Helen's Garden Renovation Project

I can hardly believe it, but today I have finished Phase 2 of the Garden Renovation Project. Phase 2 consists of installing the hard landscaping and plants in the left hand side of the garden and along the back fence up to the greenhouse. I have installed 10 large stepping stones (60 cm square) and 10 smaller stepping stones. I have also installed too many plants to count. It was a lot. Although I will probably add more plants to the area in due course, I have finished the hard landscaping and therefore I am going to call it complete. It is about time something got finished.

Large square stepping stones leading past the pond to the back of the garden

I decided in the end to lay all the stepping stones myself, mainly because I didn’t find anyone who was willing to do the job properly. I didn’t want to pay someone to just put four or five blobs of mortar down. I started off being very bad at laying stepping stones, but I think I improved. Either that, or my standards got lower. Last Sunday, I made the screed for the penultimate slab, and when I laid the slab on top, it was at the right height and perfectly level the first time. I could hardly believe it. Today I got it right the second time. I think that when I have surrounded the slabs with plants to hide the edges, they will look absolutely fine. Here is the view of the stepping stone route from the back of the garden.

Stepping stones viewed from the back of the garden

And now it is time to start planning Phase 3, which involves the right hand side of the garden. I was going to get someone to lay a path parallel to the fence because that’s the route I take to empty my kitchen compost bin, but now I have decided that I am not all that bad at laying stepping stones, maybe I will do it myself with stepping stones after all. I also need to concrete in some posts to make a trellis for my four blackberry plants, and make a small pond to look at while I am doing the washing up.

Meanwhile, the Willowherb Elimination Stakes have got underway again, and I am preparing for my usual comprehensive defeat.

On Friday I said goodbye to the cherry tree in my front garden. Although it improved a lot after I dug out the rubble under its roots some years ago, it never looked as attractive in the spring or autumn as other cherry trees in the vicinity. It had also been planted too high up, so that there was a slope down to the edging and the roots stuck up out of the lawn. I had been thinking of removing it, but had thought that my neighbour would not like the loss of the amenity. But then my neighbour said that she didn’t like the branches overhanging her drive because the birds sat on them and made a mess on her car, so I asked her if she would mind me getting rid of it, and she said no, so I called in Cedardale, who dispatched it efficiently and humanely.

Cherry tree being felled

On the other hand, the Morello cherry tree kindly given to me last summer by a student’s parents, has set fruit, and I have netted it in its pot by sticking four bamboo canes at the corners and tying the netting to them.

Morello cherry laden with fruit

It would be nice if I could plant it in the ground next year, but I don’t have a lot of hope I will have progressed that far by then. Still, today I mortared in another stepping stone, which only leaves four, and then I will have finished the left hand side of the garden.

I am continuing to plant between the stepping stones. This morning I decided that I might as well install one of the remaining square stepping stones myself, as it can’t be seen from the house and won’t look bad if it’s not perfectly aligned. As usual, I covered it with seed trays to stop myself stepping on it while the mortar sets. Also as usual, I took a long time doing the job, but I’m moderately happy with the end result. I think that, with practice, maybe I am getting slightly better at it.

Stepping stones and planting in far left corner

This is what the whole area of stepping stones and plants looks like so far:

Stepping stones and planting – wider area

And I think it looks pretty much as I imagined it. The main problem at the moment is that the cats are digging a lot of holes in the area, so I am having to leave bits of crazy paving all around to help to prevent them doing it. The cat scarers probably have some effect, but they don’t completely work. As the plants expand, this will stop being a problem.

I missed my annual planting of an ericaceous plant on the anniversary of Dave’s death because the prolonged cold weather meant I wasn’t ready to plant anything. So today, on the third anniversary of Dave’s funeral, I planted a red dwarf azalea and put a stone toad next to it.

The toad, the azalea and me

I know it is very difficult to see the azalea because it is so tiny, but it is very young and it is meant to be a dwarf.

It has been very windy today and yesterday, and the scent of the apple blossom wafted around as I dug the hole for the azalea. The lilacs are out, and so are other people’s wisterias, and yet the camellias have not finished flowering yet, and even the magnolias have not quite yet shot their bolt. This is the prettiest early May that I remember for a long time.

