Good for you Watery and David W. Its nice to see people re-greening their plots and it means you have something nice to look at through your front window.
I sometimes return to my native town on the south coast and it is so depressing to see nothing but tarmac and concrete for miles on end as people turn their front gardens into car parks. Many of the houses are now converted into flats which means that it is essential to provide parking for multiple vehicles, but it is far better to use gravel or pavoirs that enable a degree of drainage than to use tarmac which causes run-off and never looks too good. Unless one of the flats contains a manic gardener, these front gardens don't stand a chance of seeing anything more than the odd dandelion.
I love your blog Dogwooddays, front gardens are so important and really make a street special. The herb garden sounds fantastic.
Sadly there are only 1 or 2 nice front gardens round here, the rest are all red brick or concrete paved car parks.
We are very lucky here in that our 1930's close has a huge green in the middle surrounded by houses and is a no through way so cars don't come in unless they live there or are visiting. It's maintained and owned by the council and really makes the close a sociable place as neighbours and children congregate on it in winter and summer and we all get to know each other.
We're having all our ugly concrete taken up on 25th July and we're having half grey brick driveway only enough for one car or our motorbikes and the rest is going to be a big raised bed with railway sleepers all around and a hopefully lovely white garden.
It was going to be herbs but I decided to grow herbs in pots in the sunny spot at the back of the house.
I'll post some pics as the work is done. Here is the green space at the front, every close should have one :-) In the snow as it's the only pic I have haha.
Thanks Lou12. A white garden sounds fabulous - I'd love to experiment with all white and greens. Sensible to go for a sunny spot for your herbs. Good luck with it all.
All, except one, have gardens. Most are beautifully kept too. Most of our neighbours are quite a lot older than us, and they spend most of the nicer days tending to their gardens. I've learned quite a bit chatting away to a couple of them.
Most are green here but about a hand full on my side of the road are gravel with shrubs or tree's planted.
The front gardens are very small and in shade most of the day and so only get the setting sun along one wall. None are paved and they all have their original garden walls which shades the gardens further. This can be an assert, most are well maintained but some are privately rented to students and get a bit over run with weeds at this time of year.
Sounds like the paving craze hasn't reached you yet, even gravel is ok in comparison as it is permeable. Having the original garden walls sounds lovely :-)
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Yes I love that community aspect. We get that too :-)
Good for you Watery and David W. Its nice to see people re-greening their plots and it means you have something nice to look at through your front window.
I sometimes return to my native town on the south coast and it is so depressing to see nothing but tarmac and concrete for miles on end as people turn their front gardens into car parks. Many of the houses are now converted into flats which means that it is essential to provide parking for multiple vehicles, but it is far better to use gravel or pavoirs that enable a degree of drainage than to use tarmac which causes run-off and never looks too good. Unless one of the flats contains a manic gardener, these front gardens don't stand a chance of seeing anything more than the odd dandelion.
I love your blog Dogwooddays, front gardens are so important and really make a street special. The herb garden sounds fantastic.
Sadly there are only 1 or 2 nice front gardens round here, the rest are all red brick or concrete paved car parks.
We are very lucky here in that our 1930's close has a huge green in the middle surrounded by houses and is a no through way so cars don't come in unless they live there or are visiting. It's maintained and owned by the council and really makes the close a sociable place as neighbours and children congregate on it in winter and summer and we all get to know each other.
We're having all our ugly concrete taken up on 25th July and we're having half grey brick driveway only enough for one car or our motorbikes and the rest is going to be a big raised bed with railway sleepers all around and a hopefully lovely white garden.
It was going to be herbs but I decided to grow herbs in pots in the sunny spot at the back of the house.
I'll post some pics as the work is done. Here is the green space at the front, every close should have one :-) In the snow as it's the only pic I have haha.
Thanks Lou12. A white garden sounds fabulous - I'd love to experiment with all white and greens. Sensible to go for a sunny spot for your herbs. Good luck with it all.
All, except one, have gardens. Most are beautifully kept too. Most of our neighbours are quite a lot older than us, and they spend most of the nicer days tending to their gardens. I've learned quite a bit chatting away to a couple of them.
Sounds like a great place to live Dew drops in the Hostas :-)
It is, we are very lucky!
Most are green here but about a hand full on my side of the road are gravel with shrubs or tree's planted.
The front gardens are very small and in shade most of the day and so only get the setting sun along one wall. None are paved and they all have their original garden walls which shades the gardens further. This can be an assert, most are well maintained but some are privately rented to students and get a bit over run with weeds at this time of year.
Sounds like the paving craze hasn't reached you yet, even gravel is ok in comparison as it is permeable. Having the original garden walls sounds lovely :-)
I've been making my front garden "greener" this year. Here are some befores and afters