nFrost Garden Journal

Hello all, following on from the trial and tribulations of first time buying our house (here: http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/buying-a-house-first-time-buyer.61733/) I'm going to start a thread detailing my garden work as I go along. Feel free to chip in with any advice. Some pics of the front (main) garden to get us started:

 

I think I need some Acers in there...somewhere.

 

Japanese ones? I would buy from a reputable nursery, immediately, as small planted. Probably around £7.50 each. Pot on, using ericaceous compost, keep them somewhere sheltered and reasonably shaded, and in a year or so they will be ready to plant out - i.e. around about the time your plans are coming together for how to change the garden (best not to rush that bit so you can see what there is in the garden, over 12 months, when it flowers, what casts shadows, how it looks when the leaves fall, what eyesore, if any, you need to screen, where the wind / weather comes from and so on.

Take photos every fortnight to remind you, come winter , of What and When to help with your planning.

 

That garden looks pretty established. What are your plans to change it?

 

Thanks K, I've seen small ones in Morrisons for £2. Am I right in thinking they are quite slow growing?

I've been thinking about going slowly with the garden, I didn't realise how full and mature it would be but I've snipped a few things back already - mainly to make it so can walk around without ducking under everything. I'm going to take it easy until winter for anything major and let everything die down a bit and get bigger plans going after that.

Regarding my plans to change it I've only thought of a few:

• Bigger veg patch at the end of the garden (raised I think???)
• 6 x 6 Greenhouse on that woodchip bit near the shed
• Belfast sinks as water features (Nothing bigger because m'laddo trying to take a dip in it)
• Acers with Japanese theme (already got well established bamboo in there)
• Renovate the lawn
• Tackle rampant horsetail

I feel like I've got a plan after writing that down, yay!

 

I'd skip them. I've heard that the cheap ones are grafted onto Korean rootstocks, and they are prone to giving up after 7 years or so (just when they are getting to a nice size :( )

The Japanese ones tend to be - but not all of them are. None of them are Rocket Fuelled though

The Spring might bring you lots of bulbs that you cannot currently see (unless you saw [and remember where!] them during the Viewing & Buying process? We photographed the garden at our house on each of the pre-sale visits to accelerate the "wait one year" process, sorry should have mentioned that when you said you were looking / negotiating.

Some random thoughts:

Raised Bed helps if soil is heavy, but its extra work and cost, and allotmenteers never bothered in the past any grew fabby veg! If you want raised beds you could do "lazy raised beds" to start with - dig the soil out of the paths and heap on the "beds" in-between and leave it at that. The soil creeps back into the paths, and needs spooning back out again every other year or three, and you can timber-frame them at a later date when money is available (plus if you change you mind on layout its only a bit of labour to "Move" the paths, whereas once construction has started you'll be loathed to change them!). Lowering the paths does as much to improve drainage as raising the beds, so to speak.

You need bigger than 6 x 6 However big you have will be too small, of course, but smaller than 10 x 8 is increasingly difficult to keep cool in summer, and doesn't provide a very efficient working & growing space. IMHO at least

You could consider Exotic rather than Japanese then. Leafy stuff and the like. Key benefit is that it grows like stink, so will be a "mature" garden in Year One, and impressive from Year Two onwards. Japanese style is a lot longer gestation period. There are some pictures, or mine, on my blog in case of interest:

http://kgarden.wordpress.com/projects/exotic-garden/3/#Gallery

 

Will deffo skip then, how tall are the £7 ones? The £2 ones are about a foot.

I'll have to do some more pictures of it, there's a raised back border packed with flowers already so plenty of seeds in it and it looks like a 5* hotel for molluscs. There's already two raised beds so first thought was to follow that them but anyway I'll get some more pictures first.

I know, I know! Stuck for size however I could get rid of the shed that's there but I'll have nowhere to store tools, bikes etc. 8 x 10 would be ideal but it would start eating into the garden space. Again more pictures needed!

It's not just the plants of the Japanese style I like, I like the relationships between stone, water, wind n all that. Couple of ornaments and rocks and plants and I can start to play around. My dream would be to have a moon wall...but that ain't gonna happen!

 

£7 ones from a specialist nursery will be a foot too. You can pay more, buy taller, of course. But if it is a year or two until you will actually need to plant them then you could buy small and grow on in the meantime? I have a large garden, and a production line of things I am growing "for the future" so its easy for me to say! this year I bought £50 of seeds for "hardy perennial things that are white", sowed this year, planted out, perhaps in a corner of the veg patch, next year, evaluated / propagated, and then I will make a White Garden the following year. In previous years it has been propagation for a Parterre and I grew 1,000 cuttings of suitable hedging plants; upcoming project is to make a Portuguese Laurel "Allée" and propagate enough plants from my existing Laurel hedge ...

That approach might not be for everyone though!

Here's an example of a reputable Japanese Maple nursery:
http://www.barthelemymaples.co.uk/index.html
(Click on View Catalogue, its only available as a "list" so you'd have to order direct)

if you wanted bigger ones then Paramount are about the best price I have come across. Not bought from them, so no idea on quality etc.
http://www.paramountplants.co.uk/japanese-acers.html

"Bloodgood" is a good example to choose, reasonably fast growing, very popular. They want £125 for a 2M plant rising to £400 for a 3.5M one (which would be about 25 years old)

For a Rolls Royce solution the Norfield Nurseries win Gold at Chelsea every year for their Acers. They are not open to the public, and visits are by appointment only. They don't do mail order and don't have a website, but you can phone them up, or place an order at the main shows that they attend. Their business model is to take orders at the main shows, and then spend the rest of the year raising plants - I can't argue with that!

Makes sense. Max width for raised bed is 4' (reachable from either side) and makes sense to try to design them that wide, to maximise space usage.

Ah, that's a proper Japanese Garden As you were then

Patio Doors into the house?

 

Ruddy hell, I'll stick to the seven quiders I think. Thank you though.

At the rear of the house is what we've already dubbed 'the courtyard', the long term plan is to remove the shed and put some dark brown decking up with enough room for 4 chairs and a table and extra of room for BBQ area. I'm thinking of using my 48 lavender plants to do one side after I tear out the Tree Mallow, Buddlia and Lillies that are already there. What (or what doesn't) work with Lavender? I'm hoping to make 'the courtyard' a container herb garden too.

 

Rosemary?

I think white (flowers) makes a good combination with grey foliage. Not seen them in the flesh, but you could get white flowering Lavender varieties.

 

The Courtyard, at Kiftsgate Court (right next door to Hidcote Manor) - bit of a flog from you, 3hrs eachway? )



Lavender just behind the fountain is Hidcote Giant (actually I don't think it grows much larger than regular Hidcote, per se)

 

Very nice, although my 'courtyard' is a tad different. Will have to get some pics. Just no time at all at the moment.

 

Yeah, well .... Kiftsgate Court has Acres & Acres, so that's probably to be expected

I have a few Courtyard pictures on my Pinterest, but its just one, v. posh!, house in Oz. Their "courtyard" is surrounded by pergola on a couple of sides:

www.pinterest.com/kgardenpins/courtyard/

might be food for thought though?

The one I want to copy, although not exactly Courtyard, is Paleis Het Loo (Holland) which has a living-pergola-walkway-thingie (Hornbeam I think) and then looks into a "courtyard" (of sorts)

www.pinterest.com/kgardenpins/paleis-het-loo/

 

Here's my 'courtyard':

 

I like the climber in the first picture nFrost, any idea what it is please? I can't tell without a close up.

Last picture. Hmmmm........now assuming that plant is attached to the trellis, that's going to be a fiddly re-pot!