Post by wildlifefriendly on Jun 25, 2011 14:46:41 GMT
I was clearing my old files and came across a word document of how my garden first began. Some of you will have seen it, some will not.
The captions precede the photographs.
This is the photograph taken by the Estate Agent.
It was taken from the stone wall which divides the garden from the orchard.
The garden sloped downward from the house to the orchard. It was grass, stinging nettles and brambles with a gravel drive running close to the house.
I enlisted the help of my Brother and his digger.
He leveled the garden from the house and barn to the stone wall which can just be seen centre right of the photo, at this time it was little more than an unruly pile of stone.
He left a slope for access into the Orchard
I now had one huge level area.
Every house I had owned before had had an average sized garden and I soon found designing on this scale was beyond me so I binned the pencil and paper and hoped! The only idea I had firmly fixed in my mind was it had to be a little haven for wildlife.
While we had the digger I marked out the pond
and got my brother to dig it. A pond is fundamental for attracting wildlife. The pond divided the garden in two, I now had two gardens but still no clue.
So I stuck a path in, I’m not quite sure why, it’s not there now.
We lined the pond and grassed everything else. The gavel area at the bottom of the photo is directly outside the house, it then drops a couple of feet to the grass.
I’d brought a few plants with me which I dotted about the place. I was working on the same principles as Graphic Design; if you have a blank sheet of paper, it will always remain blank but as soon as you make the first mark a design will begin to appear.
I don’t think there is one plant in the two above photographs which is still in the same place today.
The garden was put on hold while we built the conservatory/indoor garden.
Originally this was the kitchen/dairy but after years of neglect there were only three rather dodgy walls left.
We had the walls built up . . .
. . . . and windows, doors and a roof put on.
The rest was up to us.
There was a lot of clearing to do.
While clearing the floor we uncovered two huge Granite slabs, the OH wanted to leave them and lay the floor over them but I thought they were too good to bury so set about levering them out. To our surprise we discovered a well.
We built up the sides and I planted it with ferns which have grown so big we can no longer see the bottom.
When we had got rid of all the rubble and weeds we rebuilt and cleaned the stone and laid a floor in the centre. We left earth around the edges and topped it up with good few tons of top soil, peat and manure then I planted all my pot plants. With no limit to how far their roots can spread it’s quite frightening how fast and how large a harmless houseplant can grow. Every spring I take between 10 and 15 wheelbarrow loads of pruning’s out of here.
I’ve grouped the photos up so you can see how much it has changed.
We get fruit each year from the Cheese plant
This isn’t from the same distance but if I stood any further back you would be able to see exactly how bad at housework I am!
This corner has evolved over the years.
The internet is on a go slow at the moment, I’ll post the rest when it speeds up.
The captions precede the photographs.
This is the photograph taken by the Estate Agent.
It was taken from the stone wall which divides the garden from the orchard.
The garden sloped downward from the house to the orchard. It was grass, stinging nettles and brambles with a gravel drive running close to the house.
I enlisted the help of my Brother and his digger.
He leveled the garden from the house and barn to the stone wall which can just be seen centre right of the photo, at this time it was little more than an unruly pile of stone.
He left a slope for access into the Orchard
I now had one huge level area.
Every house I had owned before had had an average sized garden and I soon found designing on this scale was beyond me so I binned the pencil and paper and hoped! The only idea I had firmly fixed in my mind was it had to be a little haven for wildlife.
While we had the digger I marked out the pond
and got my brother to dig it. A pond is fundamental for attracting wildlife. The pond divided the garden in two, I now had two gardens but still no clue.
So I stuck a path in, I’m not quite sure why, it’s not there now.
We lined the pond and grassed everything else. The gavel area at the bottom of the photo is directly outside the house, it then drops a couple of feet to the grass.
I’d brought a few plants with me which I dotted about the place. I was working on the same principles as Graphic Design; if you have a blank sheet of paper, it will always remain blank but as soon as you make the first mark a design will begin to appear.
I don’t think there is one plant in the two above photographs which is still in the same place today.
The garden was put on hold while we built the conservatory/indoor garden.
Originally this was the kitchen/dairy but after years of neglect there were only three rather dodgy walls left.
We had the walls built up . . .
. . . . and windows, doors and a roof put on.
The rest was up to us.
There was a lot of clearing to do.
While clearing the floor we uncovered two huge Granite slabs, the OH wanted to leave them and lay the floor over them but I thought they were too good to bury so set about levering them out. To our surprise we discovered a well.
We built up the sides and I planted it with ferns which have grown so big we can no longer see the bottom.
When we had got rid of all the rubble and weeds we rebuilt and cleaned the stone and laid a floor in the centre. We left earth around the edges and topped it up with good few tons of top soil, peat and manure then I planted all my pot plants. With no limit to how far their roots can spread it’s quite frightening how fast and how large a harmless houseplant can grow. Every spring I take between 10 and 15 wheelbarrow loads of pruning’s out of here.
I’ve grouped the photos up so you can see how much it has changed.
We get fruit each year from the Cheese plant
This isn’t from the same distance but if I stood any further back you would be able to see exactly how bad at housework I am!
This corner has evolved over the years.
The internet is on a go slow at the moment, I’ll post the rest when it speeds up.