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    Beware of newly landscaped gardens. They look great when you move in, but the following years may prove you wrong. Like the mature Rhododendron that has leaves one year and flowers the next, but never both together. Or the Strawberry trees that, you discover, like a Mediterranean climate so were planted on the north side of the house against a five foot fence that gets about half an hour of daily sunlight. Most worrying is the beautifully shaped 20' Maple, the main feature of the front garden, that's been dropping it's leaves since mid-Spring. There's more, some of it is due to my lack of knowledge — I'm sure an experienced gardener would have sussed some this out right away. But most is down to landscapers creating an instant garden, that looks great right away, but will inevitably have problems down the road.

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      We've basically let our beds run wild with whatever grows there. It means that the dog roses and wildflowers are going for it a bit but it looks lush and verdant and the bees seem to love it.

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        Originally posted by Sean of the Shed View Post
        Tip for anyone with a Pampas grass, don't leave it 10 years before getting round to chopping it back. I've spent all afternoon cutting it back and have enough waste to fill my green bin three times over.
        I'm also completely bollocksed as a result.
        Be glad you weren’t digging it out. Our first garden was the proverbial postage stamp size, about a quarter of which was occupied by a huge pampas grass so it needed to come out. Took me all day; the foliage was bad enough but digging it out - never again.

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          A bit more construction in the shed; some pegs. The base is leftover deck timber, the pegs are recycled from an old roll-up display banner from work which became surplus to requirements. So far the spade and fork haven't broken it.

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            I do love having a shed.

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              First thing I did with my new shed was Caulk every joint so spiders can't get in.
              Then I painted it sky blue. (Cuprinol forget-me-not blue.)
              Then I filled it full of our furniture as we're having the house done. One day I'll be able to potter.

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                Our garden is wilting at the moment. Turns out growing things don't like smoke. Who knew?

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                  First day of Spring; got tomatoes, lettuces,!chillis, basil and strawberries in, along with foxglove seedlings in various sunny spots.

                  We also harvested the last of the winter radishes. Not your typical radish. Vital, manly hand provided by yours truly.

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                    Summer is shutting down fairly rapidly here: the days are still pleasant but it's noticeably chillier at night - which means that the garden centres are selling off the rest of their summer stock at reduced prices. We picked up a load of fruit bushes and perennial herbs this week, but haven't been able to plant them out yet, as the deer and other nocturnal visitors to the town gardens will graze through the new plants in no time. Luckily, we had quite a bit of wood left over in the basement from the various jobs done on the house over the last year or so, and spent the afternoon making this:



                    Am chuffed to bits with how that's turned out. Think it's time to crack open a beer and just sit looking at our creation for a bit... will pop out tomorrow to get the chicken wire that will actually keep out the marauding hordes and then we can get everything planted.

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                      That's brilliant JVL. You'll enjoy it even more when you've gone through a whole season without the critters stealing your harvest.

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                        Bugger. I stupidly picked up & used the wrong weedspray in the shed in an attempt to kill off some dandelions and other pest-weeds in our lawn, and now have some ugly dead yellow patches that will need reseeding. The spouse is not happy. Note to self: clearly mark your glyphosphate (roundup) spray which basically kills all plants it touches - including grass.

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                          That's not all it kills, take care.

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                            At the end of last week we prep'd the rather grotty bit of grass at the side of the house with weed barrier and dug in the plants and bulbs.

                            Today two tonnes of Scottish pebbles* arrived and I used 1.44 tonnes of them covering up the weed barrier, and shifted the remaining 0.56 tonne into the back garden for a future project. The roof tiles in the foreground and blue pots in the background we used to cover the holes in the weed barrier where the bulbs were planted to protect from cat crap.

                            Partial photo-bomb in the after pic courtesy of Floriana.




                            Photo-bomb in the before pic courtesy of Zebedee.




                            * "... extracted from age old glacial deposits in Scotland which has given them their well rounded and smooth finish" - apparently.

