Garden 2016

Spring 2016 and Beyond

 We may not have had the best of starts to the year for gardening but Spring is definitely on it's way so time to get back in the garden and tame a bit more.  Some friends visited recently and told us a lovely story about smeone he had known who always left a bit at the bottom of his garen for God to do with as he wished - I like the concept and intend to adopt that for our garden, largely because it means I might finish the taks a decade earlier that trying to do it all...........so here goes for this year's journey through the garden seasons

Taken in mid-April as the growth begins to become evident.  Weeding at this point has to be done carefully as it's not always easy to work out what are weeds and what are plants I want to keep.

If you have been reading the Sitting Room page you will recall that I mentioned my potting table and the discovery that the top was an old piece of Elm.  M has rejuvenated the potting table with a plywood top and a weatherproof coating of black paint - drying out on the patio here.

The grass (may be a lawn one day) looks quite good having had an early Spring feed.

The area under the Apple tree is coming on although lots of that green is comprised of 'wild carrot' so have to get to grips with that one of these days.  It's quite pretty but going a bit too 'wild' for my liking.

The vegetable patch has survived the winter quite well, we emptied the compost bin onto it in late winter so hopefully it will be ready for Spring Planting soon.

You may just be able to see the bird feeder on the archway - clearly it's well hidden from the little birds as it is still full - probably needs emptied now and we try again next winter - or maybe there is enough food for them in the garden as it is!

M has installed a time switch for the fountain on the pond - lots of frog spawn in the pond but not sure they have survived the recent frosts.  Oh and we have a fish (or two?) a friend needed to empty a pond and asked us to take the fish which we were happy to do but not sure if the Heron has had them already as recent sightings only reveal one goldfish.

It occurred to me last weekend that we might be able to get rid of some of the concrete from the entrance to the garden and use it as rubble in the Courtyard.  It is coming up quite easily and appears to have been concrete poured on top of cinders originally.

From this .....................

................To this - not quite finished, ran out of energy and light over the Bank Holiday weekend................more to do!

Looks quite good even if I say so myself

Rockery and pond from the entrance to the Garden view.

The Honesty is flowering under the stabilising wires of the telegraph pole.  Aqueliga and Hollyhocks also starting to grow.  Bluebells (and Whitebells) have been a goo show, now beginning to die back.

The Chosyia is looking quite good this year having been cut back hard last autumn.

Tulips, Wallflowers and Forget-me-Not under the Lilac Tree.

The flowerbed under the wall between our garden and our neighbours is maturing quite nicely now.

I have moved the rose that used to be in the Courtyard to the edge of that bed in the hope that it 'likes' the spot and I can put it into the end of that bed in the late autumn as it's new home!  the pile of bricks are as a result of a sort-out at the weekend so that hald and blown bricks could form part of the Rubble in the yard.

June 2016: Views of the Garden

 

July 2016 - Views of the Garden 

 July has been an interesting month in the Uk from a weather perspective and of course we had agreed to open our garden for the local church roof restoration fund so some significant effort was required to get it 'into shape' for visitors.  On the day the weather was beautiful and of course the garden did look good in the sunshine!

It was rewarding to discover that our efforts in combination with 14 other garden owners and church teas has raised almost £1,200 for the church roof restoration fund.

The Courtyard Continued.........

April 2016 

So we decided that the next phase of the Conversion of the Old Shop should be the other half of the Courtyard.  If you have been following this conversion then you will recall that we did the 'Terrace' in the Courtyard when we did the Sitting Room as the levels had to be right for the big patio-folding doors.  Well clearly we can't have drinks on the Terrace in the Summer (I live in hope of a British Summer!) if the remainder of the Courtyard looks like a Builders Yard - and it does!

So progress to date starts here and to describe it in the modern vernacular 'its a journey' and it's not finished yet!

 The Courtyard is clear and a 'blank canvas' for the builders to start their excavation.........

 View into the Courtyard from the Garden end..............

 View down the Courtyard from the Shed Door .............

The Mini Digger has arrived!  As ever the access to the Courtyard is limited to mini versions of the equipment eeded and they cannot get a skip in so first day was spent with one man in the digger and one man with a wheelbarrow taking the earth out to a truck in the main street.

Getting a bit close to the Terrace but all went well here - it does mean I have no external washing line at the minute!

 It's amazing how much earth needs to come out so they can back fill with rubble, scalpings and 'Thames Shingle' - decision made after several samples and advice and guidance from an experienced builder.

Lesson learned from the first day we now see a mini dumper truck to move all the earth from the Courtyard to the truck in the main street.

The area outside the shed was not in scope originally as we were going to pave it but looking at it excavated we have decided to gravel it as well and put in a small paved area for my Potting table etc outside the Shed.

The Courtyard is now a great place to put some of the 'rubble that is still in the garden and will save us having to dispose of it externally.  M has built a step into the Garden from the Courtyard with some of the bricks so great way to recycle the old hosse into the new.

 Filling the Courtyard back up with rubble as the base for the gravel 'drive'

View from the Garden into the Courtyard - you can just see that I have my external washing line back in place!

The Courtyard in June 2016

 

Final stages of the courtyard before we move onto the archway and entrance from the road

The final stages of the rubble base and the hardcore scalpings which is then whacked flat before being topped with gravel.

The gravel arrived just in time for the weekend viewing by paying visitors for the open gardens for the church roof fund.

Looks great even if we say so ourselves - hope you agree!

The Archway August 2016

The builders are back - again.  However, this time it should not take too long as it's just under the archway - we thought!!  M was at home the morning they started - thankfully - as they did the bit outside the big doors at the pavement.  Although the water pipe had been partially replace with new pipe when the house was renovated there was still a length of the old lead pipe at the roadside and of course the water pipe burst!  Thanes Water responded quite quickly and esentially said all very interesting but it's your problem as it is on the property not on the pavement!!  So a day without water until the builder could get the pipe etc and then Thames Water came back an installed a new water meter and stop cock immediately outside the entrance as it was previously along the pavement outside ur neighbours house.

 The old concrete has all been removed from under the archway.

The old stone that we lifted from the Bakehouse has been re-used at the front door keeping it as authentic as we can.

 Keeping the 'authentic' theme under the archway was a bit more difficult but we decided to use modern 'cobbles' and we hope you agree that they look rather good.  Still to be 'grouted' but all done now.

Final touch was another half-ton of Thames Shingle and the archway joins the courtyard - job done!  well almost.  When we bought the house three years ago there were wooden doors on the inside entrance to the yard.  Of course we kept them and thought that we might be able to use them for something.  As you can see from the next photo they have been up-cycled.

 M has done a fantastic job of cutting down the doors and fitting them to the garage so we now have a completely renovated courtyard.

What next............................well the next instalment will be the Log Burner in the sitting room.  Watch this space in early autumn - just in time for winter!