About my garden

Tuesday 21 July 2015

A new bed - the long, hard way.

 As you may know we have moved to a new house. There is plenty of scope here for new beds and planting and I couldn't wait to get stuck in. 
There is a cultivated garden here at the back but it is quite well planted up already and the space left is mainly for low growing things. I brought quite a few plants with me in pots. I left plenty and only brought unusual plants or ones with sentimental value. I collected a lot of seeds too so need to have a sowing session soon. 
Some of these plants had been sitting in  pots since March as we had planned to move then but it was not to be. I was very keen to get them into the ground but it meant digging a bed to accommodate them. 
So out I went with my design consultant (who I happen to be married to) and explained where I wanted the new bed to be. I had planned to dig it myself but just wanted to run it by him. I thought a long, wide but straight traditional border. He had other ideas:


 You can just see the bed marked out in rope.






We just skimmed off all the turf (loose term to cover grass and assorted weeds) and removed it. Yes we did pile into the back of the land rover. It has to earn it's keep too. 
I decided to dig this over properly once to start with but then hopefully never again. I never dug my beds in Broadway. 
This soil has been compacted by having two ponies living on it and also sometimes vehicles driving on it and of course the grass. I hope it will be quite fertile. 





        We stupidly started it where a tree had once been and although it is long dead, some rather large roots are still there to be dug out.
   I thought I might attempt double digging but wimped out and instead dug one spit deep and forked under that. I've added manure to the trench and am then turned the next load over onto it. It has turned out to be good soil and not as compacted or clay like as I expected. 
It is taking a long time to dig over as other things crowd in and I have renewed respect for old gardeners (and current ones) who did this every year.
Now you can see the dandelions are taking hold. Proving the taking off their heads is not enough, as if we didn't know!

I've nearly finished now and the dandelions are really large - twice the size of this but it makes them easier to find. I've planted a few things but there is plenty more room. I hope the weeds don't take over before I do.
We really shouldn't have made it so big but to start with, I hadn't planned to but as you see we have the space and I know by this time next year it will be full.

Soon - the quick and easy way to make bed...


No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for visiting. I appreciate your thoughts and comments.
I'm sorry if you have trouble with leaving your comment, thank you for persevering.