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| It wasn't the most noticeable 'to let' sign in the world. |
The Kitchen Garden
We are very lucky that we were able to rent extra land behind the house.
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| To be fair, we probably overestimated the amount of space we would need for vegetables just slightly... |
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| The edged beds ready to plant in the Kitchen Garden |
Bits and pieces of land have been added over time and now our patch looks a bit like this:
It is just about right for us to manage part time and allows us to keep the kitchen and cottage garden separate.
The Cottage Garden
The Cottage Garden was largely neglected until recently, as preparing the Kitchen Garden took priority.
Our cottage is nestled between a larger house to the north west and another cottage to the south east. We are lucky to have 8ft high stone walls around the majority of the garden, which is a great foil for plant colour, adds texture and it's height provides an extra dimension to the space. However, this can and does pose shade issues, particularly in the Shady Border, which in the corner of two walls, is in full shade all day long. The established trees survive, but suck moisture out of the soil. Dry shade is arguably the trickiest of all growing conditions, but I intend to plant lots of woodland plants which are used to it - including male ferns and tiarella.
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| The Shady Border |
The Herbaceous Border was the only part of the flower garden that I cultivated last year, having cut its sweeping curves out of the turf in early April. I didn't realise until it was too late, that the turf was hiding what I can only describe as a 17th Century patio! I had to excavate some enormous flagstones - backbreaking work.
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| The flagstones just kept coming... |
Well worth risking a slipped disk for though, as by July it was looking gorgeous.
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| Herbaceous Border July |
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| Herbaceous Border July |
I want to create an island bed (see plan) for symmetry - allowing me to plant similar herbaceous perennials to those in the Herbaceous Border which would never grow in the Shady Border opposite. Forming an 'island' rather than simply extending the Shady Border into the sunnier area of the lawn, means I have a handy pathway behind the island, giving me access to the Shade Border but limiting the amount of shady soil space I have to fill.
The New Border is a new addition this year (funnily enough!) and I am still cutting it from the turf. The Wall Border will be enlarged from a narrow strip, to create the other half of the circular lawn. I have chosen a circle to give the illusion of width in a fairly narrow spot. A fabulous apple tree is slowly being trained back against the wall after years of neglect and an enormous Clematis Montana covers most of the wall and the shed.
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| What will become the circular lawn, Wall Border to the left and New Border to the right. When we moved in we thought the dug area would suffice for vegetable growing. What were we thinking!?. |
