June 7, 2008, Multiply, welcome to my garden no 1

Welcome to my garden.

It’s not very big and like most gardens at this time of year needs a bit of attention. A few years ago I managed a garden of about half an acre, I loved gardening,  but since then I’ve moved out of a fairly big house with a big garden and into a much smaller first floor apartment with a modest little garden. I’ve also developed a few health problems which don’t allow me to do the things I used to, no heavy digging, pruning and weeding for me any more. Last year I realised I was going to have to think about how I could manage my garden in the long term, by myself.

I decided to keep the driveway because it’s useful for my daughters to park on, (I don’t drive), it’s quite useful for the grandchildren to play with bikes and scooters and it’s level enough to put the BBQ and my chair on. I added another small paved area because it cut down on the amount of grass to cut and it’s a perfect size for the garden table and chairs. My garden is a bit of an unusual shape, it’s like a triangle with a flat base and two slightly curves sides. The driveway forms the flat base and the apex of this curved triangle is a difficult to get to area that’s always in the shade of an old crab apple tree. My solution to this awkward little space was to partition it off and do absolutely nothing with it.

I acquired a few old bluebell bulbs and threw them under the crab apple tree, any plant cuttings, dead plants, old plants or otherwise unwanted plants were tossed in that general direction. I emptied all my grass cuttings over it and occasionally scattered potato peelings and old tea bags over this growing heap. Now one year on this little space is my wildlife garden where my first batch of bluebells are dying off, birds sing in the tree and I hope to see butterflies galore later in the year. I’d quite like a couple of nesting boxes in the tree and maybe a small bird bath in the middle.

The next thing I had to tackle was the garden beds all around the grass and both sides of the driveway. They had to go, I knew maintaining garden beds with digging and hoeing and planting wasn’t going to be an option and so, they were filled in, covered in stone chips and strewn with pots. I thought I could probably continue to manage a container garden so this seemed like a good idea.  I also extended this new area of stone chips and containers out from where the flower bed used to be to include some of what was grass. I thought less grass to mow would be a good idea. I did keep one tiny flower bed and that was because it was so heavily planted it needs no maintenance,  any way and it is very, very pretty.

Actually doing this took most of last summer; there was a certain amount of irony to what I was doing. I was completely remodelling my garden to turn it into an easy maintenance   garden because I couldn’t manage it as it was; but in doing this I spent the whole summer doing more heavy manual labour than I had done in quite a while!! As it turns out I made the right decision, what was difficult last year would have been virtually impossible this year and completely impossible in future years, so it seems my instincts to just press on and get it done were right.  I now have my remodelled garden in place and ready to enjoy through out an (almost ) maintenance free summer. There are just a few small problems that need sorting and all will be well in my little garden.

For a start; my driveway is becoming covered in weeds, in the past I have been quite happy to go out with a hoe every couple of weeks and clear it. Now I need another solution, I’m not that happy with conventional weed killers or path clearers, I don’t like the idea of all those toxic chemicals in my garden so if any one knows of an alternative eco friendly way of maintaining a plant free driveway please, please tell me. The one area of my weed infested driveway that has a permanent reprieve is the bit around the gates, I couldn’t possible destroy this pretty little colony of flowering clover. I can’t imagine how it’s managing to grow like that through cracked concrete but it is and I’m certainly not going to kill it.

 

The second small problem I have encountered is that some of my container plants died over the winter. I wrapped the pots in bubble wrap and plastic in an attempt to prevent frost damage to the roots. The plants were well fed and watered through out the summer and drainage was ok so I’m not sure why some didn’t make it and others did. Most of my containers had herbs or strongly scented plants like honeysuckle, jasmine or lavender. The ordinary garden herbs like mint and rosemary survived really well but I lost two or three lavender plants and my honeysuckle. I intend to replace them with similar or the same plants but I should hate to lose them again this winter so if any one has any ideas keeping my container plants alive through out the winter, please let me know

Tags: garden, herbs, plants, arbroath, scotland

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delete reply dianahopeless wrote on Jun 9, '08 I just came back to tell you it was vinegar and not salt. And I see someone already told you that was what it is. It really works pretty good on most weeds. Especially those pesky ones that grow between the cracks. Good luck!! Happy Gardening..........

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 8, '08 ohhhhhhhhhh I'm gonna find the time to come visit you, my multiply doesn't always go smoothly BUT.... one thing I can do is deal with flickr!! AND.................I tend to load my albums into flickr first because I like the way flickr loads onto multiply!!

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Jun 8, '08 Just watched the slideshow - beautiful!!!

