If you have not come across this blog before , why not check out the link to the short history of Martin and Judy’s new garden. Writing a diary about this design project helps to remind me , that when we started ( less than two years ago ) it really was just a whole heap of top soil and a selection of Martin and Judy’s favourite plants from their previous home. I find this garden a fascinating place just to be. There is always something that I haven’t spotted before, on each and every visit, which often provides me with a new design idea to think about.

I work in this garden about four or five hours a month , and Saturday April 13th was a day of pond repairing, tulip gazing and an unexpected new design idea.

The pond liner was in need of repair (due to a rip ) as the low water level and black plastic effect was not what we were aiming for. Over the last couple of months we have been deciding what to do. Buying a new liner was one thought, then I had another idea, and here it is. We bought some turf and pressed it onto the liner ( and cut it just below the level of the water). We then watered the turf , and used canes to keep it in place while it hopefully settles in.

We very much hope that it will be a roaring success, and intend to put offsets of primroses into the turf to create a spring bank of colour and nectar rich plants for next year . Whatever the outcome of the project I will write about it in my next blog.

I decided just to put two rolls of turf down, and will wait to see how it settles in , before we buy anymore.

In November there was a day of Bulb planting at Martin and Judy’s. The new bulbs looked pretty spectacular on Saturday . The bright pink ones are Dolls Minuet ,the darker ones are Queen of the Night .


It definitely was a good choice of bulbs from Parker’s
And
Sarah Raven bulbs

When Martin and Judy lived in Ironbridge , every year we would empty the spent tulips from the containers into the old unused veg beds. And we have started to do it again here. Last May , we lifted the tulips from the containers and left them to dry. We then planted the bulbs back into the borders last November.

Last years tulips , have flowered beautifully .

As well as admiring the tulips and pond mending , I always enjoy spending time seeing if there are any new seedlings, which I haven’t spotted before. There were, and the following images gave me a brand new design idea.

The new front garden will be created using the more shade tolerant plants which have self seeded into the back garden at Martin and Judy’s , plus some donations from my garden.

The starting point for this design, is due to the developers recently planting a beautiful silver birch in the front garden. I would like to create a small woodland copse around this tree, with an understorey using the back garden self seeded shade tolerant seedlings of other trees, shrubs and perennials . It is definitely several years in the making , but I really think it will work .

A tiny silver birch sapling , could head into the front, I also spotted several rowan saplings which could head that way.
A donated silver birch from my garden could be a front garden contender
Alpine strawberries self seeding in the back garden could be moved to the front
Self seeded Violas, Primroses , and Luzula aurea (presently in my garden ) could soon be heading to Martin and Judy’s new front garden design.

I hope you have enjoyed this update , and I will be back at Martin and Judy’s in a month. I’m hoping for a successful turf experiment ….