Blank Canvass Garden - Design Inspiration Needed

KajiKita

"I have lots of a tall weed which self seeds like mad - it is tall with thinnish leaves and get the most gorgeous purple flowers on it and the bees go mad for it ..."

I have this too - Purple Loosestrife  Turns up in the veggie patch a lot and I move it to somewhere wilder  

KK

-taff

Could be purple toadflax or there's the giant willowherb.

Slinky

I use the PlantNet app on my phone to help identify any unknown plants.

-taff

I use Picture This...

Does anyone have any preferences or whether one is better than another? I'm happy to swap if there are better free ones...

Working_Mum

Hello everyone,
I thought I'd post a quick update -

I realised I'd forgotten to answer your wisteria questions Farway - I can't recall where I got the original  one which I dug into the ground when I first moved here. I'm fairly sure it wasn't cheap and was from a proper place. I've dug him up and popped him into a pot and hopefully he may decided to stay with us - I will check in on him now and again. The one I've replaced him with came form the big orange shed and seems to be doing ok - no massive fronds spurting forth but he hasn't coofered it so I have my fingers and toes crossed.

I started to dig a new border to the left hand side of my garden - it currently only has spring and summer bulbs planted in it - so I've dug in a Jerusalem sage and another burgundy coloured plant which I picked up at the local Open Garden events recently. I have a Magnolia Stellata from a friend but have put off digging it in because of the hot weather we've had for the last few weeks and was worried it wouldn't take. Anyway this is the result of 2 hours......YES TWO HOURS of digging! I put turf down after I'd removed the plastic grass - I haven't had an issue digging in other areas of my garden so I'm devastated this area is so tough!! The tennis ball is for perspective



I am considering buying a pick of some sort - does anyone have a recommendation? I'm guessing it'll need to be a long handled one??

My friend has bought me a gooseberry bush (in the hope I'll make her some jam!) which I'm thrilled with as the cheapy one I bought from B0yes a couple of months ago is definitely sailing to the fjords! My friend is the one who loves flowers and is happiest when she's growing things from seed - she's given me Cosmos which are now in the garden (and will hopefully self seed for next year). She gave me some Borage and Echium seedlings last night so I'm hoping to get them into the garden this weekend.

I tend to just use G00gle Lense to ID anything when I'm out and about -taff - I bought some lovely copper plant tags from T9mu and have been going round and identifying the plants, writing up a tag and then sticking them into the soil close to the plants in my borders. My memory is so bad I felt I needed to do something to help me remember!

Pastpur you recommended an Astibles for my shady border - well it seems I have one (who knew! circle back round to my poor memory!) - it has grown since last year and is tucked away in a super shady spot - it looks like it may be getting the flowers so I'll take a pic when it does!

My razzers and Alpine strawbs seem to be producing flowers. My cherry tree has ONE CHERRY ON IT (along with half a dozen others which gave up) so I've got my beady eye on it and speak lovingly to it each time I pass! The beetroot and carrots I've planted seem to gaining ground after a shaky start thanks to a digging squirrel! The garlic and onions I planted last November time seem to be winning so now I need to investigate when to pull them up (and dry them off!!).

I have picked up a huge plastic barrel thing from Fr99gle so intend to adapt it and use it as a water butt at the rear of my garage where it has a broken drain pipe. It'll be useful to have some water available down there.

I hope everyone is ok and enjoying their gardens.

((WM))

Farway

Working_Mum said:

I realised I'd forgotten to answer your wisteria questions Farway - I can't recall where I got the original  one which I dug into the ground when I first moved here. I'm fairly sure it wasn't cheap and was from a proper place. I've dug him up and popped him into a pot and hopefully he may decided to stay with us - I will check in on him now and again. The one I've replaced him with came form the big orange shed and seems to be doing ok - no massive fronds spurting forth but he hasn't coofered it so I have my fingers and toes crossed.


I am considering buying a pick of some sort - does anyone have a recommendation? I'm guessing it'll need to be a long handled one??

My friend has bought me a gooseberry bush (in the hope I'll make her some jam!) which I'm thrilled with

Good luck with the new wisteria, and I've found goosegogs fairly care free, may need stout gloves & long sleeves to pick at times, watch out for the sawfly caterpillars, easy yo pick off though, hence long anti thorn sleeves

Pickaxe, how about an Adze instead? Made for the job

https://www.housedigest.com/1553192/what-is-adze-tool-how-use-woodwork-garden/

debtfreewannabe321

Hehe I love that your (very cute) dog is poised over the hole you dug for him and his tennis ball  
Is your soil mostly clay? We had this issue with digging in a previous house, I kept adding things to it over the years -sand, compost, soil improvers, to help it as it was so hard to dig. Lavender seemed to thrive in it though! 

-taff

How about soaking the hole a few times to loosen what's under it or is it straight up clay clay? If it is, what about hiring a ground breaker thing or an sds drill with an attachment? 

Working_Mum

debtfreewannabe321 said:

Hehe I love that your (very cute) dog is poised over the hole you dug for him and his tennis ball  
Is your soil mostly clay? We had this issue with digging in a previous house, I kept adding things to it over the years -sand, compost, soil improvers, to help it as it was so hard to dig. Lavender seemed to thrive in it though! 

He is a lovely dog DFW321 - he is obsessed with his ball! It took all of his self restraint not to jump in and retrieve it until I'd taken the picture!

I'm not sure what type of soil I have if I'm honest - not sure it is clay I think it's just baked super hard - the other areas I've dug in haven't been clay. I removed 6" of gravel and then another 6" of broken tiles and concrete in other areas of my garden and could dig quite easily in the soil that was left.

This area I'm trying to deepen the borders in, was under plastic grass and I just put the turf on top of the sand base and the grass thrived. I now want deeper borders so will have to dig deep and go through the pain! Sorry not sorry about the pun!

I definitely have to improve the quality of the soil and also the depth of it in my borders - I have tree roots which make digging in anything other than smaller plants a challenge. I add soil, leaves, compost at every opportunity to improve things all round.

-taff said:

How about soaking the hole a few times to loosen what's under it or is it straight up clay clay? If it is, what about hiring a ground breaker thing or an sds drill with an attachment? 

I was thinking exactly this -taff and then I saw it had rained overnight. I will take a look later. My garden is down steps so not sure I can get anything mechanical down there.

I love the look of the adze Farway - I love a multi functional tool! I was thinking I'd get something like this "draw hoe" - will have a think - I've got a super expensive month coming up so don't want to spend too much. May ask around and see if anyone can loan me one.


Thanks everyone, food for thought as always.

((WM))

KajiKita

Seconding the suggestion for an adze. Just be careful what weight you get - don't go too heavy as it gets tough on the shoulders after a bit.

KK