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Jun 8, '08 Now you will have to help me get my flickr account sorted as it refuses to load onto multiply and i would like my pics to be much larger too LOL! Glad our advice is helping :)))

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 8, '08 Many many thanks to every one. have checked out the eco friendly weed killer ...wow what a find that is.. will be mixing that up pretty soon. And thanks Emma, will look out for Night Scented Stock. You have my sympathy over the ground elder, I have experienced that my self and it is very difficult to get rid of so good luck.Not sure why but I seem to be having problems with my pictures, They tend not to load into blogs full size.... so.... I've just put the whole lot on flickr, and they are full size over there. What it more I've sorted them into the right order and put little notes by the side. So Untill I get them all on multiply here is the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/sets/72157605503616724/

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Jun 8, '08 Hi again! Some more brilliant advice from many others for you here :) You may like to try night scented stock, which grows easily and smells delicious when sat out in the evening. I am glad to see the vinegar recipe as I am "blessed" with much ground elder, which is threatening to take over the rest of my plants! Let us know how it goes in your lovely garden :)))

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Jun 8, '08, edited on Jun 8, '08 you've gotten some wonderful advice already. here's a link for the vinegar weed killer recipe: http://www.moscowfood.coop/archive/VinegarKillsWeeds.html that paved area would be perfect for a table with an umbrella, perhaps some interesting statuary and some sort of a water feature, perhaps a bird bath, too. i would add some grasses to give a vertical accent, to accent those jazzy angles. moonflower is a wonderfully scented annual vine that you can enjoy in the evenings. i totally agree with you about the clover, i think it's very pretty. ; D

delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on Jun 8, '08 Sounds like you have come up with a perfect (and attractive) solution to your problem. I , too dislike putting herbicides in my garden but I was desperate with a couple of invaders so I purchased a container of "Round up" The labe assures me that it only affects the plant it touches and that any run off breaks down quickly and will not harm the soil at all. I hope I can trust that. It kills slowly taking up to a month to really "do in" the plant you put it on. I use the foam setting so theres no overspray.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jun 8, '08 I was going to say that I'm sure you can find some interesting advice on the Internet as Emma has obviously done. What a perfectly wonderful garden you have. Thanks for sharing it with us.

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Jun 8, '08 I also found this advice, so I shall paste it here for you - 1) Plant the plants. Even if you intend to dig them up again in the Spring, these kinds of perennials do best when their roots are tucked into good old garden soil over the winter. (And now through fall is the perfect time to plant!) Just take them out of their pots and put them in the ground anywhere you can find that drains well. If there’s absolutely NO room at your place, ask a friend or relative if you can plant them at their house for the winter. Plant at the same depth they were in their pots, and water them well. Water once a week from now till frost if we don’t get any rain, and again if we go a month or more without moisture over winter. 2) Plant the pots. Again, not if they’re terra cotta. But plastic pots can be ‘planted’ right in the ground. This may seem foolish, but it actually provides all the benefits of in-ground insulation without any risk of transplant shock—and it protects the plants’ roots from underground winter gnawing by voles. Just bury the pots, water as directed above and dig them out again in the Spring. 3) Gather all your pots together, place them against the North or east facing side of your home and cover them a good foot deep in shredded (NOT ‘whole’!) leaves after the trees give up their previous “Fall Gold”. To be safe, I’d remove plants from terra cotta pots and lay the plants down on the ground sideways with as much soil still attached to their roots as possible. (Leave plants inside plastic pots for that little extra vole—and rabbit and mousey—protection.) Dig them out of there as soon as the weather warms up in Spring and put them back out where you want them. You don’t have to wait until after the last frost—they can take a chill, just not a really deep freeze. 4) Take the pots into a cool, dark place that will remain between 40 and 50 degrees and allow them to go dormant. Water them once when you put them down and then leave them alone till Spring, when you will take them back outside as soon as the weather warms. Water them well right away, and until we get rain.

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Jun 8, '08 HI Loretta! Thank you for sharing your story and your pictures, what a good idea! I have a 'weed wand', which you attach a gas canister to and ignite it - it then acts as a garden blow torch! You can weed whilst standing up and it burns away the weeds in an eco friendly way. Mine coast £19 and the large cans were about £3 - my garden is huge and one can has lasted me ages. Or, do as an aunt did, and make up a solution of tobacco in water and squirt them!! If you had those bases for pots with wheels on, you could bring some of the tender plants in and not have to carry them? Is it the 'yellow button' lavender or the purple one which was damaged? Good luck with your natural area too, I think that's brilliant and the wildlife will certainly thank you!! :)))

delete reply dianahopeless wrote on Jun 7, '08 I do most of my gardening in containers now, too. I see you like blue pots. I simply adore them. I know there is a natural way to kill weeds, but it slips my mind at the moment. It's been so long since I needed to use it. I don't use poisons any more either. I seem to recall something alkaline, maybe salt or vinegar? f I remember, I try to get back to you on it. TY for sharing your beautiful garden.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Jun 7, '08 wow, what a neat space you have to garden in. so many possibilities. i'll be back by to look at it all again tomorrow, it's 10p.m. here and i'm getting a bit sleepy. i don't drive, either. nite nite. ; D

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 7, '08 Comments and ideas always welcome. I have no idea why but some of the pictures have loaded full size, others have loaded as very small pictures, which is a bit of a shame because I would quite like to show all the pictures full size but I'm sure you get the general idea.