FEBRUARY 2007
One of the first priorities was to allocate an area to grow vegetables. Raised beds seemed to be the best option so we purchased plastic link-a-bord and proceeded to set this out on the “lawn” to see how much space was required. The swings and slide had to be moved around a bit and finally a fence was put up around the vegetable plot to keep rabbits out.
That was all relatively easy to accomplish, next job was to lift the turf from the new raised beds and dig them over.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the garden work had also commenced on making a Spring Border in the space previously occupied by the conifers. We utilised the conifer branches to mark out a bed and paths were created with the bark chippings. It was impossible to dig the soil in the bed, it was so compacted and full of tree roots from the remaining conifers and silver birch and oaks. Instead we just piled garden compost onto the bed and planted into that. We had brought plenty of hellebores and snowdrops with us so these were planted and suddenly it all looked a lot better.
A Liquidamber and Persian Ironwood were also planted here to try and give us privacy from the lane. They were very small when we put them in, however within a few years we realised that they would outgrow their space. Recognizing our mistake they were dug up a few years later and successfully moved but that is another story! However a Purple Hazel was planted just behind the hazel hurdles and this has proved very successful in affording privacy even though we regularly cut out the older growth to use as plant supports.
MARCH/APRIL 2007
With the onset of Spring we were able to make a start on creating new flowerbeds. There was a very small scruffy bed in front of the sitting room window which contained a very elderly rose bush, a Lonicera nitida and not much else other than weeds. During the previous autumn we had planted some bulbs, so at least there was some colour. We dug up some turf to more than double the width of the bed and then laid a narrow brick path along the middle for access. Lovely old edging tiles were then placed along one edge to stop earth falling onto the adjacent terrace, two Acers which we had growing in pots were liberated into the garden and already things were starting to look better.
Fast forward to 2017 and the bed has been enlarged again, the brick path is now lined with box hedging plants, the acers have grown enormous and make walking along the path slightly tricky.
The spring of 2007 was very exciting, not only were we starting to create flowerbeds but we also completed the purchase of an extra half acre of land, giving us around an acre in total. First of all we had to create an entrance between two enormous conifers to enable gates to go in. The next job was to tidy out the very scruffy hawthorn hedge along the boundary with the lane, once this was done we were able to have a post and wire stock proof fence put up. We planned to plant a mixed native hedge along the two boundaries with the adjoining land but this would have to wait until the autumn.
The next area in the garden to be tackled was right next to the house alongside the gravel drive. A previous occupant had planted several shrubs in a very narrow bed within four feet of the house together with an Acer tree. We can only assume they thought they were planting a small compact acer but in fact this tree was already around 15 feet tall and from previous experience we knew it had the potential to get enourmous. It had to come out. This was accomplished fairly easily and we managed to get it down without damaging a beautiful Viburnum also growing in the same bed.
MAY/JUNE 2007
Work carried on in this bed, first of all we decided to enlarge it and to work around the established shrubs already there. The pink Viburnum was lovely but we weren’t quite so keen on a Skimmia and Viburnum tinus. However for the time being they had to stay. We wanted a theme for the bed and as this area catches the last rays of sunlight in the evening we decided that maybe “hot colours” would be appropriate. We set to digging up turf and digging over the bed helped by our two younger children and our Springer spaniel puppy. We regularly dig up old bits of pottery in the garden, particularly 18th century slipware, but in this bed as we dug it over we came across endless wine bottles. Goodness knows what a previous owner thought they were going to grow into! We ended up more than doubling the size of the bed. Meanwhile on the other side of the garden the bed we had created at the front of the house was starting to fill up with plants.
Other areas of the garden were looking very scruffy and weedy but for the time being we left these while we tried to decide how best to tackle them.
AUTUMN 2007
There were many established trees here when we moved in, at the front bordering the drive were a silver birch and a very tall larch. The larch had a nasty habit of dropping branches on a windy day and as it was close to where we parked the cars we decided that it had to go. A tree surgeon was duly called in and made short work of dismantling the tree. Nothing was wasted though, all the scrubby branches were chipped and the resulting woodchip was used to make paths in the vegetable garden. Everything else was sawn into useable lengths and subsequently burnt in the woodburner. After working hard all summer in the garden it was lovely to be able to enjoy some autumn colour in the form of hardy chrysanthemums.
Autumn colour is very important to us and we were pleased that we had a mature bramley apple tree along with an amelanchier amongst others that gave us this much needed colour along the drive.
We had worked really hard in the garden all year but the final job was to plant a native hedge along two sides of what was to become our orchard. This we enjoyed doing although I seem to remember it raining most of the time we were planting. We had several hundred “sticks” to plant, being a mixture of Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Field Maple, Hazel, Spindle, Wayfaring Tree, Buckthorn and Viburnum. At the same time we also planted the first apple trees, being Bramley, Worcester Pearmain, Pitmaston Pineapple, Blenheim Orange and Egremont Russet.
Tales from a Country Garden 