new garden - deciding how to start!

It’s that time of year, to record how the garden is looking (I’d forgotten how bad the grass was last summer, although much has still not recovered).

The wood store, with fruit trees starting to flower, and the pale stake of our new quince tree. Daffodils slowly starting to look at home on the bank...


Across to the compost bay area, with quince, Schone de Boskoop, laxtons, and the start of a lower banking, being made with turf.


Hiding under the buddleia are my little treasures, a couple of cowslip plants relocated from Hereford.

The soft fruit bushes are coming through, though we lost half the blueberry plants in the drought. The dead cherry has been cut back to the core framework - to make it more stable in the wind. A replacement Herefordshire russet seems to be settling in.

The angle bed is greening up, so most of the herbaceous plants came through the drought (Conducta plum in full flower)

Another shot of the angle bed....

 

The extended patio bed is settling in. We lost a rhododendron, so at least we now have an off-lawn home for the bird table....

The island bed, with medlar coming into leaf. The underplanting is coming up, but slower than normal, because of the stress of last year.

The herb bed is definitely maturing!


The geranium bed is looking good! The rose has now reached the lights which is over 2m....
Excuse the missing gate - one half ripped off in some high winds a free weeks ago.

Productive corner! The three veg beds, hopefully will be busy supplying us with food again this year. So far, we are growing a pair of cloches, and some purple kale.

The pond is starting to grow again, unlike the grass....

A better view of the pond

 

The area above the shed - I plan to extend this area, and create a sort of woodland patch

The geranium bed from above. You can see the two dogwoods, the ballerina rose, the stinking hellebores, and a “spare” rosemary; with the herb bed, and Izzy, in the distance

Another angle on the geranium bed. The next few weeks the bed will be extended up to the flat(ish) area of grass, with the area around the acer growing to be as wide as the rest of the bed....there’s always something “big” to do!

Finally, looking across the top of the garden - you can see the affect of the prevailing wind on the cherry tree. It’s why the cloches have to be tied down!

 

It's looking good Sian despite the drought last year.

 

Thank you @Sheal !

We’ve lost a few plants, the worst being the apple tree of 4 years’ standing.

Not sure how much I should strive to get the grass to regrow. Any suggestions, folks? (We garden without chemicals, if that affects your answers...)

 

I wonder if you can help with this please @Sandy Ground ? Oops! I've just remembered, you garden on sandy ground Sian.

 

Impressive garden Sian....love the space you have too jealous of that
The grass? I would raise the cut and I would aim to mow at least once a week without grassbox (thereby helping to return goodness to the turf)
There are natural products you could use on the grass.....chicken pellets, for example, but they usually entice foxes, dogs etc., etc., to dig there.

 

Thank you @Verdun! It would be a dream garden, if we had soil rather than sand!! Pretty close though, even now .

The only problem I have with raising the cutting blades on the mower is that I already cut at the highest setting, to help the grass as much as I can...
I generally cut the grass once a week, but only once every two weeks on the top “bald” section, as there is nothing to cut. Even doing it once per fortnight, I only get one 1/2 box from the top 1/3 of the garden... I’m thinking of spreading lime on the top area, to help combat the sheep’s sorrel (ie the green bits) but I think I will also need to scarify and sow seed, or it will be totally brown? The problem is, we can have extended periods without rain, and so finding the right time to sow is difficult. Maybe I should have just dug a (much) bigger pond!

 

@Sheal Now that I've seen the thread, I'll try

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@Sian in Belgium as my forum name suggests, I too have a garden on sandy soil, and avoid using harmful chemicals. Nowadays, the only ones I use are on the lawn, and eco ones at that.

As I have mentioned on here several times, I attended a cours/seminar/call it what you will on lawns, and as part of it was given a basic lawn care schedule for this climate and the type of soil we both have. As your climate is better than the one here, its a bit late to do the suggested but here it is anyway. One other thing. I am aware that this will be considered controversial by many on here.

As early as practical in the season, use an eco feed that will slightly raise the pH value of your lawn. Wait until the grass starts growing, then cut it as low as you can at least once, but preferably twice. A few days after the second cut, scarify the lawn using the blade type set to cut into the lawn about 1/2".This will do two things. It will cut through the grass roots, and encourage it to grow thicker. Done correctly, it will also have a tendency to level things slightly. Rake up the debris remaining after the scarifier. If you feel the need to overseed, do it using a garden lute and the seed mix in dressing. The mix, incidentally, should be according to the use the lawn is put to, or expected conditions. Some, for example, are better at coping with drought conditions, some for animals and children playing on them. Others for a more luxurious type of lawn.

One final thing. Check the pH value at various places around the lawn with a good quality calibrated meter. If it gets under 7,5, add lime in autumn to raise it.

 

Thank you @Sandy Ground ! That’s really helpful!

So far this year, I’ve cut the grass 3 times I think. Too late to scarify it now? Good to know that any addition of lime (I don’t know the ph, but acid-loving plants like rhododendron thrive here) is to be done in the autumn.

Probably too much information, but it’s noticeable that I do have grass, (point 1!), and it grows well, below the lower septic tank. I put this down to - ermmm - feeding, and also moisture, as below the tanks all the liquid (washing machine, showers, dish-water, etc, as well as the “obvious”) soaks into the ground...

 

An informative and useful post @Sandy Ground, thank you.

 

@Sian in Belgium I scarified here a few days ago, which is about the right time to do it here. As I'm not sure of the conditions there, so I couldnt say if it was too late or not. If you have fed the lawn, I would probably take a chance as the grass should be actively growing.

The idea of liming in autumn is to allow it to get into the ground over the wet part of the year. That will prevent moss later, so no need to use iron sulphate. By doing that, I've been moss free now for two seasons. Reading through your posts, I saw that you had blueberries which are acid loving. They wont grow here, ask me how I know! Therefore, I would probably not use lime in your case, just an eco feed.

Incidentally, if you overseed, then there is a seed mix that is pre-fertilised. Easy to spot, because the seeds are blue.

 

Thank you again, @Sandy Ground ! It’s difficult to know what battles to try to fight, and what not to even try!

Yes, the soil here is generally acid, (blue hydrangea flowers, plus lots of rhododendrons and azaleas) whilst the tap water is very alkaline. I have to descale the kettle every week!

I was already considering using lime, as it was recommended as a way for controlling sheep’s sorrel, which is rampant in the grass. So you would not use it? Because it would be immediately neutralised by the soil?

I think I will give scarification a go. The thatch and moss is so dense, there is no chance of young grass plants getting through, or food/seed getting in contact with the soil. I have a couple of scarifying rakes, but it is back-breaking work, and seems to end up with isolated clumps of grass, and rosette weeds on raised areas... I might see if I can buy a scarifyer when I go back to the UK next week (power tools are much cheaper over there!).

 

I've got the same 'syndrome' on the area above the filter bed of the septic tank The lushest, greenest grass imaginable. I often wonder if it would be worth diverting the pipes out over a larger area of lawn. Natural distribution worked for centuries here without any noticeable cholera or dysentery epidemics

 

Yayy!!

Tomorrow morning, I’ve a visit from the local wildlife agency, to advise me on what I can do to encourage more wildlife in my garden; in particular, midwife toads!!