I love your garden; it looks as if it is in the south of France, not Suffolk. I bought my cottage 12 years ago, but only moved here full time 7 years ago; I had a sloping long thin paddock. I got rid of most of the awful lawn; got a man with a machine to level the ground; built a studio; made a raised veg garden; made a drive to turn the car around, so I didn't have to reverse onto a dangerous double corner; made areas for log stores; compost bins; greenhouse; little terrace for sitting and yet my garden is truely tiny; it is all down to a good builder who could organise the space and deal with different levels and drainage.
Thank you LL for sharing your lovely garden. Especially when i'm struggling to find time and stuff to do in mine.
i too have a new estate garden, been here 3 years but only bought it last aug, so didnt do any thing with it. It is a clay pit with 3 storey buildings all around. the slot of sun moves around the garden like a large sun dial. only half the garden gets sun.
never had a garden before and starting with a few seeds, plastic greenhouse and some T&M plugs last march/april i now have a variety of plants and veg.
have finally persuaded OH that we dont need a patch of grass in the middle. sick of muddy dog and his paws - plus fits better with my vague idea - much like yours!
Great to see what other folk have achieved in their gardens, when starting from a blank canvas! I also moved into a blank canvas just over four years ago and after decorating the house, I have now begun designing the garden.
It's still at the early stages but I'm really enjoying building all the hard landscaping, it's hopefully going to be a sort of "contemporary Japanese" style, which in my head, means modern looking landscaping filled with acers, bamboos, wisteria and any plants that look remotely oriental (suggestions more than welcome)!
Here's a few photos of the garden beginning 14/02/2008 until now. I ripped out the old greenhouse, shed, concrete post and some horrid trees! to create a blank canvas. Since then I have built a summer house (named the Wendy House!), had new fencing put in and conservatory and now built a decking area and started on some raised planting areas! It's deffinately still at the "before" stage
By the way, I love your cat too, my garden wouldn't be a home without my two cats exploring it!
Happy gardening to all,
Rich
Decking area built diagonally to match up with angle of wendyhouse
Building the first of my new planting areas, which I will hopefully render smooth and paint white.
Finished first planting area this month, Oct 2012
A view of the Wendyhouse in Jan 2012 with my girls coming up for a photo shoot! I built them a lovely home and run, down beside the Wendyhouse, which they have plenty of room to live and play. My two cats are a bit concerned, so they tend to just keep out of their way
Keep up the good work TD. I am waiting for the electricity board to come next monday (Nov 05!!) to dig up my newly planted garden to put the electric cables underground - NOT BEST PLEASED!! I hope they are sympathetic to my hard work or there WILL be fireworks!!!
LL you have a gorgeous garden, When I first read your blog I thought that you only started working on it in March but looking at your photos and how lush your garden looks, I guessed that you've been working on it for years. Did you get help with the design and planning of your garden or was it all your own ideas, with the hard landscaping and choice of plants, flowers, shrubs etc... I have an acre size garden and would love to divide it up somehow to eliminate some of the lawn and any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We do have a trampoline set into the ground, a kids play area, chicken coop and run, veg plot, small green house, garage and driveway. All help and advice welcome LL, I would love to have some all year round colour if you have any ideas. Thanks Ann.
Thanks Red Robin for your kind comments. Yes we have been working on the garden for 12 years now and it has just progressed along the way. All the planning, planting etc has been our own work. When we were planning the garden drew lots of plans on paper, made lists of what we wanted in the garden and then worked around fitting it all in. This will be much easier for you with having such a large garden. My advice would be to work directly from the house and do it bit by bit, then you can see the progress you are making from the house and do not have to walk to then very end of the garden to see what you have achieved. Also by doing it bit by bit makes it easier to split the garden into different 'rooms'. Have a look in your local library for garden design books and gardening books. That is how I got most of my ideas. Good luck xx
Hi LL, just looking at your pics again as they are inspiring! Out of interest does your wisteria flower? and how long did it take? I planted one in a large pot early this year and don't really know how to treat it. Love looking at the pics 'cos some of them remind me of what I'm aiming for
I would like to grow auriculas on this shelf but...
now that it's winter there isn't enough sun here...even the solar lights only light for a couple of hours now.
and if anyone could please name this iris I'd love to plant some more
Hi budlia63, my wisteria took three years to flower so hopefully you will get some flowers in a couple of years. They do like a good hot sunny spot - they like their stems to bake in the sun. Also keep well watered. Love your pics.
I don't know the name of the iris but I am sure someone on here will help you.
Thanks for the advice LL, I will get some books for some ideas. Also, I have some Red Robins that I need to prune back a bit and I'd like to try to propagate the cuttings. I was told to use Loam based cuttings compost and my husband came back from the garden centre with 'Brown Gold' is this the same thing do you know? I don't want to take cuttings until I have the right compost to plant them into, as I don't want to risk losing them to the wrong soil; and the chance to grow many more for a hedge.
Posts
you have a lovely garden,you can see the care that you give it.love that dark
,love all your plants.
