I realised a while ago that my garden was quite scruffy and had no real space for plants to grow, this may well have affected the growth of the nanas for example, so yesterday and had a good clear out of the main border leaving only the really hardy stuff in the ground.

It looks much better now in my opinion and the space between plants will allow for growth and bedding, whereas before anything was thrown in anywhere and looked quite disjointed.

Here's the new (and permanent) planting design.

I have realised something during the recent hot dry spell, where all the plants seem to have receded & shrunk a bit...
When I can actually see the fence or too much earth, I go out on a plant buying bender, whereas if its full & lush I am restrained.
Thats why my garden is never as neat & immaculate as yours!

That's what I did in Spring, I got excited because it's a new growing season and I thought lets buy loads of new plants. It just doesn't work unless you have a completely blank canvas to start with.

Maybe it pays to be disciplined, although I'm sure people will disagree.

At the end of the day though especially with things that produce pups, they need alot of space, and before now they were crammed in at most, a 30cm gap, which just won't work

Now the tough part is keeping discipline and trying to resist the urge to buy more plants for the border (other than seasonal bedding)

your fatsia looks great,very polycarpa like. also noticed the carpobrutus looking very healthy,you must be one of the few with any left up there??

The Fatsia is just a normal japonica I think, I picked it up from a local GC, It's starting to lean towards the light, but the old dead leaves were trimmed off so now it has a visible stem, that's the style I prefer of shrubs like this.

There is another Carp. in the lower parts of the town that flows over the owners wall along with a few Lampranthus', this summer it hasn't flowered though, and given the dull, wet weather of recent/forecast, it probably won't this year but if we stay away from the bad winters and normal summers resume in a more consistent level, it has a good future!

it has a good deep cut to it,whatever it is i quite like the seawall ground covers,not much chance of success with them here but one is scrambling over the grit dressing on one of debs agaves quite well

Oh Steve! That's such a shame to move all that stuff out of the borders when the answer was staring you in the face...You've got too much grass

Very tidy Stephen

Nice grass too... if i cut mine that short it would be brown It is without a doubt the highest maintenance plant in the garden, and i know why people get rid of them but i won't be without one, even if it will only be 5ft square in a few years

I thought thats how garden were supposed to look stephen

Yours certainly aint scruffy.

A question: The little wall. How did you do that? It may be an idea on how to raise my borders in the new garden, then put the kerbing on top like you have, it looks real neat.

Its a lovely garden, well thought out.

The grass is my dad's pride and joy. Sure if it wasn't for him there would be less but he just simply wouldn't allow me to take it away. I had a job trying to convince him to let me have the but of space by the bird bath!

The wall is also one my dad built when we first moved into the house, I assume he layed a cement base down, and used breeze blocks, although I'm not sure how he got the crowning on the top of the wall.

Either way, eventually I'm going to clad the wall perhaps in slate or something, it looks pretty boring at the moment.

Just the border I wwondered how to so thanks..

We can buy ready mixedconcrete I do believe, just add water.

The tops can be bought at BQ I guess, or Homebase.

I need to lift these borders with good soil. The gardens here are built on mining crap soil.



Three weeks ago I gave my son two lovely green 5ft spruce trees, they were a little brown from my last garden but not much...this is what the soil (same as mine) as done to them.

I was thinking of getting a flame thrower or bulldozer to scrape it clean.


I have far to much to do,not enough time to do it in.



metalhammer.

were they in the ground at your last house?

I rather suspect there was serious root damage + it's the wrong time to move conifers anyway.Looks like a classic example of drought.Not by lack of rain,but by lack of root to take it up.No plant would react that quick to a change in soil.Even Rhododendrons take a year or 2 to die if planted in the wrong soil.





metalhammer.

that was my next question ,took 3 out from the front last year,one came out with the roots still pot shaped bar a few and is now happy in taunton,the other two took damage and died within weeks,or at least browned off like those so i took them to the dump.so cheap to buy and fast growing,never worth messing about with