Yvonne's Nectar Haven - Work in progress

Hi, Thanks for stopping by, pull up a deck chair, this could be exhausting! :-)

I bought my first home 8-9 weeks ago and the garden was a huge selling point to me, I love Victorian properties but you don't get many with gardens in my area.

As you can see there is a lot of work to be done, to turn it from a concrete jungle to something a little more inviting to wildlife. So, the journey begins, I look forward to hearing your comments and criticism, I'm a total newbie to gardening so I'll need lots of help!

 

Hello Yvonne and welcome to the forum ,
really exciting challenge you got there , before you start the first thing is to find the right inspiration and what would you like to achieve , keep the slate you may use for something different .

 

It does look like a lot of work, but well worth it once it's done. Plus, it's a blank canvas so you don't have to live with someone else's choices

Are you looking for a courtyard garden or do you want a lawn, or a mix of both?

Do you want a contemporary garden or something more traditional or maybe a mix of both?

Do you want formal/informal?

What sort of plants would you like to plant?

I think a fence along the side would probably be my first job, because I do like my privacy.

A nice Lilac tree at the end of the garden would be lovely once it's matured

Don't forget, we want loads of pictures of the progress please!

 

What is the aspect? When you look out of your window does it face North, South, East or West (or, inbetween?) That would be one of the first things you need to know before you begin planning and designing.

I think you are going to have much fun with this

 

Thanks for all your comments guys

The garden is 41 feet long and is slightly wider at the bottom than it is outside the house. It's NE facing so the back of the house gets full sun from sunrise and as the day progresses the shadow from the house grows up the garden.

Firstly the heavy 'structural' work which needs to be done before I can get the nice bit:

Removal of all the flags - Thankfully, most of these are only bedded in sand so it's just a case of levering them up with a spade. I have advertised these on Freecycle and had an amazing response, 30 of them have been lifted and taken away already to be recycled into hard standings for allotment sheds and patios. The guy who came last night has offered to take them all as I'm ready to move them, he and his friend even helped me lift them :-)

Rebuild the dividing wall - This came up on the survey as most of the brick work is blown and the wall is bellying. I also would like to have it re-built a little higher, approx 6'. I've had some builders around this week so just waiting for the quotes. Once this wall has been done, I'm planning on lifting the paving stones from the right hand side of the garden and they can have a new life somewhere else :-)

Lay new patio and garden path - I have chosen a grey Indian stone and I plan to have this laid in a semi circle, starting at the right hand side of the garden , curving through the length and round the back of the Mock Orange to the back gate. In the middle of the curve to the centre left of the garden will be a patio, approx 3 metres squared. This will leave large areas of soil which I can define into beds using an edging and 20mm slate chippings between the path/patio edge up to the borders.

Greenhouse - Got my eye on a nice wooden one, I think it's wise to invest in this sooner rather than later so I can grow from seeds. I think the biggest expense could easily be plants as I think I will need hundreds in order to fill out the garden.

Immediately behind house, under the kitchen window are footing/hard standing from an old outhouse. Because of this and as this is the area which is first cast in shadow (from 2pm) I have started to build some raised vegetable & herb beds from old scaffolding planks.

The colour scheme I would like is the purple/blue/pink as I really want to attract bees and butterflies. I also think this will compliment the slate colours I'm using for the hard landscaping.

In summary, I would like a cross between a country / courtyard garden, with a kitchen garden right behind the house, flower beds and patio in the middle and green house and chicken coop towards the back of the garden.

 

Sounds lovely

I've got a small Ceanothus Southmead which you are welcome to (which is blue). It was an impulse buy which I subsequently regretted as I have nothing blue in my garden (it's mostly pinks, creams and lilacs). It was only a couple of quid for a tiny plant in Morrisons in spring but has grown very fast so won't take long to fill a space. It can be grown as a shrub or trained up a trellis so would look good at the back of the border.

Let me know if you're interested (I'll keep it here until the hard landscaping is done)

Also may be a pink rose bush going spare next spring if enough of the cuttings take.

If you've got the patience I'd suggest scrounging lots of cuttings off friends and family (or off kindly GCers).

 

Hi Yvonne, if you are more adventurous you might try fennel, its a perennial and grows big, but fluffy, so it mixes well with all sorts of other cottage plants/flowers, like hollyhocks.

I like the airy green-yellow aspect of it, i could imagine it with sunflowers, that's actually what I am going to try next year:-)
if you grow it from seed, it will only be small the first year, but the next one it will be big. Combines well (in spring) with tulips. I can't remember the name of the other plant in the picture atm, just eludes me..

 

Great planning Yvonne , the best thing to do it is just concentrate on the layout , rebuild the wall , get a greenhouse and a chicken coop , get the soil ready (try to replace it of composting ) and then cover all up ready for spring , try not to be tempted to buy plants/chicken now they will only die in winter.
focus on the structure a good layout is the secret of success .

 

Great ideas! How lovely that you a) freecycled the flags, but even better b) the guys who wanted them helped you lift them!!!

And I agree about the chickens (not that they will die in winter); Spring is the best time and opens up more options: you could get a small incubator and hatch fertilised eggs; or, buy Spring chicks quite cheaply - only downside is, you won't know their gender until they mature (unless you go for a sex linked breed, such as cream legbars); early Spring you are least likely to get point of lay and the one's you most likely get would be from this years hatchings and could be as old as one full year.

All exciting stuff for you

 

hi again

Firstly, Thanks Marlesworld for you very kind offer. I'd love the Lilac, thanks. I'm not sure about taking on more roses, I bought a gorgeous David Austin rose just before I moved in and so far I've spent £10 on a bug spray and then a fungus spray because it developed Rust. Not sure if I have time for any more divas :-)

I plan to get 2 or 3 re-charged battery hens from my local animal rescue and start out with them. A couple of eggs a day will be plenty for me. So, this is my little collection so far, I need to stop buying plants now in case they don't survive the winter in the pots.

 

Really pleased re the battery hens

 

Hi there

I may have been quiet but I have been busy! Progress report, the shed and wall are up and I'm really pleased with it. The garden looks longer now, I think the wall is creating an optical illusion.

Ok, the next steps - I'm going to take a well earned holiday, going to Nepal for 2 weeks

Then, when I get back I'm going to lay the footings for the greenhouse, using some of the existing path to the right of the garden. It will be a situated just in front of the mock orange, close to the wall.

Then the step after that is to finish making the raised beds. As you can see from the photos, the flagged area in the middle is raised. Initial digging suggests a mixture of broken brick and soil lurks beneath. I will use the soil to fill the raised beds.

Once that's done ( and the tree stump has been dug out) I'll get some more quotes for laying the path and patio. At the moment the quotes I'm getting are a little expensive as they are factoring in all the levelling etc. There is no rush, I have all winter to work on this

 

You have been busy, but what a transformation.

 

Nepal??? Cool