My Tiny Plot

Here are some shots of the garden taken from roughly the same spot over the last few months.

Halfway through the clear out.

The re-build has begun. The round paved area is a seating area. Behind that will be the greenhouse.

The wood has arrived for the fence that will go around the garden. At the moment the garden is just a patch of bare earth with no boundaries. It just seeps into the pavement and stops. There are no plants or roots to keep the soil in. People can just wander in off the streets and their dogs often do. Most just stand and stare or slow down their cars. It’s funny to think so many people are interested in what we’re doing with our new garden. Someone even asked if we are building a house on it? I wish I’d thought of that! But no, I tell them. ‘I’m just going to put a garden there.’

But now the wood has arrived, things will start to happen. A boundary is a big thing. It says this is ours and please ask before you come in. It says we probably have children and dogs to keep in so please shut the gate. It’s not a very high fence so hopefully it won’t say keep out! But it will define where the garden will be and help me visualise a little better what I’m dealing with.

One of the small benefits of having a fence, and one that I’m excited about, is having something to plant against. I’m thinking maybe some espalier Apples and Pears wouldn’t go amiss and possibly a Peach or two. If the fence goes up quickly enough maybe I’ll have chance to plant some before the first frost. Who knows.

So, we tried to do the weeding and pulling ourselves but honestly, it took us a whole day to do one tiny little corner of this area. The whole courtyard was full of Marjoram that had turned into a weed and had seeded everywhere – even in between the brick pathway. And the raised beds were full of sick Roses that had seen better days.

So we decided we needed some help to clear the beds and start afresh. Since this will be the main vegetable garden I decided to remove the raised beds to give me more room to grow things. The crew came, they pulled stuff up and left two days later. This was the finished article. It’s unbelievable to me how quickly this happened.

This is basically how the garden would have looked back in 1915 when the house was built. The fountain might have been flowing (which we’re working on) but other than that we’re back to how it all started.

On one side of the house we have a cute little seating area with a pergola above and some steps down into the garden. It’s a great place to sit at night with a glass of wine and contemplate all the things that I plan to grow in my garden next year. Ahem! it would be a great place to sit and contemplate if I could see anything that is. The view was somewhat oppressive with these two huge bushes smothering me.

So I cut them down. Ah… that’s better. A little messier perhaps until I finish replanting some low level, shade-loving plants. But, yes, definitely better. Now I can breathe again.

A few of you have been asking for an updated photo of the garden – well here it is. We’re in full swing here at mtp. The Peas have come and gone, we’re one row of potatoes down and currently munching through our 50th lettuce (or thereabouts). Everything is going really well with the new design. I have more than enough room to grow everything I want to – maybe just a smidgeon more lettuce? No?

Things that have gone well: Runner Beans looking fab on old-fashioned bean-poles, Sweetpeas that smell gorgeous, the biggest Strawberries in-the-world, Tomato jungle, Mange Tout for the first time, the promise of some corking Sweetcorn and 8 Queen Cox apples (still) on the apple tree!

Things that have gone ‘um’ not so well: Peas taking over the garden, ants eating the Pear buds (if I ‘ever’ find out where they live…), no Redcurrants ( I know not why), some onions going to seed, the usual Cauliflower debacle. 

Other than that my garden, like Mary Poppins, is practically perfect in every way and I love it.

Quite a few of you have been asking me how the garden is looking now after the redesign so I thought I would post a photo of how the garden is shaping up.
The squares on the left hand side of the garden get the most sun and so that’s where most of the vegetables are.

In the square on the left hand side to the top is the following:
Lettuce, Peas, Spinach, Spring Onions, Radish, Salad Leaves, Carrots, Leeks, Onions, Asters, Cosmos, Pears, Blackberry and Red Currant with Sweetcorn to come.

In the square below that is:
Onions, Shallots, Garlic, Potatoes, Raspberries, Strawberries, Blackcurrant, Basil, Lettuce and Spinach Beet.

In the square on the right hand side to the top is the following:
Runner Beans, French Beans, Potatoes, Cauliflower, Pak Choi, Mange Tout and Cornflowers with Courgette, Cucumbers and and Pumpkins to come.

Below that in the bottom hand square is:
Herbs (including, Chives, Basil, Sage, Thyme, Coriander, Parsley, Taragon), Rhubarb and Artichoke

Along the left hand wall is the following:
Peach, Grape Vine, Tomatoes, Cape Gooseberry, Gladioli, Iris and Apple

I also have Chili Peppers in the cold frame, two Blueberry bushes in pots and Sunflower seedlings in the Victorian mini-greenhouse.

Phew!

Started the planting yesterday. You can see in the photo that we’ve planted Box bushes in each corner, with some, as yet tiny, Lavender bushes as company. In the bottom left-hand bed you can see a row of Raspberry canes (Autumn Bliss), a Blackcurrant bush (Ben Conan), a small patch of strawberry plants (can’t remember what variety), two Spinach plants and a row of extremely healthy garlic plants.
In the right-hand bed you can see the beginnings of my herb patch (Rosemary, Thyme, Sage and Chives). Against the wall on the far left corner is my small but perfectly formed Peach tree (Peregrine). And right at the end of the middle pathway my two Blueberry Bushes (Chandler – could I be any more blue? – actually have to give Ryan credit for that one!) waiting for their pots.
After a trip to the garden centre today, there should be some stakes and wires going up tomorrow for the Raspberries and Pear trees (on order). It’s all happening now!

The garden is finished! Look at all that lovely bare soil just begging for some plants. Now we can get on with the best bit. I’ll try to keep posting photos regularly once I start the planting but it might be slightly more erratic since the planting may be done in fits and starts. But anyway I’ll keep you posted on how it’s coming along.

The landscaping is nearly finished. The middle seating area is all finished – and doesn’t it look gorgeous? All that’s left to do is to pound down the gravel in the remaining pathways and it’s all finished. By the end of tomorrow it will be planting time! I can’t wait.

At last the brick seating area is going down. It’s delicate work and so James and the crew have been working on it all day. They’ve made good progress and tomorrow will be finishing up the fiddly bits that require the bricks to be cut in half. Nearly finished!