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On My Oasis – Living and Landscaping
Good news – we’re officially moved in! I still have at least a car-load of plants at the other house, but we’re now in residence at the new house. It means the menagerie’s moved across now, including my lone chicken which – if you follow me on Twitter – you’ll know I almost died. For the first time in my life I also have a greenhouse now – Hoorah for no longer taking over every windowsill with seed-trays!
Greenhouse placement
I’m pretty happy with the greenhouse, particularly as all it cost me was a few hours taking it down, transporting it and then, this past weekend, fiddling it back together (it actually wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be). Though it looks as if it’s at the bottom of the garden, when all landscaping it complete it’ll actually be about two thirds down. Behind the low brick wall is an oddly shaped triangle of garden. It has a robust shed and concrete all over it at the moment, but once the boundary wall has been increased in height, I’ll be taking the buildings out, smashing the concrete up and planting the vegetable patch. I haven’t the heart to take out the yew (originally I thought it was conifer and it was definitely going to go), so I’m going to cloud prune it; taking off the lower branches and shaping it into a lollipop-like shape. That will allow more light below without having to take this ancient and beautiful plant out.
I’ve taken a huge branch of next door’s sycamore tree off to allow additional light, so the greenhouse will create the perfect transition between cutting/ornamental garden and vegetable patch.
Lawn Shaping
Until this weekend I was still in a quandary about the lawn’s shape. Most the garden won’t be lawned, mostly for convenience but also because I just think they’re a waste of space in smaller gardens. However, what with a dog, niece and a husband that likes to lay out on sunny days, I realised something small was needed. Originally planned to be egg-shaped, with the base curling out from the path, it’s now going to be an oval with each end connecting the path to the greenhouse/vegetable patch entry. It means that I can get some large, deep beds on either side, as well as a few shallower areas; one of which will be close to the fence on the left hand side – useful for accessing the cordoned pear and apple trees that will be going in. In addition, with the vegetable garden plans delayed until next year, I’m going to create a small no-dig bed on the other side of the birdhouse. It’s an extremely sunny patch and will be ornamental eventually, but with salads, onion sets and broad beans already coming up, I need somewhere to grow food!
The lawn is also ideal for the hen coop at the moment until that, too, can be moved the other side of the wall into the vegetable area. Hopefully I have an additional 3 ex-batts coming next month so then egg production will begin again (my current hen is eight and way past her laying days), and I can move the run around the lawn, getting it mown and fertilised at the same time!
It feels awesome to have a lot of the groundwork done and actually have beds to plant and live with. The aviary and birds are in, and the spring air has certainly got them in the mood for nesting. The Mediterranean bed is yet to be planted, but I did find two affordable olive trees – IKEA of all places (£10 each) and they’re in two large planters in the sunroom so they can acclimatise properly. I also need to do some more shopping for this area – both plants and landscaping pebbles/shingle/slates for the patio area and path. I also need to come up with something innovative to do about the coal bunker – currently i’m thinking of chipping out holes and planting it up with succulents.
I’ve also started planting out a few cheap purchases (The Range is AWESOME for this), so I’ve got a couple of begonia’s for the sun-room, five dahlias and some gladioli for the cutting garden and a few white agapanthus bulbs for our Mediterranean retreat.
This isn’t the forever home so I’m trying to restrain myself from over-spending – particularly on plants that wouldn’t easily be moved. However, there’s no way I can’t garden for the next seven years, and what with the progress so far, I hope I can complete this oasis before we move on. Then the process will start all over again….but that time we’ll be in our dream location and can build a garden that’ll last the rest of our lives.
What did you get up to this Easter weekend? Planted ornamentals, veggies? Let me know!
3 Responses to On My Oasis – Living and Landscaping
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