Kilyth's New Garden

kylith

Isn't it lovely?


Yeah, not any more. Estate agent photos, eh?



I don't know when that photo was taken, but this is what it looks like these days.



So I've dug over a bed and discovered that it's nice heavy clay soil. I have plans for that, believe me. I plan to rob a load of pallets, get some raised beds in, get some decent soil on top of what's there, and work with that. So until I get that done I've decided to focus on the path.


There's a weed membrane down. IDK when it was put down or what it's made of but it's got weeds growing through it. Great fun when trying to lift it. Under it is a lovely mat of horsetail. Yay.




There is gravel on top which in mixed with soil and, as you can see in pic 2, grass, horsetail, and chives.



I'm trying to remove as much gravel as possible so I can take up the membrane, haul it onto the patio, brush off the gravel when it dries a bit. I plan to heap this up until I have the path clear and put it back down under some new weed membrane for drainage. I'm thinking to put either large gravel on top, or maybe woodchip since when it starts to break down I can chuck it on a bed as a mulch.


This is 2 days work, cos I have a toddler and I get 2 hours to clean the house and work in the garden while she naps.



I have all the gravel spread out on my patio. I am a huge hit with the local birds because it's full of worm and various grubs.

looksee

Large gravel + toddler = ammunition. Also harder to walk on for little feet.
Woodchip + toddler = lots of grot being trecked into the house. You can't win!

I think I'd be inclined to go for smaller gravel that will bed together and not stray into places where it is not wanted. I have inherited a large area of round pebbles on a carpark type area and the dratted things wander everywhere, as soon as I can afford it they are gone!

Anyway, good luck with the job, it will keep you busy for a while!

nthclare

Sweet peas, sunflowers, lobelia and a few strawberries in between.

Well done, nice job and looks like a good choice of plants for quick impact.

If you want to get the bank covered a bit nasturtiums would be nice hanging down and meandering around for a good impact

Turbulent Bill

Maybe something like Nidagravel would help, the cellular structure is supposed to stop the gravel moving around too much.

I thought about a gravel path for my garden, but ended up just putting stepping stones into the grass instead. The kids can't trip on them and you can mow over them.

kylith

looksee wrote: »

Large gravel + toddler = ammunition. Also harder to walk on for little feet.
Woodchip + toddler = lots of grot being trecked into the house. You can't win!

I think I'd be inclined to go for smaller gravel that will bed together and not stray into places where it is not wanted. I have inherited a large area of round pebbles on a carpark type area and the dratted things wander everywhere, as soon as I can afford it they are gone!

Anyway, good luck with the job, it will keep you busy for a while!

It's small gravel that's there at the minute, and I do know that I have enough to cover the path. However small gravel + toddler = lots of attempts to eat gravel. I'm not too worried about grot in the house; I have a dog and Himself is a scout, so I'm well used to it


That's a decision for Future Me, at least.

nthclare wrote: »

Sweet peas, sunflowers, lobelia and a few strawberries in between.

Well done, nice job and looks like a good choice of plants for quick impact.

Oh, I haven't done that. That's what it looked like sometime around 10 years ago.


I'm hoping to have mostly veg in the back, and flowers out the front. My desire for a dreamy cottage garden has hit a bit of a brick wall in the face of the wet, sandy clay soil. I put down about 30 bulbs; mixed blousey tulips, snowdrops, and alium and not one has come up; I'm pretty sure they've drowned. I'm currently researching perrenials that like damp feet.

magicbastarder

get a soil sieve and sieve the gravel, will make life a little easier cleaning it.

kylith

We may have a teensy weensy drainage issue.

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kylith wrote: »

We may have a teensy weensy drainage issue.

A garden pond..whoohoooo:D

magicbastarder

if your garden looks like that after the last 24 hours, i can assure you you *don't* have a drainage issue.

kylith

Well, with the storms and me catching a lurgy it’s been a while since anything was done. A beautiful crop of chives came up in the left side of the garden path.

I took the opportunity of the good weather to take up most of the rest of the membrane, slippage of the clay bank on the north side means that i’d Need a mini digger to get to the rest. Fortunately for me it was an old type of weed fabric, basically a felt, and my shovel went through It no problem, so I chopped it into foot wide sections and took it out. I actually got new plastic membrane, but I really can’t face the prospect of trying to dig it out again in a few years, so I don’t think i’ll Be putting it down, instead i’ll Use it to line some raised beds.

So this is it now: fabric out, weeded, bed dug over, and an application of lime put down (probably nowhere near enough).

kylith

2 pallets cut for raised bed #1. Reckon I need 4 more to finish it.

kylith

Went out today and picked up another few pallets to finish bed #1. I also picked up a couple of bags of compost and some asparagus crowns, which I planted in a 100L tub.

kylith

Two more pallets cut up for bed #1 they need to be dug in, which will happen when it’s not blowing a gale out there. Have one more pallet to go for the end of the bed, then I can focus on the soil.



My mini greenhouse blew over and now has a big rip in the back. Hooray.

kylith

Dug out a trench down the middle of the bed and buried hedge trimmings in it. Little decided to climb in and check my work.



Lined it with cardboard and weed fabric I had around. Just have to top dress with a layer of compost now and hopefully will be good to go.