Helen's Garden Renovation Project

At last I have finished digging! As I patiently poked away at the bricks and concrete under the cherry tree’s roots, I wondered whether the rubble really was mostly under the roots or whether I was noticing the rubble under the roots more because it was harder to remove than the rubble in between roots. I came to the conclusion that actually it would make sense for the tree to put its roots just above the rubble, because the soil is probably poorly drained there, and therefore the tree can get more water. So I don’t blame the tree at all, but it was jolly hard work. Yesterday morning I was chipping away with a hammer and chisel to break up a large lump into small enough pieces to be able to remove it, when one of my neighbours came by and said that what I needed was a huge great pole. He went away and came back with one, and thumped the rubble with it for me. I didn’t want to break up the rubble into dust in case it contaminated the soil, but the vibrations dislodged the lump enough for me to lever it out with my crowbar. The crowbar is also good as a chisel, being longer than my proper chisel.

This is the rubble that I dug out of the front garden – and this is not even all of it.

I have now started filling the hole back in again, adding some 6X fertiliser that has been sitting in my garage for nearly eleven years after it came free with something I ordered.

On my way to work I cycle past a shrub which is incredibly fragrant in late summer and autumn. The fragrance travels so far that it was difficult at first for me to work out which shrub it was. However, I managed that last autumn, and ever since then I have been wondering what it is. It is a large, evergreen, rather boring-looking shrub with dull leaves that turn inwards at the edges. I thought it might be Osmanthus, but that has smaller leaves.

This morning I stopped to take another look at it, and I noticed that it had egg-shaped pink-speckled fruit, and the new leaves were a greyish-brown colour, almost metallic, rather than dark green like the older ones.

At work I looked up one of my current suspects, Elaeagnus, using Google Images, and there were my rosy-red fruits. I think it is x ebbingei, which is a shame, as I have no idea how you pronounce it.

Now I know what it is, the next question is whether to try growing it in my garden. If I am right about the variety, it loves the shade, which is a big plus point. If I could grow it up the fence, and keep it trimmed back, it would be lovely to walk past it in the late summer and autumn. On the other hand, I think it looks quite vigorous, and so I might have to do quite a lot of pruning to keep it under control if I want to keep it in a small space. I think I will see if I can acquire a plant, either from a garden centre, or by taking some semi-ripe cuttings in a couple of months’ time if I think nobody will notice (the shrub is at the edge of an estate, not in someone’s garden), and see how it gets on.

Later note:
I also got the answer from a forum where I posted my question on a bulletin board run by the RHS at http://www.rhs.org.uk/ibb/posts.aspx?postID=11201&viewreplies=true. I thought I had set the options to email me if there were any replies, so I hadn’t checked back there at the time, but I later found that the majority opinion was that it was elaeagnus. These people are good detectives, as I hadn’t even given them a picture, and are obviously very knowledgeable. Worth knowing for future reference.

And finally, my camellia is flowering like there is no tomorrow. Just in case there isn’t, I took a picture. The honesty in the foreground is trying pretty hard too.

I have spent all four days of the Easter holiday (Friday 6th April to Monday 9th April) digging over the patch of ground in the front garden that used to be planted with shrubs and on which I want to sow some grass seed. I really underestimated that job! One problem was that the amount of builders’ rubble was ridiculous. If they had used all those bricks on my house instead of throwing them on the ground I could have three storeys. The other problem was the roots of the cherry tree. The cherry tree has proved it is definitely alive by springing into white blossom, and I don’t want to kill it, so I have had to dig carefully round the roots, mainly using a trowel rather than a spade. The poor tree has had a hard job growing its roots over so much rubble, and it was sometimes difficult to remove the rubble under the roots – I had to get my hammer and chisel out to split a brick so I could get it out from in between the roots. I also needed my hammer and chisel for an enormous lump of aggregate I still haven’t managed to shift. Maybe I should invest in a pickaxe, which would also come in handy for removing the crazy-paved path.

Although I have damaged the roots slightly with my digging, I think the cherry tree should benefit in the long run because it will have some soft soil to sink its roots into in future. I had better make sure I water it this summer if we have any heatwaves, though.

I have spent about 2-3 hours on each of four days working on this job, and this is where I have got to:

I have done the bits that are covered with a heap of soil and the hole (obviously) so that leaves me with the bits on the right of the picture. I am hoping they won’t be so bad because there shouldn’t be so much cherry tree root in them.

I would like to carry on and finish the job this evening but I know from experience that too much digging all at once is very dangerous. I am already aching a bit in my right shoulder and upper back and I do not wish to even things up by creating the same effect in my left side and lower back. So I will hope for good weather and do some tomorrow and some more at the weekend if I am lucky.

