We've stopped the rabbits!! (we hope!)

Does anyone remember my first post back in Feb? About any ideas that I hadn't yet tried to get my garden going when the rabbits ate everything in sight, including lavendar and conifers???

Well, we've gone for the only real option, fencing things, and generally rabbitproofing the place. The back wasn't that much of a problem, and you've all seen pics of my cottage garden and greenhouse - but the front was open plan, with a massive perimeter, which we could only fence in black metal, as that's the only thing that would have looked right, with other black fencing currently in place in other parts of the place. Well, we finally had to bite the bullet, and fork out loadsa money to have this done, and Mr Dendy has put the chicken wire all round, dug in suitably deep, and we've finally planted the lavendar hedge , and I'm now starting to dig up the grass so we can plant. At last!!

Here's a pic of what we've got now, and what it was like before. A long way to go though - watch this space....

then....

and


which show the boundary range....


now....

 

Nice panels Dendy!...They suit the property very well,and the finials add that touch of class
I used to make similar railings for folk in Cheltenham,and used acorn finials...Very posh!

 

I was hoping you'd be impressed with the turf-lifting more than the finials!! Men!!

But you're right - we had to go for that sort of fencing, as it was the sort of thing that the people who'd built the place had used for the dictator's balcony....

 

That's a great shape to play with Dendy and Lavender hedges look fantastic. Just make sure the postie shuts the gate or the little buggers'll be back in :eek:

 

That's ok, Windy - the posty doesn't have to go through any gates - the drawbridge is still open access! No plants there, except in containers and hanging baskets!! :D

 

I admired the turf lifting! Mines always of differing thicknesses and shapes. I blame my soil :D

 

Phew! It would be heartbreaking after all that work! rabbits eat! :rolleyes:

 

Sorry Dendy Lovely bit of turf lifting there Now tell us...what are you going to do with them now!

 

You said it!!
Have you seen the before and during at the back??

Here you go... apologies if the photo is enormous - for some reason the edit function on photobucket isn't working

before


after

 

P.S. It's been non-stop hard work from 1/10 when we moved in, and we're still at it..... and I work in other people's gardens too!! :rolleyes: I'm waiting for the men in white suits any day....

 

The eagle-eyed members of this forum might possibly have spotted the similarity between that shed and the flat-packed stuff in my first pic, that is standing against the wall of the house 2 doors away...

 

Dendy that's lovely, both front and back. Loved the panels, and of course the clean lines of the turf lift in the front. The back - boy that took some work well done. I wish you a rabbit free year.

May I suggest some roses with the lavender hedge in the front?

 

What a lovely idea Fran! Yes, lavendar and roses go together beautifully. Do you reckon some of the shires would do the job? They're quite low-growing, and pretty vigorous, if my memory serves me right..
Although I trained with roses, they're not my favourite plant (they fight back a lot!!) - but I love the scented ones, however many thorns they have. I've got Fountain and Silver Anniversary in the cottage garden, and a few different climbers, and a couple of ramblers (felicite et perpetue, and one my m-in-law got, a red one Pauls Scarlet, I think.) F et P is in the hedge, as are a few dog roses and rosa rugosa.

Thanks all for the compliments (totally unsolicited, of course - ahem!) on the turf-lifting! Did you notice the rubbish pile of stuff I'd got out of the small area I've done so far? So much builders' rubble - even whole house bricks, bits of wire, glass, crisp packets, old rubber gloves, etc, etc! And the soil is c*** too! We've still got quite a bit of that mushroom compost (anyone remember that post in April?? There wil be a test on all this later - don't forget I used to be a teacher! :rolleyes:

Sorry, Nick, didn't see your post - very nice response to the prod!! What am I going to do with the turf?
Well, we've got so much that this lot will be going straight to the local "recycling facility", aka the cowp, as we've already got as much as we can cope with, turning slowly into lovely loam in one of our 5 compost bins!!

Oh, and weve just started on digging the pond - so there will no doubt be photos of that in due course!

 

Wow Dendy!!! You're doing so much!!!! Looking better each pic!! When I fist saw the post, thought you were going to say o/h got you a double-barrelled shotgun!!!!! :eek:
And the after pic of your back - its hard to imagine that is less than a year old!!!!!

....as for the shed - did you run up there in the dead of night and "aquire" it then???????

 

Lovely cottage garden, Dendro ... so much delicate colour. I like Fran's idea of roses with the lavender, too! Do you have time to sit and enjoy it? :rolleyes: