Moving to a new house involves the fascinating challenge of adapting/designing a new garden. My plan is to record here the dilemmas, decisions and changes as this new garden develops.
October 10th moving in day
The removers arrived 15 minutes after me so little time to record the garden prior to our own pots being offloaded from the back of the truck. A few snapshots of the various areas as a starting point before a more indepth audit of what’s here and the feel of the space.
November
Measuring, recording and so on in process (scale drawing to follow) but sometimes I felt the need to move on with obvious changes. I thinned out the Fatsia but have come to appreciate it more now that it is flowering and regularly covered with bees. I removed a berberis that was struggling under the fatsia and encroaching on the washing line area. The most dramatic change was cutting back the bamboo in front of the greenhouse. It is Phyllostachys nigra and is spreading towards the house, a useful screen for the woodstore and bins but just too vigorous.
The black decking in the courtyard garden area is slippery and rotting in places so it has to go. This will make possible more planting spaces. Removal of a few sections revealed a central concrete block which might be retained in some form for a patio area.
December
Commissioned a garden renovation company to remove decking from the courtyard area and dig out bamboo by the greenhouse. They will be coming in January so could only tinker with things a bit until that’s done. Moved primroses and a hypericum from the bamboo area (cleaning off the roots carefully to avoid transfering any bamboo). The temptation to buy plants is strong but try to resist until there is a firm plan, but that is very difficult without experiencing all four seasons first. I get why people say you should live with a garden for the first year and then make changes once you know what’s there.
I did clear out the overgrown herb area – lots of marjoram taking over – left primroses and bulbs and reduced the bay tree. Also added several hellebores and ferns to the shady area under the Fatsia.
Bought a Hotbin for composting and set it up. The temperature in the bin reached 60 degrees on Christmas day.
January
February
March
Unfortunately moving the heavy pots out of the way for the delivery led to a back problem so everything moving more slowly now, especially me!
