighten up your neighbourhood.

I did some something similar many years ago when we lived in the end house of a terrace of 13 houses. We were plagued with mainly taxi drivers who used the 'back alley way' as a loo late at night and also drug dealing, minor theft and burglaries. I organised the 13 households to club together and we had two wrought iron gates made, one for each end of the alley way/footpath with each household having a key. There were some complaints mainly from people the other side of the street because they couldn't walk their dogs down there anymore but as they didn't pick up after their dogs, we ignored them. I had checked our deeds and with the Council and it wasn't a public right of way. There was enough room, just, for me to plant a small cherry tree, clematis, bamboo in an old dustbin to screen out the ground windows of a new, very large
block of flats and other stuff. Like you, I then planted bulbs and perennials and happily gardened together with some of the other neighbours up and down the alleyway. It was good while it lasted but we eventually moved - I wanted a larger garden!

 

He's not been seen for weeks, maybe months. We think he's either moved away, or just been told again by the council to stop using the gate.