I sympathise with your difficult situation re labour and resources, and I do echo what others have said about seeing what conditions you end up with before planning too much.
The good news is that there are ways round most problems. Many shrubs will be OK to grow their roots around and between rocks in the soil, providing there is some soil, but your labour will be upfront to some extent, since until they get their roots down properly you'll need to water. 'It's a marathon, not a sprint'--by doing a bit each day you'll make more progress than you fear, but not as much as you'd like.
Cost considerations are also manageable. You can even grow shrubs from seed, if need be, and often native species will be better adapted to cope with the challenges your site poses. One advantage to growing your shrubs or trees from seed is that you can plant them while small, and they will get their roots where they need to be, without you having to dig out massive stones (though I'd use a bamboo cane to check they do have some depth, planting right on top of a stone will lead to death or disappointment, or both). Also, growing shrubs from seed will give you something to do now while the house is being built. Ditto with cuttings. And for perennials you can usually find neighbours willing to pass on a piece. When I divide mine, I put the excess into bags and leave it at the front where passersby can get some freebies. I'd look out for things like Persicaria, Hemerocallis, Crocosmia and so on which are fairly happy anywhere.
Over time, you'll get to know what will and won't cope with your particular conditions, as with any garden. Rather than trying to dig over an entire border or excavate a massive hole, one route is to add organic matter on the top (which even my 90-year-old granny was still able to do); the earthworms take it down. It's easy to forget that plants can and do grow in all kinds of conditions; our notions of digging and 'good soil' are more intended to widen the range, but ultimately your local conditions will always place limits on what you can do.
Oh, and above all--do have fun with it! Otherwise there's no point in putting lots of work into it at all...
While my car was being serviced I went exploring the immediate area and spotted a bargain store with a garden area. They had some really cheap hostas on the reduced shelf, unnamed and in need of some tlc, but a decent size and would make good plants. Even the full price plants were cheap, some nice little Hebes for £3, some other shrubs and perennials too, nothing out of the ordinary but there were good buys if you chose carefully. And I got 3 nice little Acers for £14 in B&Q, as I happened to go in looking for the them the day they were being marked down, and had a lovely chat with the man doing the marking!
Sorry but Ihave the feeling that your house won't be ready in March, always double a builders time frame. Work is good whatever age but will you end up not enjoying it because you can't afford to do what you want or have the ability and stamina either. The suggestion of a wild flower meadow was a good one at least for the first year while you sort the house out, it might be new but there is still an amount of work to get it homely. I remember in our first new build my husband spent the first week putting up shelves, hooks, toilet roll holder and towels rails! I hope you have a family willing to help out.
Yes new builds are hard work. As you say you have to put up everything, loo roll holders/mirrors/towel rails! I think you are right we are going to be lucky to get this ready for March but am hoping maybe end of May at the latest. We are hoping to be able to go up before the property is finished and start insulating /painting the shed etc..
On topic: If it is such a small build (one house? or one of a few?) can you persuade the developer to do what you want a bit more? It depends perhaps on who is the protagonist taking the risk I guess. All the best, anyway.
It's a fun Grand Designs episode, with people who knew exactly what they were doing - and the first one I saw where KM ran into real commercial architectural techniques on a domestic build, from curtain walling, to this stuff.
On-topic ish.
Perhaps avoid the 1967 Casino Royale - very 1960s and parody Bond ("Miss Goodthighs") with Peter Sellars. Here are the titles, which is the nice boppy Herb Alpert number.
Thanks for the links. This is partly why I am trying to work out now where I am going with this garden as I may be able to get them to dig me out a border or two whilst they have a digger on site although I get that the digger itself can compact the soil!
I sympathise with your difficult situation re labour and resources, and I do echo what others have said about seeing what conditions you end up with before planning too much.
The good news is that there are ways round most problems. Many shrubs will be OK to grow their roots around and between rocks in the soil, providing there is some soil, but your labour will be upfront to some extent, since until they get their roots down properly you'll need to water. 'It's a marathon, not a sprint'--by doing a bit each day you'll make more progress than you fear, but not as much as you'd like.
