A New Bit of Garden

[Luc Gilgemyn]

A lot of hard work for you Lesley !
I've got a proposition : what if 5 or 6 forumists came over to help you out... maybe the SRGC can sponsor the flight 
I'm sure there would be plenty of European volunteers... 

[Anthony Darby]

What you need now Lesley is a few tons of slate to make a bed like Cyril's?

[Lesley Cox]

Yes, Luc, to the European volunteers please. All welcome but especially the young and fit. I'll make the scones and choc cakes.

The slate would be great Anthony. I don't know of any source around here. There are old houses locally with slate roofs but I think the slate may have been imported from the UK over 100 years ago. I've thought about crevices for these beds and generally, I think the mixture will be too rich, with one third topsoil but there's another place where basically I want to dump a truckload of gravel (much the way Gier Moen did, in Norway, with great success) and make a crevice garden there. Central Otago schist would be the way to go. Why didn't I do all this 12 years ago when we first moved here, instead of waiting until I am 66 and in no longer perfect health? Answer, no money then. My back and knees were up to it then, but not the bank balance.

Broccali comes in much deeper boxes Helen. I use those for "fishbox" troughs.

Fermi, you have me a bit worried. I know how quickly the gum tree roots reach into my pile of potting mix, right up through it in just weeks, making the roots up to a metre higher than the ground level base of the tree. Another reason why I want the pine/cypress seedlings out altogether. They're already up to the power lines and will be a real problem if not removed very soon.

The spreading is a bit delayed with a real return to winter (poor new lambs) with bitter winds and driving sleet this morning. The forecast generally is beastly for the foreseeable future.

Roger still has not uttered on the subject.

[David Nicholson]

Haven''t anything much on tomorrow Lesley so I'll pop round in the morning and give you a hand for an hour or two

[Brian Ellis]

I'll make the scones and choc cakes.

Expect the hordes

[Luc Gilgemyn]

.. maybe the SRGC can sponsor the flight 

hmmm.. no reaction to this suggestion   

[Ragged Robin]

Lesley, do you have 'Woofers' in NZ?  Not sure of spelling    My sister-in-law swears by them - they are volunteers who come and help you with a project for a period of time and in return get food and lodging - lots of keen young gardeners who want to learn from Japan and elsewhere 

[ChrisB]

What a great project, Lesley.  I think my little Nipper would get along well with your Teddy, he's black but is the same sort of inquisitive fellow.  Love those terriers....

[Lesley Cox]

We do indeed have Woofers Robin (Willing Workers on Organic Farms for those who haven't met them.) They turn up from time to time at the Market with various organic growers and speak a wide variety of languages. Not a bad idea really, though I'd love to have Luc and others. Luc I'd sponsor the flight myself if I could, but.....

[Lesley Cox]

We do indeed have Woofers Robin (Willing Workers on Organic Farms for those who haven't met them.) They turn up from time to time at the Market with various organic growers and speaker a wide variety of languages. Not a bad idea really, though I'd love to have Luc and others. Luc I'd sponsor the flight myself if I could, but.....

Chris, I still have your card with Nipper's portrait and yes, I'm sure he'd enjoy Teddy's company on the dig. I love terriers too, even when they're terriorists, like Teddy.

[Paddy Tobin]

There is no doubt that gardeners are an imaginative lot - here is the perfect example: a pile of earth is a garden, clearly seen in the creator's eye and simply has not materialised yet.

Keep going, Lesley. I'll come for the scones.

Paddy

[t00lie]

Lesley
I note all the overseas offers of help and would like to do the same    however i've been busy myself recently.

Although our bush is protected under a QE covenant we are allowed to cut back where trees are becoming dangerous/leaning too close to the house.

The first pic shows a small area available for planting after removal of a large Wineberry tree --Unfortunately i didn't think to take a before shot however you can see how much shadow it produced by the spindly one sided growth of the Rhodo(beside the orange spade).

I managed to locate 3 unused railway sleepers from elsewhere on the property and once in place back filled with some old compost .

The third pic shows poly boxes of Helleborus seedlings x fellow forum member Tim Orpin of Aussie --seed was sown dec 07 --of course there were too many for this plot .

Next pic is of how the new bed fits in with the rest of that part of the garden.

Last pic is of finished planting ??---helleborus --trillium chloros-- grandiflorum including some doubles and roseum

Cheers dave

  

[Lesley Cox]

The damned weather is still holding up my activities. Heavy rain this morning and very cold wind. Sorry to be such a wimp. I should be out there on the end of the shovel. Gathering up a good collection of plants though from the hundreds on the waiting list. There will be audible sighs of relief as they are at last released from their pots.

[Lesley Cox]

So long since I started this but at last I have the soil spread (Roger helped!!!) and yesterday I started to plant. As you see there's not a rock in sight but the soil is shaped a little (hard to see in the pic) and the plants as they grow will provide ups and downs.

The first planting is right at the road gate and consists of 28 plants in all, 16 species. The little tree is Acer saccharum the sugar maple which as it grows will give some summer shade to the plants in this first part, (about 1/10 of the whole). I doubt if it will grow too big in my lifetime and probably won't produce sugar as I doubt if we are cold enough here but the autumn colour is god which is my aim.

Other plants include Cornus canadensis, the little Sorbus reducta both running and non-running forms, Rumex sanguineus, Dysosma pleianthum, a tiny Hosta ('Dewdrop') Galax aphylla, a couple of primulas and Arisaemas consanguineum and speciosum. I'll add more soon. It doesn't look up to much yet but by next spring when there are some flowers and the litle tufts are bigger, it should look like a garden.

The next plants will be slightly more heat-tolerant things.

[Lesley Cox]

Since the soil was spread, I've had to fork it over twice already to get out hundreds of tiny pieces of root of creeping (Californian) thistle. There are still a few and if they come up in or very near a plant I'll have to spot spray them with Roundup. There are also several million weed seedlings but they seem all to be annuals so shouldn't be too much trouble to sort out.

As the cooler plants grow I'll mulch them with rotted pea straw and the warmer plants with gravel, as if they're growing out of the driveway which also needs re-gravelling.