I’ve just been looking at some of my previous blog entries, and I’ve realised I had completely forgotten about leaving a gap in the paving at the side for the winter flowering jasmine! However, the only point of the winter flowering jasmine was to give me something to look out of the window in the sitting room at, instead of a fence. The neighbours kindly put a low fence panel and a trellis up in that position for that very reason. But often I don’t even bother to open the curtains in that window, since I get so much light from the patio doors, and not having the plant there makes it a lot easier to get things in and out of the side passage. And the winter jasmine never grew very well. I will put it against the fence on the other side of the house. There is plenty of room.

The men from my landscaping company have suddenly paved over my side passage. The job they were working on finished early, so Richard asked me yesterday if he could do the job today, so I said all right. This morning I moved a few things out of the way, made them some coffee and went to work. When I came back, it was all over.

The paving is Indian Sandstone from Kebur Concrete in Farnborough, in brown. The white marks on it will wash off after the first rainfall. It has a lovely variation in colour, and there are even fossils in some of the slabs. I love it.

I made my most sensible project management decision this year by asking the landscaping company to remove the three posts from the old blackberry frame on the same day. This left holes which they were able to fill with the topsoil they removed from the side passage. You may be able to see in the photograph a small heap of topsoil near the back fence. They also put some in the front garden where I had left a hole after digging up the shrub last week. So I kept all my topsoil, which I shall certainly need later, and didn’t have to pay anything to have it carted off somewhere.

The weather is getting warmer, and I have started watering my pots now. The annual seeds I sowed have come up in nice straight-ish lines, just like the book says. I will have to water them over the Easter weekend because it is going to be very warm.

I have continued to be extremely busy with work. I have two jobs: I work in public health part-time, and I am also a private maths tutor. At this time of year there is an enormous demand for the tuition, and I have to take the work while I can, so the garden will just have to manage as best as it can. I have the Easter weekend from Friday to Monday completely clear of work, so as long as the weather is all right I can do a few hours of gardening each day.

For my public health job, I work in an office with a small landscaped garden at the back. I don’t know what all the plants are, but there is some lavender and rosemary, both of which are on my list for my renovated garden, so last week I took in a margarine tub, a kitchen towel, and a pair of scissors. I damped down the kitchen towel and put it in the tub, and added several sprigs of lavender and rosemary, so they could keep nice and damp while I completed the 30 minute cycle ride home. Of course, I should have asked the landlord’s permission before doing this, but I doubt if he is very interested, and anyway the shrubs badly need trimming, so I am doing him a favour really. I don’t think this is the best time of year to take cuttings, but my job is not secure at the moment, and I could be out of there before the best time comes along, so I decided to try taking the cuttings now and see what happens. I have promised to give plants to any of my colleagues who want them if we are both still in a job by the time they root.

This morning I had to travel to see a maths pupil, and since I was going past Junction 3 of the M3, I called in at Notcutts on the way back. Sadly, they did not have a waldsteinia after all, but they said they would order one for me. So I will have to go back to collect it in a couple of weeks, but I don’t mind as I think I would enjoy looking around the garden centre again when I have more time. I asked about the cornus alba sibirica, and they said they had run out, and that it was really the best one, the one that everyone wants. It has bright red stems. So that will go very well with my bright orange Midwinter Fire and my deep purple Kesselringii. I also asked about the campanula portenschlangiana, and they suggested that I go to Wisley for that. What a good idea. I haven’t been to Wisley for ages. While I was at Notcutts, I saw a wisteria “Black Dragon”. I bought one of these about ten years ago, but it died, so I bought a replacement, but it was a normal wisteria, not a Black Dragon. Now I am afraid that the replacement wisteria has died too. If it has, it is probably because I didn’t water it enough during the long hot summer in 2006. So I bought the Black Dragon and I will work out where to put it later.

My Thuja plicata atrovirens arrived today. In case you are wondering how plants in pots can possibly be posted, I can tell you that the nursery wraps them individually in newspaper and lays them down in a cardboard box lined with a plastic bin liner. It took a while to unwrap them and put all the spilt soil back in their pots, but fortunately they look none the worse for their journey.

So well done to Buckingham Nurseries. I would definitely buy plants from them again.

I have had a busy week, spending more time than usual working, but I have found a little time to continue gardening. I rang up Notcutts, a garden centre in Bagshot. It has a very good reputation, but for some reason I have never gone there. I asked them if they had a Waldsteinia, and they said yes! I am going that way on Tuesday, so I shall stop off and pay them a visit.

I also bought some more plants from Wilkinson’s: a small pieris, a climbing hydrangea, and a baby magnolia. I will try growing the magnolia in a pot and see how it gets on. I think it has more of a chance than my existing magnolia has. Anyway, it didn’t cost much. You have to be a bit careful with Wilkinson’s plants because they don’t live long on the shelves, but as long as a plant is alive when you buy it, I think it is probably all right.

In the front garden I dug up a shrub which the builders planted ten years ago and which I have never liked. I am not even sure what it is, but this is what it looked like.

I want to dig up all the builders’ shrubs which are on my land, and sow grass seed instead, as this will make maintenance easier. (I am allowed to do this: planning conditions stated that we had to leave the planting alone for five years, but that period has long since passed). However, this is not an easy job, especially as I have to avoid the roots of the cherry tree. I am hoping that I will get good weather during the Easter weekend so I can finish this job.