It is no longer freezing cold every day. I had thought that when the weather warmed up, we would then get loads of rain and still wouldn’t be able to do any gardening, but I was too pessimistic. This weekend and last weekend we have had a lot of dry weather, and I have been getting on with filling the areas around the stepping stones with plants.

Planting between apple trees

The plant midway between the apple trees is an Acca sellowiana, or pineapple guava. I grew it from seed. I also have an Acca in the front garden, but I bought that one as a plant. So far, neither has flowered. To the left of the Acca is a peony, which has been sitting in a pot for several years. I have also planted five winter-flowering heathers to give a bit of interest outside summer. I decided not to think too much about how to allocate my low-growing perennials to the gaps between the stepping stones. I am just going to plant things somewhere, and see what does best where, and move the plants about later if necessary. I am using thyme, Vinca minor, Saxifraga x urbium (London Pride), Phlox subulata and Geranium sanguinem to start with, although I haven’t planted all of these yet.

Tomorrow is going to be the hottest day of the year so far (23C), and I plan to plant some more things in the morning, so I will have to make sure they are very well watered. After that, I will have dramatically fewer pots to water, which will free up lots of time for huge amounts of weeding in between my newly planted plants. Sigh.

After my last post, I started my new job, and the temperature dropped to around freezing and stayed there. I wore thermal underwear to work and left the garden to its own devices. Fortunately, the garden wasn’t in the mood for much in the way of devices. Normally my camellia would have been covered in flowers by now, and would have been for some days, and I would be adoringly taking pictures, but this year the first flower did not appear until 7th April. That’s not to say that the garden is still totally asleep. The pieris is rather good. I saw a bee paying it some attention last week, although I haven’t seen any bees since then.

Pieris waiting for the bees

And hellebores are always good for a long-lasting show.

Hellebore orientalis

Today, at last, the temperature was well above freezing and it wasn’t raining, so it was time to make some more mortar and get some stepping stones embedded. I managed to do three of the log-effect stones in about three hours and I was happy with that. Once again I have covered the newly laid stones with upturned seed trays. It is the only way to stop myself stepping on them.

Stepping stones now nearly finished

There is now one log-effect stone still to do, and six large square ones. I have had a lot of trouble getting someone to quote for laying the six large slabs. The only quote I had was for £180, and he was going to only put four blobs of mortar down – not even five blobs! Maybe I will do the job myself after all. Although I still think it’s a very difficult job to do, I also think I am getting better at it. At least, I could do the slab around the corner that can’t be seen from the house and probably wouldn’t look too bad if I did it. And we have got two bank holidays coming up in May.

However, the most pressing thing now is to get my J Parkers plants into the ground. Now that most of the stepping stones are in place, I should be able to dig holes around them and plant the area up. This is what it’s all about, after all.

After my last post, I had one more mild, dry day, in which I laid two more stepping stones and dug the hole for the next one. The next day it rained pretty much all day, so I went to B&Q to buy more sand and cement. I estimate I am getting through slightly less than one bag of sand for each stepping stone, so I bought four more bags. I was busy all day on Friday and Saturday on other things, and in any case, it rained quite a lot on Friday. Today, however, I spent about an hour digging holes and choosing my pieces of rubble foundation for the final three stepping stones. It was only just above freezing, and we have some harsh temperatures coming up, so it would not have been wise to do any mortaring. At least I am now ready to get going as soon as more spring-like conditions turn up.

Tomorrow, the temperature is forecast not to get above freezing, so I have taken a picture of my beautiful early rhododendron before it goes brown.

Early rhododendron just beginning to get going before the frost tonight

Today was the warmest day of the year so far, and I decided that it was the first day of spring because I saw my first brimstone butterfly of the year.

Yesterday and today I was able at last to get on with mortaring the log effect stepping stones in place. As these are about a third of the size of the square ones, it was a much easier job. As the great tits shrieked, “Teacher! Teacher!” I laid four stones over the two days. It was quite hard to get a good picture because it was so sunny, but here’s my best effort.

First four log-effect stepping stones

The black plant trays are there so I could put them on top of the stepping stones after photographing them. This reminds me not to walk on them. I find it very hard to remember otherwise. It’s possible that tomorrow may be another dry day, and I may be able to get another two in place, and then I will be more than halfway there. I am so looking forward to being able to plant things in the area.

