Blog : My new Purple Border

Some of you may remember my "what should I put in my new purple border" thread a few months back. Well, here's a thread which will run over the next couple of months (or more !) showing my progress.

Progress will be slow though Some of the rest of you will remember my "Kidney Stones" thread, I'm only just out of hospital after my 3rd operation (finally successful, they got the stuck stone, just got to sort out the 2 in the kidney now) and because I've been pretty ill for two months my backlog of jobs is HUGE !

Started today digging out the old conifers. I'm going to get the fence completely replaced with feather edge boards ... going to get it done "by a man" though, as he'll do it in a day and it would take me ages at the moment.

Started by removing some of the plants from in front of the border ...



Not much in there worth keeping, a couple of helebores and that's it. There was a load of low lying "rubbish" plant that didnt flower last year in what is now empty earth above. Started moving a load of the euphorbia robbiae (there's LOADS to move) however most of it isnt enjoying being transplanted. I've moved some to another border, and some to pots. As you can see, there's still plenty more to come out.



Started taking the conifers out then, and taking the branches off that massive stump. I'm going to get a stump grinder bloke in to dig that out. I was going well till my chainsaw died (which has already been to the shop twice for the same, obviously unresolved, problem ... mutter mutter grumble grumble). You can see on this shot why I'm replacing the fence, lol.



Got two of the conifer trunks out (mainly by swinging on them) and the knackered quince shrub to the left of the big stump, which was VERY hard to get out ...



... and broke my favourite fork :(



That's it for now ! More to follow, adhoc. Oh, and I also bought some sharp sand in bags, which are going to be part of my "improve the soil" stage, before I plant up (I have some horse manure and compost to go in too ... the soil under the conifers is very impoverished and clayey)

Last shot, from the back bedroom window (sorry about the reflection) ...

 

oh p.s. .... that's rapeseed in the field ... HOW BRIGHT is that going to be in a few weeks time ?!?!

 

nice place Evil, and a great lawn!

 

WOW is the WORD!!! Well Done Len Glad your on the Mend!!!! loveley view from up stairs comming along Top job as Marley Said you take care!!! :WINK1:

 

Cheers all !

Stage 1 will be to rip everything out, so I have a completely empty border
Stage 2 will be to get the fence replaced
Stage 3 will be to reshape the lawn and increase the size of the border (I think)
Stage 4 will be to double dig the whole border and improve the soil
Stage 5 will be to plant up

 

You're doing a great job Len,i'll be looking forward to watching your progressBUT please go steady....i've only dug out one small tree today and it's nearly killed me....AND i haven't been ill

 

Nice job Nev!! Just take things steady and don't booger yourself up!

 

An hour yesterday, an hour today. All the trunks nearest to the decking are gone ... the conifers (with shallow, horizontal roots) were easy, the hawthorn (?) and ash (both of which have long tap roots) were a pain. Removed some more euphorbia too.

Discovered two small (2') concrete posts ... THOSE are going to be a pain to get out, have half excavated one and it still wont budge/rock.

The conifers nearest the house (the ones remaining) are a lot bigger than the others ... tougher to get out ! 1 down 4 to go.

TOP TIP : when removing conifers of this size, leave the main truck so you can rock it back and forth and snap off the rootball from its roots BUT ALSO leave a long stub of strong branch, so you can get some rotary action going ...



Fence man booked for 26/04, so got three weekends to turn this into a patch of bare earth ...

 

Okay, so my wife is saying she quite likes that tree stump there now, with the ivy going up it. So, quick poll, would you remove it (about £80 for stump grinder) or leave it and somehow make a feature of it ?

 

Totally agree with Shiney and your wife....it would make a nice feature

 

I think I'd keep it. My neighbour at my last house grew ivy up an old tree trunk, just as your missus is suggesting. It didn't take too long to fill out. About 3 years after he'd done it, it looked like it had always been covered in ivy. All sorts of bugs will move in too, which is a good thing I think.

 

Hmmmmm ... still to be convinced ... will sleep on it !

No more branches to cut off, three stumps (the biggest, bah) to go ...