SuburbanGaze

Our first full year with a garden has come to an end, we have now seen all 4 seasons having been here for 15 months.  We have achieved so much and the space is unrecognisable to what we inherited. For Christmas I have been treated to some fabulous retro Lawn Flamingos from the USA. Don't they look great

We have our first harvest - some apples from the little tree down the left hand side of the garden.  The tree isn't planted in the best position really and leans into the garden on a bit of a slope. However, the fruit taste delicious - really sweet, juicy and crunchy, so we are going to stake the tree and hope for the best. We have no clue what variety  of apple we have gained but we have deduced that they could be Cox, Gaia or perhaps Worcester Pearmain. The fruit are uniform in size and round with a green skin and red stripes over the top.

Having lots of trees in the close vicinity of our garden means that we get a lot of leaf-fall onto the lawn.  We have looked into this and found that we can use most leaves to create our very own  leaf mould  which Monty always seems to me using on Gardeners' World .  They can also be placed in bin-bags and tied at the top but we have opted for chicken-wire containers which I think look less ghastly.  Hopefully in 12 months we can use this

Five challenging years of studying towards a degree whilst working full-time have ended this week with my last examination.   I have treated myself to this Acer 'Shaina' and a beautiful cube blue container. This promises to be a low-maintenance and compact tree with stunning red foliage in the autumn season.   I am very much looking forward to watching this grow and have located it by the French Doors where I can see it each morning.

I cannot begin to convey the amount of manual work we have both done in the garden to-date. We have uncovered several hundred meters of weed-suppressing material which was under several inches of heavy clay soil all around the garden.  We also found it beneath the stone circles in the lawn and the makeshift rockery to the left and another planting bed further down containing a Lilac Tree. Much to our neighbours dismay as she loves it, we have ripped this tree out - it reminds me of the weeds that you see growing rampantly on waste ground. (usually in the vicinity of train stations within the UK)  Along the right-hand border hidden beneath the landscaping material we have found a concrete path the full length of the garden.  This is made up of huge rectangle patio slabs and then further down, hollow breeze blocks - so incredibly heavy.  These have been filled with large pebbles mixed with liquid concrete prior to being placed...

We are in agreement that we would like to begin creating a garden that is wildlife friendly. To this end we have retained some of the thinner wooden logs from the felled trees and stacked them at the bottom of the garden where they can stay undisturbed to slowly decay.   This Log Pile will hopefully be a magnet for insects, frogs and other wildlife.

We have some bright colour courtesy of some lilies and various potted plants, this followed our first visit to Gardeners' World Live where we gained some valuable inspiration.  

To bring more light into the garden, 2 of the 3 trees from the row of Conifers towards the back of the garden are finally coming down with the help of a strong man with a power tool. We are leaving the tree to the far left in place for the time being to retain some evergreen accents. We have managed this ourselves without the help of professionals because the trees all lean in towards the garden and are not near any houses.  They are also relatively small and narrow - around 8 meters in height and 2 meters wide. The rings on the stumps indicate these trees have been in-situ for about 15 years.  A very proud Lumberjack!

We have decided to invest some time and energy in adding some plants to the outside space (and some obligatory tat too). Another Woodland Wilf addition Lovely Lavender As we don't know what design we want in the garden yet we are going to mainly put plants in pots and move them around until we figure it all out and have done some research.   Starting to look good We've bought some architecturally striking plants with a beautiful Day Lily and an All Black Phormium - and no garden is complete without a Lavender.  

At the bottom of the garden and hidden for many years underneath 6 foot brambles, nettles, rotting tree stumps, overgrown Forsythia, concrete slabs and heavy clay soil we have discovered an almost intact Anderson Air Raid Shelter.   Having researched this, the shelter was designed 3 years after the house was built and housed up to 6 individuals - people must have been much shorter in height back then. The entrance to the shelter now buried beneath the ground. This is an amazing discovery and one which we think we can perhaps utilise for a wine cellar or possibly a tool store.  

The six horrid  Conifers really have to go, we both loathe them, they suck all moisture from the soil with their greedy deep root systems, nothing grows beneath them as they cast such a huge shadow at their base.   There are so many nicer alternatives out there that sustain so much diverse wildlife and create a much more beautiful and private space (if that's what you are trying to achieve). The real work starts here.

We have spent some time outside as the weather is warming up.  We have cut the grass removing lots of dead growth and moss. We discovered a lovely stone circle in the grass with an outer circle further down the garden.  This looks to have been used to level a burning vestibule at some point in its life.   We are lucky enough to have found about 20 terracotta pots that have been abandoned in the undergrowth.  We have put some of these to good use by having a quick trip to our local Homebase and buying some Aubrietia and some essential herbs. 

No matter how unkept, tidy, large or small your garden is I would recommend investing in some furniture so that you can sit outside with a glass of bubbly to take in the sights, sounds and scents.   Easy-peasy flat-pack.  Position your furniture somewhere private that isn't overlooked, or create that area with tall containerised plants such as Bamboo - be careful to pick one that won't be rampant - a clump-forming one is the best for this purpose. 1 hour later... This was a really simple set to fit together, made entirely of strong weather-proof resin, and parts that clicked into place.  I had opened the box and set it all up in about 45 minutes.   Raining again! We chose a rattan effect resin set which we could leave out all day in all seasons due to the unpredictable British weather.  We just take in the cushions and stack it against the wall over winter.  

A slight contraction to having a garden for wildlife (that's the future plan)...is having a Cat but we love our little feline friends especially when we can rescue one from the Cats Protection League and provide it with a safe and loving home.   Buffy ready to pounce (on moth probably)!  Welcome the newest addition to the family Buffy, named after the fabulous Buffy Summers .  Ironically Buffy isn't anything like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is a quiet timid little thing that loves her own space usually in a room by herself upstairs.  She is very spoilt and has her very own double bed in one of the spare bedrooms - occasionally kicked out when we have guests.  

I am a great believer in finding the right plant (well tree in this case) for the right place.  Whilst Holly Trees have great benefits for wildlife this one is definitely in the wrong place being just 4 meters from the house and blocking out so much light.  It is right up against the wall of our neighbours extension too. I have been eyeing it up for removal since we moved in - we are just going to go for it with our extendable clippers and a hand-saw. Get yourself a fit gardener! This has been exhausting work but we are so pleased with the results.  That thick tree trunk can wait for a later day to come down though.