One year on....and beyond

Yes, a thoroughly nice chap.

 

Yes definitely agree with you all, I really miss him too, he was on a couple of other forums with me going back a few years now...lovely person indeed. Really hoping life is being kind to him. Looking forward to him returning back on here one day, when the time feels right for him.
If you do ever look in then to you Verdun xx

 

Sheal, you really took on a wild one there, but really a lovely one. I love the copse of trees out front in comparison to the open aspect out back. Shame about the downed stone walls covered in moss. We have one and a bit stone walls here.

 

Thank you @Victoria. The pines will have to come down in the not too distant future, sadly. Three of them have completely dead branches from the base to two thirds up and I've already removed a lot. I really don't want to see them go as they provide screening but they are getting to the point where it's not safe to leave them.

The back garden is small and with the septic tank system running across the width of the garden it's difficult to know where to plant a tree or two, but I'm giving that some thought at the moment since the demise of the Sycamore.

 

Thanks @shiney.

Classes for dry stone walling, or dykes as they are called here? I don't know about that but I will be posting about my own attempt a bit further on in the thread.

 

With the gardens completely lacking flowers and shrubs when we moved in, it follows that anything I plant will take time to mature.

On the left hand lawn you can just see A Viburnum Tinus 'Gwenllian' and Weigela 'Rubidor'. On the right behind the tank are three roses which weren't successful there so they have been moved.



The intention is to create a trio with the Viburnum and Weigela when I manage to track down either one of two other shrubs.



At the end of both lawns are Rugosa Roses. Below Ilex (Hollies), Handsworth New Silver and Golden Milkboy.








Roses 'Marjorie Fair' moved from the oil tank and Lonicera Heckrotii 'Gold Flame' which has grown very well in it's first season this year. The idea is to hide the bins.

 

So much space Sheal. Lucky you,although having said that wih som envey. Sadly now I have to admit. I wouldn't be able to cope. Please continue to enjoy.

 

Yes there is a good amount of space @Mike Allen but I like an open feel to a garden. I won't be filling this garden with plants, just enough to take the bareness from it.

 

Not much for me to comment on, other than I've really enjoyed reading through this thread. Its so good to see the progress you are making.

 

Thank you kindly @Sandy Ground.

 

I cleared this area of scrub which had grown through from my neighbours 'wilderness' at the end of October. Come Spring I will form a bed and swing it round to the back of the oil tank which can just be seen. I'll initially plant shrubs with smaller ones at the back of the tank. In the future I'll consider making the bed deeper for perennial flowers.



My bugbear below. Having a wide end to the drive - drivers seem to think it's okay to use it as not only a passing place, but a place to turn around. The passing place is just by the second pole you can see. Vehicles are gradually creating a groove in the drive that I have filled in more than once. The remains of the wall below and in the following picture....



.....I had started to rebuild hoping it may deter them to a certain degree. It was looking reasonable until a 100 strong herd of cattle was driven along the road which demolished it. I started a re-build a second time and the same happened, so it's now just a pile of rocks again. The joys of living rurally!



To solve both vehicle and animal problems Mr S and I have decided on ranch style fencing and gates the full width of the garden. We're currently waiting on a quote for that from our diy friend 'A'.

 

We use to have cattle problems when we first lived here as our neighbours were then dairy farmers . That meant the cows were herded up from the fields down the end of the lane several times a day to be milked. The farmer always made sure that any access points to our house and to our other neighbour's were secure and if not he put up a taped barrier across them. This came about after the cows decided on a little detour once and ended up trampling across our neighbour's front garden...they only had a low chainlinked fence, thankfully we have always had a hedged boundary.

 

@Sheal ,

Everything improving as we go through your Thread and i can see that i am not the only one looking at the images and thinking,..now what i would do there is!.

I had that same problem with cattle and horses wandering in to my garden in a previous home,..rather than a gate to have to open and close i got a Cattle Grid,..worked wonders