elissande: (Default)
[personal profile] elissande

One of the things that we're trying to do this year is to get the back garden into some kind of shape. It was neglected for a few years due to other priorities. The main lawn was still mowed as I paid someone for that, but the raised section was let go to nature (in this case, nature appears to have been jasmine) and the back fence deteriorated to falling-down-ness and stuff was piled up around it and things grew through that (the lawn man just avoided it). I'll see if I can find some pictures and post them.

So we've been working on the garden these last couple of months. On our free weekends, that is. We got the back fence replaced before Christmas. As this involved clearing a metre around it, we managed to fill a whole skip with vegetation. It also allowed us to clear things a bit more and set up the 'fairy grotto' for the NYE party.

Aside from that, we've been spending a lot of effort on the raised section of the garden. It's a section about 4.5m wide and over 12m long. It will end up with the herb garden, the vege garden and a section of ornamental garden with a water feature. We've got a way to go but there has been some progress. The section that is to be the herb garden was my herb garden some years ago. It's about 3m square and is a knot garden insofar as there are paved paths that form a square knot pattern - very narrow paths as they are only one paver wide. The pavers divide the area into 10 separate beds. The herb garden is now cleared and herbs are growing - thyme, parsley, coriander, dill (though that's gone to seed), basil, oregano, catnip, lemon balm, sage, chives, rue and sorrel. Lavender and tansy were rescued from the depredations of the jasmine. Also put in some alpine strawberry. All these are doing very nicely.

Along the fenceline (not the new one) we planted some Australian native plants. They were relatively advanced and I know that sometimes that can lead to transplant problems in native trees/shrubs, but they have all survived and are showing new growth. I was concerned about one which had only about a dozen green leaves when it was planted, but it's recently started to put out new shoots, so I'm delighted with the 100% success rate - so far.

There's still a lot to do. Each of the garden beds is going to be sieved. I tried this on one of the beds and it made such a difference to the workability of the soil and to the level of weeds coming up that I've decided that, hard yakka though it is, it will be worth it in the long run. Consequently, I'm a bit sore today as I spent a few hours with mattock, shovel and sieve yesterday, but I'm sure it's good for me really...

Date: 2009-01-20 12:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] elissande.livejournal.com
We'll have to have you round for a BBQ sometime. Parts of the fairy grotto are still in place.

I've been reading about your garden and thought it interesting that we're both doing similar things at the moment.

Date: 2009-01-20 03:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] little-foxy.livejournal.com
It is partially the weather for it with extended day light and nice warm weather, but I have noticed those with a strong link to nature seem to be heading back to their roots so to speak and getting their toes grubby! Wonderful thearpy too!

Profile

elissande: (Default)
elissande

February 2011

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789101112
1314 1516171819
20212223242526
2728     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 12th, 2025 11:17 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios