Post Your Garden!

Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
6,829
Location
Bath
back at the start of 2016 I attacked our garden....

It started out looking like this,



With the help of my wife and father in law we spent most of the spring and summer turning it in to a builders quarry


and generated three large piles of rubble and waste concrete (all the slabs were re used)

MY BEST FRIEND, three loads 9tons a pop he took away for me and I had to cart it all round in a wheel barrow!


After 10 Tons of top soil was dropped in back in august 2016 it now looks like this


Still need to get the conservatory rendered and now this low wall too

Grass was fed and airiated at the end of last year and is looking much stronger now.
 
Associate
Joined
26 Jun 2009
Posts
626
Location
Uckfield
So we brought a new build in 2014 and the garden was pretty useless being split level and a mud pit in areas which were apparently acceptable to Linden Homes! Awful!

So in April 2016 I decided to just start removing all the soil / clay and unilogs (110).... 54 tons of soil later! Thankfully we are next to the road so were able to get a grab lorry to take it all away which saved a few thousand in skips!

I did the digging myself, me and the wife designed the garden layout however the rennovation was completed by SilverBack Landscapes (https://www.facebook.com/sbtreelandscapes/)

We still have some planting to finish, trellis to put up and a new BBQ to buy but we are loving it now!

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Associate
Joined
26 Apr 2012
Posts
1,181
@jaket that looks great, a lot of hard work has paid off, how far into the ground did you sink the sleepers? and out of interest how much did you pay per sleeper?
 
Associate
Joined
26 Jun 2009
Posts
626
Location
Uckfield
@jaket that looks great, a lot of hard work has paid off, how far into the ground did you sink the sleepers? and out of interest how much did you pay per sleeper?

Thanks. It indeed was hard work, took about 3 months over the weekends to dig it all out. The unilogs where the hardest part, the little digger couldn't get them out as Linden seemed to just willy nilly put concrete all over the place. Had a jack hammer going for about 5 weekends!

The oak sleepers are in the ground around 300-600mm in the ground depending on how much is out the ground again in concrete. If you plan to do this I would also protect them with a fungicide protector (LIGNUM FUNGICIDE AND INSECTICIDE PRO D156 1L) - Once this has been applied and allowed to soak I would then protect with a varnish of your choice.

I think we paid around £22-24 per 2.4m oak sleeper.
 
Associate
Joined
12 Nov 2003
Posts
1,297
Location
Devonia :)
So, we have a fairly clean slate with the house we moved into at the end of last year... The property has a fairly traditional front and back garden, with the front mostly laid to lawn, along with the parking leading a large barn outbuilding and garage, with the back being a mixture of patio, raised beds, and lawn... with some trees [quite formal ATM]. However the main attraction for us was the land to the side, which was bought as an addition by the previous owners (about an acre) many years ago, and is mainly grass, with a number of trees [some fifty in total] There is also an area with further raised beds for veg growing and a small greenhouse.

Its early days, and we need to give it time to see exactly was is here before we start making drastic changes... Ultimately we want to manage the space for wildlife, so intend to create a wild flower meadow and other wildlife friendly spaces, but we also wish to expand the fruit and veg growing side, to allow some degree of self-sufficiency. Also with two young boys, we want to have plenty of space to play, and basically run riot, without being precious about it.

Any advice about wildlife gardening, along with the above gratefully received. One potential problem area is the soil is mostly heavy clay... and we have a lot of Moles :(

A few poor iPhone pics...

Back garden from upstairs.
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Side garden trees.
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Looking from the veg area down.
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Basking in some beautiful warm sun today... the lower end of the land.
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Associate
Joined
26 Apr 2012
Posts
1,181
If you plan to do this I would also protect them with a fungicide protector (LIGNUM FUNGICIDE AND INSECTICIDE PRO D156 1L) - Once this has been applied and allowed to soak I would then protect with a varnish of your choice.

Thanks for the tip as this is something I am thinking of doing.
 