My plan to get on with the garden while I am only half employed has not worked. This is partly because most of February has been cold. Not dramatically cold, but persistently only just above freezing during the day. So I have been unable to do any more mortaring, or indeed, very much at all. Today I realised it was almost the end of February and if I didn’t get a post in, I would have missed out a whole month.

So I went out and inspected the bulbs I have planted in the Residents’ communal areas.

Snowdrop from a dry bulb

Early dwarf iris

It has been well known for a while that snowdrops planted from dry bulbs don’t work. The RHS now advises that planting them in the green doesn’t work either. It’s amazing that anyone has any snowdrops at all. Fortunately, the 15 snowdrops that I bought from Wilkinson’s haven’t read the advice. Only one has flowered, but as far as I can tell, all or nearly all of them have produced leaves.

I then spent an hour or so tidying up my rubble collection, sweeping up the crumbs and leaves. I have chosen the rubble which I want to use under my log effect stepping stones and taken most of the rest to the dump. Since my last post I have laid the last of the square stepping stones. I have decided that I want to install the log effect stepping stones myself, but I definitely need someone to install the six square stepping stones down the left hand side of the garden. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find anyone who is interested yet, because it is such a small job.

It’s now getting more urgent that I finish off the stepping stones, for two reasons. One is that the plants I ordered from J Parkers have arrived.

Plants from J Parkers

I have received: a Daphne Odora Aureomarginata, Hebe Heartbreaker, Japanese Azalea (free), 12 cascading begonias (also free), 5 Gallery Lupins, 10 heathers, 20 Phlox subulata and 6 Thymus Serpyllum. The Phlox and the Thymus are for planting in between the stepping stones. I don’t really know exactly where I am going to put all the plants, but ideally I need to plant them at the end of March so I need to make a decision.

The other reason is that I have now got a job, working for Hampshire County Council in Winchester. I don’t have a start date yet, but when I start, I will suddenly find myself with virtually no spare time again. So I am really hoping that next week the temperatures will perk up and the rain will hold off, and I can do as much to the garden as possible.

I have taken advantage of the not-very-wet and not-very-cold weather to lay two more stepping stones. This is the result:

Three of the four stepping stones in place

This is quite a flattering photograph, but I am afraid that this installation will add character to the garden, rather than beauty. The slab nearest you is lower than the other two. This is deliberate, and I did it because the greenhouse base is lower than the lawn edging, so the stepping stones need to go up. I will be aiming to get the last three slabs the same height.

With experience, I have modified my technique. With the first paving slab, I mixed water into the mortar. With the second two, I used the mortar dry, acting on the theory that it would absorb water from the soil around it and harden anyway, without me having to add any water. This saves labour, and also means that it’s not so messy trying to get the foundation level. With the first and second paving slabs, I buried some assorted rubble and tamped it down with a thick wooden post. With the third, I just dug out the soil to a depth of 4 cm and jumped on it to make it flat.

I also used a different system of levelling with the third slab. I discovered that my short spirit level was pretty much exactly the same thickness as a paving slab. So I hammered in some pegs that were at the right height for the top of the slab when the short spirit level was on top. Then I laid the mortar to make it level with the pegs. Then I watered the back of the paving slab and laid it. It wasn’t at the right height so I took it up, moved the mortar about, and watered it again. After I had done this several times, there was probably quite a lot of water in the mortar.

I have discovered that it is not necessary to make the bed exactly the same size as the paving slab because once it is in position, you can shove leftover mortar underneath the edges. I have also discovered that tapping the paving slab with a mallet seems to have no effect on anything. I think maybe it is just a ritual you do so that your neighbours know you are laying paving slabs.

Tonight freezing weather is forecast, so I have put some bubble wrap over the paving slab I have just laid. And I think it is unlikely I will be able to lay the fourth slab until the cold spell is over. That’s a shame.

As a result of my work, I have concluded two things: (1) I am pretty confident that I will be able to lay the round log-style stepping stones competently enough, as they will be so easy after doing the big square ones; (2) If at all possible, I should get a professional in to lay the last six paving slabs, as they will look terrible if they are wonky.