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I recently demolished my garage in order to extend the garden and within the last few days I have broken out the garage floor slab. The idea is to create flowerbeds around the perimeter and to lay turf adjacent to that. The broken out flooring was only a couple of inches thick and once I have broken it down even more I was intending to put a topsoil/compost mix on top to create the flowerbeds. I am assuming that the broken up flooring will assist with drainage and stop the soil from simply washing away when it rains? I have several bags of Homebase topsoil and was intending to mix them in with compost of some sort. Can anyone offer advice and tell me if this is a good idea? I intend to plant climbing roses and honeysuckle at the far end of the garden because I have installed trellis at high level. Going forward I will be planting runner beans and tomatoes on the more exposed wall and pyracantha and other Sparrow friendly plants elsewhere. I will post some photos when I get home, in order to give a better idea of the layout. Hope someone can offer some advice. Thanks.
Organised jungle I would say, you can pick or eat most of it and those roses are just delicious.
Only a week on from the last posting, but there has been a lot of growth in that time, mainly because of the rain. We also had bright sunshine on a couple of days. These are (mainly) photos of the produce.
Plum Tomatoes are developing well
Some Gooseberries
More blossom on the Runner Beans
Oh my! The first Loganberries are nearly ready for eating
Looks like I'm going to be eating a lot of fruit!
Luckily for me, the Raspberries are a little behind the Loganberries.
The fruit jungle!
Ok, I'm not going to be eating these, but they're blooming marvellous. The Honeysuckle on the right is now showing too.
Again, not for eating, but they're proving to be far more prolific than last year.
I almost forgot this rose. It's called 'Wedding Day' and has come into bloom in the past couple of days. It's another climber, so I'm looking forward to seeing how quickly it will spread. It has only been here a few months and is already thriving.
Just back from holiday and seeing your great pics of home grown produce reminded me I need to go and see if we have any rasberries & strawberries to pick, thats if the blackies haven't eaten them all. Time to go inspect.
I reckon it's nearly time you made some jam MC....gorgeous display of roses and your lillies are very early where you are, mine are still just buds. Isn't it wonderful to see the difference you made in that space of yours.
As I thought, what few strawberries ripe all have been partly eaten. No raspberry ripe yet, back in time to save them.
This is what the Gooseberries and Loganberries looked like on August 1st last year
I can't believe how much they have grown in ten months. The Loganberries have climbed about seven feet in height and another seven across the home made frame!
Loganberry jam could be a possibility...
Gooseberry, strawberry, raspberry, you're gonna need a bigger kitchen!!!!. and loads more jam pots......
You better make sure you don't eat too much of that lovely fruit and jam or you may need some pills for a sore tummy!!!
The first Loganberries have ripened and been eaten! If we get a few days of sunshine then I'm going to have a lot more coming through over the next week or so. Luckily I am off work next week, so I can hack my way through the jungle and also thin out the Raspberries. Some of the taller shoots are not fruit bearing so I can cut them to the ground. That will be a start. The peas should be ready within a week, but the rest of the produce will take a bit longer. Certainly the plums and peaches will be another month or so and the same with the potatoes. The tomatoes seem to do their own thing as they get the most sunlight, which amounts to about 7 hours at this time of year. The roses are going to need a lot of attention too, with plenty of dead-heading required and also training along the trellis for the ramblers and climbers. At some point I have to keep the feeders filled and make sure the Robins have a full dish of mealies waiting for them in the kitchen at all times. So much work for such a small garden!
I missed this update so glad I've caught up again. Your garden is full to bursting with beautiful flowers, plants, fruits and birds ! Your hard work is paying off Paul and all that lovely veg and fruit to enjoy and blooms to give that beautiful backdrop. Well done, great photos and nice to see everything thriving.