Associate
Joined
12 Nov 2003
Posts
1,297
Location
Devonia :)
Amazing @redline would love an outside space like you have. So many opportunities enjoy

Thank you... I must admit when we started the moving process I did not imagine we'd get something with so much outside space. I even joked to my wife that I had to have a garden big enough for a ride-on mower, so she bought me a Hotwheels toy and said that would be the only one I'd ever get... I now have a real one left to us by the previous owners :D

That looks great redline.
Moles are easy to get rid off with a few traps.
That looks like a good garden for keeping doves.

Cheers... We have been left a big bag of mole traps by the last owners, but I've no idea how to use them... I can't say I'm keen to find out either, but it may come to it if the damage gets too much. They also left a card for the Exmoor Mole Catcher, so I may employ him rather that doing it myself. Another problem is Pheasants, they come in a feed from the stuff the garden birds chuck off the table and they make a right mess, pooing everywhere, along with pecking the flowers as they pop up... countryside issues I guess :p

We'd love a Dovecot, so maybe one day... Chickens first and then we'll see. Very much enjoying the huge range of bird-life here compared to our last place (counted twenty one species so far) which was mainly Sparrows, when next doors cats didn't chase them away... they have to worry about the resident Sparrowhawk here.
 
Associate
Joined
7 Jul 2004
Posts
867
Location
N.W. England
Cheers... We have been left a big bag of mole traps by the last owners, but I've no idea how to use them... I can't say I'm keen to find out either, but it may come to it if the damage gets too much. They also left a card for the Exmoor Mole Catcher, so I may employ him rather that doing it myself. Another problem is Pheasants, they come in a feed from the stuff the garden birds chuck off the table and they make a right mess, pooing everywhere, along with pecking the flowers as they pop up... countryside issues I guess :p

We'd love a Dovecot, so maybe one day... Chickens first and then we'll see. Very much enjoying the huge range of bird-life here compared to our last place (counted twenty one species so far) which was mainly Sparrows, when next doors cats didn't chase them away... they have to worry about the resident Sparrowhawk here.

Fair enough with the moles. I'm used to getting rid of them on our land as we can't have soil in the feed we sell.
We have a male pheasant that lives between a few gardens. I don't find him/them a problem. Deer are a pain if you get them though !

If you ever fancy getting doves in the future, then message me as I'm a keen member of the national dove scene & can point you in the right direction.
 
Associate
Joined
22 Oct 2004
Posts
1,725
Location
United till I die
Wow Redline, that amount of space would be a dream come true for me! We had to sideline our dream of a smallholding for our jobs, plan being we buy one a little later on in life before retirement.

My plan on that kind of area would be dependant on how much you want to learn and the amount of time/money you want to then spend on it.

As a chicken keeper, that's the first thing I would get on there. The obvious result is eggs, our batch of 20 chickens give us around 5 eggs day in winter and about 15-20 a day in Spring/Summer! We also have a cockerel and some very good broody hens, so we have our own supply of chicks, with roughly half of them being cockerels they get used for meat when of age.

What you also get from chickens is endless hours of entrainment! We found it's something the kids love to get involved in, the chicks are an amazing thing for them to see hatch and grow. Cost would depend on your budget, but they can be fairly low cost, but if you have some money to spend, get some plastic coops and a very safe area for them by means of fences etc. I know a lot of people who have found a happy medium with that amount of land, by having them run free in the day but have a safe area for evenings and bed time. Ours get free run of the fruit orchards, and every few years the lawn to feed and aerate it. We also compost all the chicken house hay/shavings and poop, I use a pallet compost system that produces a lovely amount of chicken compost every year, even through winter it's not hard to have hot composting on the go.

Fruit trees! Easy in the bigger plan of things. Again in you have the budget, get to a specialist or a nursery with knowledge of soil types, growing condition etc. They should set you on the right path for the right fruit, the right variety for cross pollination and so on. In ours we already had two 100 year old apple trees that we pruned heavily and survived, we've added another six apple, four cherry, two plum, two damson and a couple of pear trees.