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                              I spent a good few hours cutting vines last weekend so I could remove the dead bough of a tree that was about to fall on my yard where the kids like to play. I need to go back there soon with some roundup to try and kill off the mess - apparently the neighbor expressed a somewhat profane lack of interest in dealing with what is their problem (and overgrown mess).

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                                Top photobombing from Zebedee there, wibl; Floriana though obviously needs more practice. Nice work with the finished bed, though I'd say being picky that the plants are spaced too regularly – you want more varied separation for a more 'natural' look. Take it all up and have another go.

                                More seriously, that sounds an amazing amount of pebbles, even if it is ones extracted from age old glacial deposits in Scotland with a well rounded and smooth finish. How much shifting did 'even' 0.56 tonnes take?

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                                  Plant arranging was by Mrs F and she wanted a more regular effect in that bed. Though the two types of spreading plants should grow at different rates. Might put some alpine types in as well - see how it goes/grows.

                                  The shifting took a bit of effort as the pathway is gravel with paving stones which made moving the wheelbarrow a tad tricky. Luckily the twenty eight remaining 20kg bags only had to go about a maximum of ten metres.

                                  Flori was really funny as she decided to 'help' me by bounding around like a kitten playing with small stones and chasing leaves.

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                                      First day of summer yesterday and the hydrangeas are obliging.





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                                        I know they are far from Australian natives but it's been a real challenge getting any joy out of foxgloves here. This pretty but rather stunted one is probably as good as we've managed:

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                                          Late summer bounty. This is the first decent sized eggplant/aubergine we've managed. The squash on the other hand was from a rampant vine which would have colonised the whole garden if alowed. Half the squash and all of the eggplant were part of a fantastic roasted spin on ratatouille this evening with mushrooms, red pepper/capsicum, tomoatoes and roasted chickpeas. I know that's not really a ratatouille at all but it was marvellous.

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                                            The daffs look lovely & copious round these parts this year. I’m hoping my tulips out front don’t flower for a few more weeks and the March winds subside, or they’ll last no more than a day or 2.

                                            This year’s main project is to bring the rear garden to life, after a 6 foot brick wall went up on the boundary last summer (it was done by a proper brickie rather than me bodging it, and thankfully paid for by the neighbours, so looks fantastic using reclaimed bricks and lime mortar that match our 300 yo converted stables and the neighbours adjacent old coach house which are both listed buildings).

                                            It’s south facing, runs the 90ft width of our home, but quite narrow at only 15ft max. Looking to buy three 6by2 foot elevated beds to sit against the stables wall to grow veg & soft fruit in, as we want to create some height, but struggling to find anything that doesn’t look like a load of reused pallets that will sag pdq when filled. Ideal would be some old stone livestock troughs, but they cost a bomb at reclamation yards. At either end are cobbled patios so it’ll be large pots with some sweet smelling shrubs underplanted with colourful annuals there . In the middle it’s just grassed but there’s hardly any soil because it was an old stables yard. Not sure yet whether we’ll eventually take out the grass and tart it up with gravel and a couple of raised beds/objects instead. The other wall - facing north on our side so always shaded- will require some (for example) lollipop yews and shade-tolerant climbers to provide structure and height without smothering too much of the attractive brickwork. Time to crack on now - Spring Equinox and all that.

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                                              There was so much late snow, and we're still getting heavy frosts at night, the early flowers are dazed and confused. Daffodils and crocuses are in bloom but less than an inch or so long. My Calla liles are toast despite my best efforts (which were pretty pathetic in truth.) This morning I'm going to cut back the largest Hydrangea bush (should have been done in the Autumn but WTH.) I bought myself a skookum new mower this week and I'll give it ago in the next day or so, though everyone's lawn currently looks like the Baseball Ground in the 60s.

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                                                  Originally posted by Sits View Post
                                                  ..
                                                  Is that two peas in a pod Sits?

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                                                    Ha. The board was misbehaving earlier. I'd tried to post this from earlier in the week. Autumnal lushness:

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