In the back garden, my annuals are most definitely coming up, in straight lines like they are supposed to. I think I sowed some of the seeds too thickly, but I shall see how they get on.

Today I looked at the advertisements in ‘The Garden’, which is the Royal Horticultural Society’s magazine, and found Buckingham Nurseries, who had pot-grown Thuja Plicata for sale at £1.99 each for 12-18 inch plants. I estimate that I need 12 altogether, so I bought 14 to include two spares. I will just have to make sure that I water them. I wonder how long it is going to take me to water all my pots every day this summer. Clustering them together will probably help against water loss, although this can be bad for the spread of disease. Having said that, given their number, I probably have no choice but to cluster them together. The patio is big, but not infinite.

Today my patient boyfriend Dave took me to Whitewater Nursery in Hound Green, Mattingley or Heckfield (I have never been quite sure which, but I always manage to find it). I took my shopping list written by Yvonne and managed to buy five plants that were on it. They were:

• Trachlospermum jasminiodes – a semi-evergreen climber with very fragrant flowers.
• Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ – a shrub with striking orange stems in winter.
• Ajuga reptans Multicolour (rainbow)
• Ajuga reptans Chocolate Chip
• Pulmonaria Rubra Redstart

So that was good. I also bought two oriental poppies, one a deep pink colour and one a pale pink to go with my lovely orange-red one. My list said I should buy Cornus alba Sibirica, but I couldn’t find that one, so I bought Cornus alba Kessleringii instead. It has dark purple stems, which should provide a good contrast to Midwinter Fire.

Yvonne recommended getting pulmonaria for ground cover. I already have a lovely deep blue pulmonaria, and since it seems to be so happy in my dark garden (at least, it was until I dug it up and split it into seven pieces. I can’t vouch for its state of mind at the moment) I decided to buy a red one to go with it. It is in quite a big pot so I will split that up soon. She also recommended Ajuga, but didn’t specify a variety. The Ajuga reptans multicolour was still half-asleep, but the ‘Chocolate Chip’ variety was fully awake, so I thought that was worth buying as it is nice to have some perennials getting going earlier in the season.

I was supposed to buy a geranium sanguineum and a geranium cinereum, but couldn’t find them, so I bought a geranium Phaeum Samobor, which has purple flowers.

I failed to locate a Waldsteinia, which is semi-evergreen with yellow flowers. The first person I asked at Whitewater had never heard of it, but she radioed her colleague who confirmed that it did exist, but they hadn’t got it. I don’t think it is an easy plant to get, but that just makes me even more determined to get one. Of course, if I just wanted ground cover and yellow flowers, I could leave off poisoning the celandines.

I had a look for Thuja Plicata, which I plan to use to replace my Leylandii on the grounds that it has glossier foliage and will regenerate if it is cut right back, unlike Leylandii, which stays bare. They had some and it looked very nice, but they only had large expensive pots, so I will have a look on the Internet to see if I can get little trees cheaply. When I bought my Leylandii, it arrived through my letterbox in two packs of ten. It didn’t take long to get 12 feet high. I plan to grow the Thuja in pots and replace the Leylandii a few at a time, so I am not left with a bare fence. At the moment I think I can dig up the Leylandii myself if I get the people who trim it to cut it back a bit shorter than usual.

It was bitterly cold. I was glad to be able to leave the plants outside with the rest of the menagerie and come in for a cup of tea.

Yesterday we had snow. It didn’t settle except on car roofs, but it was pretty cold. Sadly, my rhododendron is now definitely bovvered. The effect on my magnolia was not good either.

Today I dug up some more of the bulbs (you can see them behind the path, in the right hand side of the picture). I decided that they were probably all bluebells and that I didn’t want to keep them. They can’t be grape hyacinths or they would be in flower (see underneath the magnolia). I am pleased to see that the celandines are looking sickly on their weekly dose of glyphosate, and none of them has flowered. I don’t suppose I will eradicate them this year, because I have never succeeded before, but now is a good time to try, since there is nothing in that area that I want to keep, and therefore it doesn’t matter if some of the spray misses the celandines.

In my annual border, there are a few very tiny seedlings poking up out of the earth. My seeds may have germinated. On the other hand, they could equally well be bittercress. I shall have to wait and see.

On Thursday, to celebrate the day after No Smoking Day, I went along with my colleagues to the Fire Station. This was for a photo shoot of firemen wearing breathing apparatus next to someone dressed as a big cigarette, to emphasise how dangerous cigarette smoke is. My role in this event was cancelled, so I got very bored, but I had the camera with me, so I took some photographs of the lovely heathers they had in the grounds of the fire station.

Heathers can be very beautiful plants. Unfortunately you have to remember to trim them after flowering. This, sadly, is what happens if you don’t.

I want to have heathers in either my front or back garden, but I will have to dig up these remains and buy some new ones.