Blank Canvass Garden - Design Inspiration Needed

Farway

twopenny said:

I bought a crowbar to deal with rocks, stubborn plants and lumps of metal I had in my garden.
Easier to store too.
Something to think about 🤔

Must go to Specsavers, I read that as ROOKs,  which I thought was a bit drastic

Working_Mum

Humboldt said:

In terms of easy to grow, value for money plants, I would recommend erigeron (Mexican fleabane). It is a low growing, ground cover plant, that has small daisy type flowers.  It has a long flowering season and pollinator's love it.  I grow it along the edge of my boarders. It spreads freely, a little too freely for some, but I just pull out what I don't need and cut it back at the end of autumn.  

I love Erigeron too Humboldt - my next door neighbour gave me a little pot last year - I also mixed some seeds in compost and dotted it around my garden - I was hoping I'd have drifts of gorgeous little daisies gracing my borders.....alas not:-

 

This ^^^^is the sum total of Erigeron in my garden!! It seems it's easy for some of us (you and 2P ) but less so for other others (me, Farway, -taff and YBE ). I remain hopeful for next year though!

I did a bit of work in my garden at the weekend - I finally managed to dig a hole and installed the Magnolia Stellata my friend gave me. I didn't buy a new tool in the end - I just kept filling the hole up with washing up water and then dug a little bit more, slowly chipping away until it was deep enough.


I feel motivated to keep on chipping away and carry this border down the length of my garden - I am just having a think about what to put in it - it's on  the sunniest side and gets the sun all day. It's a nice problem to have given the rest of my garden is quite shady I'm having to think out of the box a bit! I'm heading off to a couple of Open Garden events in July so feel sure inspiration will strike.

As a little side project, and to aid my meno brain, I have been writing up name tags on copper/ metal spikes and putting them in the soil. Should help me NOT dig up things that are dormant over winter and also remind me of what I've got growing everywhere! Bought from T3mu for not a lot of money, (don't judge me!), but I wanted something robust and that wouldn't fade.



Right I'm going to have a catch up around here - my work is less busy this week so I've got a bit of headspace today!


((WM))

-taff

The tags are a good idea, you could do similar with smashed flat copper pipe and a dremel type tool, that's guaranteed not to disappear from the label if it's etched in! 

Also well done for digging the hole eventually Maybe find a new method if you hve to do the rest or wait until it's rained a lot first. How about a fig tree? 

LessImpecunious

Farway said:

twopenny said:

I bought a crowbar to deal with rocks, stubborn plants and lumps of metal I had in my garden.
Easier to store too.
Something to think about 🤔

Must go to Specsavers, I read that as ROOKs,  which I thought was a bit drastic

Well, it makes sense that you'd use a crowbar to deal with rooks... 

FreeBear

LessImpecunious said:

Farway said:

twopenny said:

I bought a crowbar to deal with rocks, stubborn plants and lumps of metal I had in my garden.
Easier to store too.
Something to think about 🤔

Must go to Specsavers, I read that as ROOKs,  which I thought was a bit drastic

Well, it makes sense that you'd use a crowbar to deal with rooks... 

When they start carrying knifes, you need to be prepared....

Humboldt

'This ^^^^is the sum total of Erigeron in my garden!! It seems it's easy for some of us (you and 2P  ) but less so for other others (me, Farway, -taff and YBE  ). I remain hopeful for next year though!'

Hi @Working_Mum I was somewhat confused with the responses re: Erigeron, so thank you for your explanation above.  Having recently planted a couple of lupins, I have had to resort to protecting them from snail damage with a barrier made from an empty 4 pint milk carton! Not the prettiest deterrent, but it appears to be working...so far...

moneysaver1978

Working_Mum said:

My cut flower border is thriving and I am cutting flowers and have them dotted around my house almost daily. Exactly what I hoped for.




((WM))

Just came back here and where did the time go.. and wow what are a transformation, well done to you! Are you sure you are sharing the same garden and not somewhere RHS-sponsored?

For a second, I thought the purple-ish shrub in the photo above was a smoke tree but is a Japanese maple tree (love them!).

Working_Mum

Wow looking back at the pics of my garden in the summer everything seem robust and colourful - hard to believe now we are into shorter days and the colours are draining from everywhere. Lots of leaves have started to drop from next doors cherry tree so I will start brushing them into the borders to act as mulch at the weekend.



I have managed to dig y pond and line it with a fleecy base and rubber (butyl??) lining - I managed to get it lined on Sunday before the rains came in and last time I checked it had about 5" in the bottom. I will trim the edging once it is full. I intend to "sink" some Yorkstone (I picked up from Freecycle) around the edges - but that's a job for the spring I reckon.


The eagle eyed of you will have spotted I haven't extended my border against the privet - the weather just got too hot during the summer and I was worried whether anything would live if I dug it in (what with hosepipe bans in our area). Add into the mix that I was generally overtrading in all areas of my life during the summer I decided to try and get some bulbs dug in during the autumn and then go mad next year digging the new border and then filling it up!

I popped to a car boot sale at the weekend - met my sister at 6.30am! It was perhaps a little too early as lots of stall holders hadn't arrived so we consoled ourselves with a bacon butty. I bought a dozen cyclamen and popped them into a couple of pots to brighten the front doorstep.



In September I spent a bit of time potting on various trees and saplings I had on my patio - I love trees and had four (2 horse chestnuts and 2 maples) I had grown from self seeders. I bought 4 x galvanised dustbins for £60 and pierced holes in them and then potted on these four - which left four pots for smaller tress to be potted into. I used the soil I'd dug out for my pond as the main fillers for the bins so all in all very MSE and I think they look quite cool. They reflect their surroundings at the moment but will dull down to a gentle grey in time. I'm struggling to upload a pic of them though!

I also planted up acorns, Rowan berries and horse chestnuts - they're sitting by my back door in the hope they'll grow! I'd love a copse of trees on my patio!

Anyway I am going to sign off now, I've got a weekend planned with a bit of garden work in it - nothing too strenuous - just getting it autumn and winter ready.

Take good care everyone,

((WM))

twopenny

Your garden looks cosy and welcoming WM.
Glad you put flowers on your doorstep. I see people asking why they aren't getting viewing on their house and there's no indication where the door is let alone any flowers anywhere. 
A little colour goes a long way to make a house a home. Doesn't have to be much.

Humboldt

Lovely to read your update @Working_Mum.  I so admire that you use repurposed items and source bargains to achieve your goals.  Your garden is looking great.