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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.
Unicum arbustum haud alit duos erithacos
(One bush does not shelter two Robins)
Zenodotus (3rd Century B.C.)
Great work MC, it's going to be an absolute haven for the birds once the new plants start to grow, flower and begin to give plenty of cover; if I were you I would start putting a B & B welcome sign outside (birds and bees) ! or may badgers and bats - just in case lol
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Regards, Hazel
Hi MC,
Just catching up again as I've been off for a while again. It's looking great and I'm going to read backwards now to see a bit more of your hard work!
Well done so far though the results are clear to see from where you started!
Best
Higgy
Not sure I'll ever see any badgers (no way they could get in), but there have been bats in the area albeit not in my garden. I want to get the Chalet area back to what it used to be when BR 'was a lad' and there was plenty of shelter. The Pyracantha will be on the other side of the trellis, so once that spreads there will be additional cover. If there's space, I might get some more box hedges. I'd like to have some nests in the garden next year, especially Robins.
higgy50 said: Hi MC, Just catching up again as I've been off for a while again. It's looking great and I'm going to read backwards now to see a bit more of your hard work! Well done so far though the results are clear to see from where you started! Best Higgy
Once the topsoil is all down, I will take another photo and annotate it with dimensions and so on to give an idea of what's in the pipeline.
Did you say you bought Cotoneaster MC ? That would make a wonderful hedging and with lovely berries and protection for birds; the one thing I found with box is that it can suffer from blight - a sort of fungus, that can cause the plant to go brown and develop bare patches. I think the birds would go for cotoneaster more readily rather than the box.
I haven't purchased Cotoneaster yet, but I was taking a look at it on the Ashridge website last night. It might fit in behind the chalet enclosure near the Pyracantha. I believe that Goldies are partial to it?
I think a few birds like Cotoneaster but don't get Cotoneaster conspicuax decora variety as it appears the birds don't like the berries on that particular variety ! I just came across this webpage which may be of interest to you.
Thanks for the link. Looks interesting...
That looks a good link Hazy, we had quite a few cotoneaster at the last house & the birds only ate the berries if there was nothing left to eat i.e; midway through an ice-age freeze (2012?) when the blackbirds & redwings ate them. The pyracantha on the other hand got stripped before the winter every year!
I hope you're feeling better now MC, my cold seems to have lingered but it's not stopped me working this week. I'll have to put a few photos in when I've got time to sort them!!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Thanks Hazel. My head cold only lasted for a couple of days and now I'm right as rain. Hopefully this mild weather will continue for the next few days and I will finish that final ton of topsoil!