Garden Work In Progress

-taff

In the spirit of Working Mums thread, having actually seen through the eyes of anyone else [ not my own] how bad my ack garden actually looks, this is a thread where I'll be updating as I go along. You don't have to comment if you don't want to but you know when you do a job and then you take after pictures and you always forget the before ones? This is for that...

The back garden is roughly 14mtrs long, and 8mtrs wide. The first jobs to be done are replacing the back fence panels, which are ready to go in and are currently waiting down the side of the house, use the backpack fabric we made curtains out of for our goth box [ covered pergola] on the back of the shed [ because when we bought it we just assumed it would be of a certain quality...unfortunately we overestimated the quality so as it dries, it splits, so the fabric will cover any holes and be waterproof. The use the corrugated metal on the roof of the shed so I can set up he waterbutts next to it and connect them all together. And paint the shed bits remainign black because it stands out far too much [ which I never noticed until I posted up the photo in the other thread...

KajiKita

I love me a garden thread - subscribed and following 😊

KK

-taff

I should perhaps have also explained we had an extension built last year which is five metres in length so I've lost that bit off the garden, the garage has gone which the waterbutts used to sit behind, now they're just in the middle of a concrete bit. and we haven't got around to making steps out of the french doors either, hence the pallet step. So this will be a complete redesign. I will be doing as much as I can to provide wildlife areas and also using all the building materials left over or I have collected to make walls, pot stands, maybe a raised bed edge...

KajiKita

It might be worth investing in a couple of young trees to put in to give you some privacy from the neighbours at the back, over the fence? 

How does the light change in the garden over the day?

KK

-taff

I have five trees in pots waiting to go in, two olive, one fig, one quince and one medlar Two of them will go in front of where the greenhouse will be [next to the shed at the bottom]

The garden is west facing but get the sun in the top  from pretty much fist thing in the morning to last thing, the top right corner gets it all day, there'll be a little bit of shade on the left hand side, again at the top, I'm hoping the shed will also give some extra shade. I have a lot of geums There are also an apple tree and a bay tree in front of the shed [ both quite small now, the original bay died last year so I'm keeping the biggest shoot so far from the bottom of it], the apple I have espaliered after the tip got burned in frost the year before last. It does need a better frame this year though but the amount of fruit bulbils on it is insane considering the size of fruit it becomes.

Farway

-taff said:

 the amount of fruit bulbils on it is insane considering the size of fruit it becomes.

Just hang on until after June Drop, the tree will sort itself and jettison most surplus, then sometime after, say early August, thin the rest if you want to, two per cluster, about hand width or more apart

twopenny

I've discovered raising crowns of shrubs to allow more light onto the beds.

And my neighbour, trees can be pruned to the size you want, seems to be working.
One is a bay.

Working_Mum

Ooooh exciting times -taff - I haven't had chance to comment on the usual thread but didn't want to read and run!

I have painted my fence black and love the way it makes the colours in the garden pop. I used a stain rather than a paint as I didn't want to worry too much about peeling paint/ varnish!

Sunny west facing garden is a dream for many - make sure you create sitooteries so you can enjoy the sunshine and get your Vitamin D!! At this stage you can plonk yourself down anywhere and test the area out for suitability and then build interest around it. I have done this a couple of times and set up a seating area simply because I loved the perspective of my garden from it.

Have you decided if you're keeping the central path? Love the idea of your 5 trees being dug in and starting to shape your space. I've planted a couple of self seeded saplings into my garden - yours will be able to create shade for cooling and for your geums! 

I have subscribed as I love seeing gardens develop.

Good luck!

(WM))