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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.)
Coming along nicely MC, will look lovely in the spring with the bulbs out.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Its looking really good MC, nice to see the progress and hope your new lawn seed remains on the ground long enough to germinate lol !
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Regards, Hazel
Great progress MC, all you need now is a packet of broad bean seeds & your veggie plot will be under way too!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Unknown said: Its looking really good MC, nice to see the progress and hope your new lawn seed remains on the ground long enough to germinate lol !
The Ferals have been given specific instructions regarding that!
Good to see that the MMO has plenty of room to spread its' roots out!! Looking very good MC, well done & waiting for the Spring views!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Doing a little catching up, your garden is looking so different now MC with lots of interesting plants and your imagination must have been working well to come up with the design. Love it all, especially that little oak tree sat there so proud.
Lot to learn
Hi MC.
Your garden looks great!
But now I'm going to ask a silly question. (because I'm curious)
You do know how BIG Oak Trees can get don't you? It's just I didn't think you had a lot of room in the garden for a wonderful Oak Tree? That is one tree I would love to have in my garden.
They are loved by so many different types of wildlife, especially when they grow big!
I never knew there were so many different types of oak tree until I went on holiday to Norfolk recently, so I might be totally wrong and you have already thought about the full grown size of the tree.
Jill
Hi Jill, yes, I know how big they get. However, that will be many years away and I can't see it being an issue for me. I can always prune it if required. It's nowhere near the house though.
Latest part of the project: The covered passageway. I has envisioned this from the very start, even before the garage had been demolished. However, it had to fit with the new garden and also the 'Chalet Area'. As a result I left it until now to complete it. I had to resolve the issue of the step down to the new garden and also what to use for the top, as well as how to attach it.
Prep work for the passageway involved creating a stable and level base for the new section of trellis. It also needed to be level with the existing section. I had to affix an additional length of 2x1 to the base in order to level it up. The house bricks were only there to avoid getting mud on my boots!
The sooner I finish all this the better. The clutter is beginning to accumulate!
The completed passageway structure as viewed from the new garden. The top is comprised of three sections of pvc coated galvanised mesh which I made into one 6 foot section using 3 foot lengths of 2x1. I then attached it to the existing and new sections of trellis and finally added an end section to cover the gap and add some stability to the structure.. I decided to use this rather than more trellis because it will allow through more light and give it a more welcoming look in the Summer. If you look closely you can see the additional length of 2x1 sandwiched between the trellis and the base.
I have raked over the soil that will form part of the walkway, but I'm not sure what form the walkway will eventually take. Maybe some grass and paving stones with small plants down the side?
The view into the new garden. The timber on the right will be used for the new SBS (work commenced after I had taken these photos).
Excellent progress MC, really starting to take shape now & can only improve rapidly with new planting & more rubbish clearance & hasn't this recent mild weather helped enormously ... in between the rain, of course!
Set reasonably fair, a tad breezy though, with the current position of the Gulf Stream!