I love your garden; it looks as if it is in the south of France, not Suffolk. I bought my cottage 12 years ago, but only moved here full time 7 years ago; I had a sloping long thin paddock. I got rid of most of the awful lawn; got a man with a machine to level the ground; built a studio; made a raised veg garden; made a drive to turn the car around, so I didn't have to reverse onto a dangerous double corner; made areas for log stores; compost bins; greenhouse; little terrace for sitting and yet my garden is truely tiny; it is all down to a good builder who could organise the space and deal with different levels and drainage.
Thank you LL for sharing your lovely garden. Especially when i'm struggling to find time and stuff to do in mine.
i too have a new estate garden, been here 3 years but only bought it last aug, so didnt do any thing with it. It is a clay pit with 3 storey buildings all around. the slot of sun moves around the garden like a large sun dial. only half the garden gets sun.
never had a garden before and starting with a few seeds, plastic greenhouse and some T&M plugs last march/april i now have a variety of plants and veg.
have finally persuaded OH that we dont need a patch of grass in the middle. sick of muddy dog and his paws - plus fits better with my vague idea - much like yours!
thanks again
Hi LL,
Great to see what other folk have achieved in their gardens, when starting from a blank canvas! I also moved into a blank canvas just over four years ago and after decorating the house, I have now begun designing the garden.
It's still at the early stages but I'm really enjoying building all the hard landscaping, it's hopefully going to be a sort of "contemporary Japanese" style, which in my head, means modern looking landscaping filled with acers, bamboos, wisteria and any plants that look remotely oriental (suggestions more than welcome)!
Here's a few photos of the garden beginning 14/02/2008 until now. I ripped out the old greenhouse, shed, concrete post and some horrid trees! to create a blank canvas. Since then I have built a summer house (named the Wendy House!), had new fencing put in and conservatory and now built a decking area and started on some raised planting areas! It's deffinately still at the "before" stage
By the way, I love your cat too, my garden wouldn't be a home without my two cats exploring it!
Happy gardening to all,
Rich
Decking area built diagonally to match up with angle of wendyhouse
Building the first of my new planting areas, which I will hopefully render smooth and paint white.
Finished first planting area this month, Oct 2012
A view of the Wendyhouse in Jan 2012 with my girls coming up for a photo shoot! I built them a lovely home and run, down beside the Wendyhouse, which they have plenty of room to live and play. My two cats are a bit concerned, so they tend to just keep out of their way
Keep up the good work TD. I am waiting for the electricity board to come next monday (Nov 05!!) to dig up my newly planted garden to put the electric cables underground - NOT BEST PLEASED!! I hope they are sympathetic to my hard work or there WILL be fireworks!!!
LL you have a gorgeous garden, When I first read your blog I thought that you only started working on it in March but looking at your photos and how lush your garden looks, I guessed that you've been working on it for years. Did you get help with the design and planning of your garden or was it all your own ideas, with the hard landscaping and choice of plants, flowers, shrubs etc... I have an acre size garden and would love to divide it up somehow to eliminate some of the lawn and any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We do have a trampoline set into the ground, a kids play area, chicken coop and run, veg plot, small green house, garage and driveway. All help and advice welcome LL, I would love to have some all year round colour if you have any ideas. Thanks Ann.
Thanks Red Robin for your kind comments. Yes we have been working on the garden for 12 years now and it has just progressed along the way. All the planning, planting etc has been our own work. When we were planning the garden drew lots of plans on paper, made lists of what we wanted in the garden and then worked around fitting it all in. This will be much easier for you with having such a large garden. My advice would be to work directly from the house and do it bit by bit, then you can see the progress you are making from the house and do not have to walk to then very end of the garden to see what you have achieved. Also by doing it bit by bit makes it easier to split the garden into different 'rooms'. Have a look in your local library for garden design books and gardening books. That is how I got most of my ideas. Good luck xx
Hi LL, just looking at your pics again as they are inspiring! Out of interest does your wisteria flower? and how long did it take? I planted one in a large pot early this year and don't really know how to treat it. Love looking at the pics 'cos some of them remind me of what I'm aiming for
I would like to grow auriculas on this shelf but...
now that it's winter there isn't enough sun here...even the solar lights only light for a couple of hours now.
and if anyone could please name this iris I'd love to plant some more
Thanx
Hi budlia63, my wisteria took three years to flower so hopefully you will get some flowers in a couple of years. They do like a good hot sunny spot - they like their stems to bake in the sun. Also keep well watered. Love your pics.
I don't know the name of the iris but I am sure someone on here will help you.
Thanks for the advice LL, I will get some books for some ideas. Also, I have some Red Robins that I need to prune back a bit and I'd like to try to propagate the cuttings. I was told to use Loam based cuttings compost and my husband came back from the garden centre with 'Brown Gold' is this the same thing do you know? I don't want to take cuttings until I have the right compost to plant them into, as I don't want to risk losing them to the wrong soil; and the chance to grow many more for a hedge.