Cost considerations are also manageable. You can even grow shrubs from seed, if need be, and often native species will be better adapted to cope with the challenges your site poses. One advantage to growing your shrubs or trees from seed is that you can plant them while small, and they will get their roots where they need to be, without you having to dig out massive stones (though I'd use a bamboo cane to check they do have some depth, planting right on top of a stone will lead to death or disappointment, or both). Also, growing shrubs from seed will give you something to do now while the house is being built. Ditto with cuttings. And for perennials you can usually find neighbours willing to pass on a piece. When I divide mine, I put the excess into bags and leave it at the front where passersby can get some freebies. I'd look out for things like Persicaria, Hemerocallis, Crocosmia and so on which are fairly happy anywhere.
Over time, you'll get to know what will and won't cope with your particular conditions, as with any garden. Rather than trying to dig over an entire border or excavate a massive hole, one route is to add organic matter on the top (which even my 90-year-old granny was still able to do); the earthworms take it down. It's easy to forget that plants can and do grow in all kinds of conditions; our notions of digging and 'good soil' are more intended to widen the range, but ultimately your local conditions will always place limits on what you can do.
Oh, and above all--do have fun with it! Otherwise there's no point in putting lots of work into it at all...
Thanks for all your advice and encouragement. I agree, in all my previous gardens I ended up with more plants than I knew what to do with after dividing them might be worth an ad in the freeads etc.. I like the idea of using the worms to take the organic matter down. I guess a compost heap is a must. I have never had room for one before. As you say this is supposed to be fun ! Thanks again
You could visit some car boot sales( when they start up again) and get some really cheap plants there. We bought a lovely little Acer from a car boot many years ago, which grew into a beautiful tree. Lots of perennials and annuals, pots and the like too.
Great idea . Hard to imagine when life will return to normal isn't it! I shall dream of pottering around boot sales looking for little plants :O)
While my car was being serviced I went exploring the immediate area and spotted a bargain store with a garden area. They had some really cheap hostas on the reduced shelf, unnamed and in need of some tlc, but a decent size and would make good plants. Even the full price plants were cheap, some nice little Hebes for £3, some other shrubs and perennials too, nothing out of the ordinary but there were good buys if you chose carefully. And I got 3 nice little Acers for £14 in B&Q, as I happened to go in looking for the them the day they were being marked down, and had a lovely chat with the man doing the marking!
Sounds like you got yourself some bargains. I still do my 93 year old Mum's garden several times a year and she is a great one for bringing little ailing plants back from places like Wilkinsons and B&Q . As everyone has said in this thread, there are ways to have a garden with a bit of lateral thinking and keeping ones eyes open and not having anything particular planned just allow the plants to present themselves. I am just hoping we haven't got rabbits to contend with as well. I did post a thread about rabbits a while back when we first thought of moving but I am hoping they are not actually going to be a problem.
Posts
The good news is that there are ways round most problems. Many shrubs will be OK to grow their roots around and between rocks in the soil, providing there is some soil, but your labour will be upfront to some extent, since until they get their roots down properly you'll need to water. 'It's a marathon, not a sprint'--by doing a bit each day you'll make more progress than you fear, but not as much as you'd like.
Cost considerations are also manageable. You can even grow shrubs from seed, if need be, and often native species will be better adapted to cope with the challenges your site poses. One advantage to growing your shrubs or trees from seed is that you can plant them while small, and they will get their roots where they need to be, without you having to dig out massive stones (though I'd use a bamboo cane to check they do have some depth, planting right on top of a stone will lead to death or disappointment, or both). Also, growing shrubs from seed will give you something to do now while the house is being built. Ditto with cuttings. And for perennials you can usually find neighbours willing to pass on a piece. When I divide mine, I put the excess into bags and leave it at the front where passersby can get some freebies. I'd look out for things like Persicaria, Hemerocallis, Crocosmia and so on which are fairly happy anywhere.
Over time, you'll get to know what will and won't cope with your particular conditions, as with any garden. Rather than trying to dig over an entire border or excavate a massive hole, one route is to add organic matter on the top (which even my 90-year-old granny was still able to do); the earthworms take it down. It's easy to forget that plants can and do grow in all kinds of conditions; our notions of digging and 'good soil' are more intended to widen the range, but ultimately your local conditions will always place limits on what you can do.
Oh, and above all--do have fun with it! Otherwise there's no point in putting lots of work into it at all...