DOING SOME PLANTING AND SOME REDESIGNING

 

We have been planting up the raised bed now that the water feature is in place. A couple of shrubs were moved out of the way of the stream and put to the back of the bed. There are also a few original plants still in their place which may have to be moved or thinned out later.

We have planted some ferns amongst the rocks at the back.

We have also placed a large rock in the border to add interest. Here a couple of low growing geraniums have been placed to cover the soil.

The Solomons seal was already here and gives a bit of height to the border.

More rocks and planting at the end corner.

Naturally when you finish something in the garden it will open up another area that may need a new design.

So while sitting on the bench looking out onto the path at this point, it showed up a few problems.

You can see from this much earlier photo, that we had a covered item along with a bust in need of a home, along with a part of the border still needing it's rope edging, which we could not finish unless we removed some we already had in use in another spot. At first I thought yes, I'd change the edging for some different ones we already had, that were going spare but problem was I liked it where it was.

Under the tarp was an old miniature garden shed, complete with garden tools and plants but the wooden base had rotted and it needs repairing. Also the planting just beyond it was two honeysuckles between a climbing rose.

I had cut these all back last year because they were becoming thugs, the rose especially was tangling in the lilac trees and taking over.

So a sit on the bench and a look at the space allowed for a decision to be reached.

We have removed everything, miniature garden shed, bust, and the three plants. We did consider leaving the rose and training it along the trellis but decided the Hydrangea that grows beside the bench rea and you can see on the left could be grown along the trellis.

First Paul had to replace the bottom board that had rotted and moved out of place. Luckily we had a piece of the nice thick boarding we used for the raised bed, which after cutting to size fit perfectly in place.

We used these decking boards many years ago to replace some fence panels, that our then neighbour had asked to remove while his builder put in a concrete base and then never put back. Thinking about it now, we should have said no, since that side was their responsibility and the base should have been far enough away from fence for them to put up a proper fence on their side at some stage. But either way, it didn't get put back so we used the boards then added the trellis to close our garden back in and to stop our two westies at that time running round their garden.

Apart from the lowest board the rest are in excellent condition for fifteen or so years they have been in place. We did consider buying a couple of four foot fence panels to replace them but that would be an unneeded expense and a waste of the boards already there. So we intend to add another couple of boards above these and raise the trellis by around a foot to add a little more protection in this space.

We also decided to shorten the border, which saves on buying/ moving any more rope top edging and use what we already had in the floral design to complete the end. See the photo.

So we will be paving this section, so we can stand pots in this area with some of our Hosta's in. You can see one of the pots to the left.

Now we just need a couple of large pieces of paving.