As we needed seed our whole lawn, we actually took 1/3 of it away for wildlife. We planted around 6 fruit trees and then made a few wood piles of old apple, beech conifer wood. It's already home to a hedgehog and some toads, but as we leave it be, we're not sure what else has taken residence there. We ordered all our seed from Boston Seeds as they came highly recommended. That's where we also bought all our wild flower seeds, it's only about 100msq but it looked amazing come Summer, and we had all sorts visiting. You pick the seeds that suit your soil and location, since we have terrible waterlogged clay soil, that's what we got.

As we had an overgrown plot, we had to take down about 15 very large conifers, replaced by a 1000 native hedge whips, now have a near working hedge, so if you want to have borders to any of your lands, get them down sooner rather than later!

Due to the waterlogged nature of one part of the garden, we might start a wildlife pond, again it's finding the time with two kids under 2! If you can have a safely fenced one, again a very good nature attractor.

If I had the time and some second hand equipment bees would be first on the list.

If we had the time and land, a pigs would be next, if you have land you want clearing get rearing!

Sheep if you want the grass cut.

I think it's 10 acres you need for a sustainable woods to keep a home warm with wood, but that would take some years to start and then maintain.

From a veg point of view. We built a raised bed, sadly it was brilliant for a couple of years, but we stupidly let the raspberries take over. I've started a fresh this year, and will leave it until next year to use again. We have just bought a second hand 12 x 8 greenhouse so we have that to use. Currently have 6 different rhubarbs, three gooseberries, two dwarf pears on the go, and some random mixture of herbs that I'll start a fresh with. Every year I'll grow broad beans, courgettes, tomato and maybe something new. With the greenhouse in place I might start some grapes.

Here's just a few photos

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Soldato
Joined
1 Jul 2007
Posts
5,392
Talking about raspberries taking over, what are the thoughts of planting them on a plastic trough then setting that in the ground to try and dissuade the runners from spreading the plant everywhere? We have a narrow/useless space apart from just planting some plants for the sake of it I'd like to make some use and this is one idea.
 
Associate
Joined
22 Oct 2004
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1,725
Location
United till I die
I'm not sure it would contain them to be honest. They find a way to get everywhere, near and far. By the time you've seen a runner the underground network has managed to get a hold. I've trialled killing them all off over winter as they managed to nearly kill the kiwis we have growing.

How about something that's grows in bushes and won't spread? Gooseberries are amazing, blueberries are a favourite but need acidic soil, then you have plants like strawberries that are easy, but birds will also aim for them.

If you want really easy and not targeted with bountiful amounts aim for courgette or beans. We have enough to beans off four plants that we give the chickens loads as evening treats.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Jul 2007
Posts
5,392
I'm not sure it would contain them to be honest. They find a way to get everywhere, near and far. By the time you've seen a runner the underground network has managed to get a hold. I've trialled killing them all off over winter as they managed to nearly kill the kiwis we have growing.

How about something that's grows in bushes and won't spread? Gooseberries are amazing, blueberries are a favourite but need acidic soil, then you have plants like strawberries that are easy, but birds will also aim for them.

If you want really easy and not targeted with bountiful amounts aim for courgette or beans. We have enough to beans off four plants that we give the chickens loads as evening treats.

That's disappointing to hear about the runners. I know brambles are awful, the amount of times I've dug up the parents garden trying to clear them and the bottles of brambles killers emptied too. I just don't want a repeat of the same.
Although part of me thinks the bed the troughs would be hurried in is only about 6inches deep and laid on top of the old concrete path.

I found strawberry plants when clearing the space for the shed so replanted them (hoping they're not somehow an inedible variety) and got some sloe bushes and a Canadian blueberry plant that goes by a different name, I'd need to go and read the label.

Shame as I like raspberries
 
Man of Honour
Joined
29 Jun 2004
Posts
21,522
Location
Oxfordshire
Has anyone had much luck with lawn friendly weed killers? My front lawn seems to have got quite bad since the growth season started and want to get on top of it before they really settle and take over.
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Nov 2002
Posts
7,635
Location
Under the Hill
Has anyone had much luck with lawn friendly weed killers? My front lawn seems to have got quite bad since the growth season started and want to get on top of it before they really settle and take over.
Yes, i used one as instructed and it killed my entire lawn, had to resow it! I now stick to a simple feed and weed as opposed to a weed specific treatment.
 
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