Planting Up

We've had a very filled few days, finishing our week off from work. We've planted up the newly found bed outside the dining room (previously gorse, cotoneaster, conifer and laurel), having taken out the first three, and cut right back the laurel (which might, with some luck, re-sprout: apparently, they do). It's got a number of legume wigwams in it, chosen to be decorative as well as productive. We've had a hard time getting them to germinate, so it may be a bit disappointing.

The new bed before/after (© Ian 2012)

We finished digging the beds to either side of the septic tank, too. On the pond side, this is matched by a little extension of the bank, which forms a connection between the pond section, and the games lawn section. It'll eventually have a willow arch, which is at the moment just a pair of willow plants on either side, swaying in the wind. The bed on the pond side of the tank is wider (about a metre) than the games lawn (about half that: there's less space to play with, with the constraint of a badminton/short tennis court on the lawn). Both are now planted with more willow (a mix of red, gold, and osier): there aren't enough of these yet, but they'll form a living tunnel/arch over the tank cover. The pond side also has a run of edible hedging plants in front of this: myrobalan plums, cornelian cherries, and hazel.

The quince has finally been planted, between the seating corner, and the copse. That's now all of the fruit trees in the ground, and they're all doing well. The bare-rooted ones were dosed with mycorrhizal fungi when planted, which has hopefully helped them establish. I don't have a control group, though, so who knows.

The vegetable garden is now fully planted (that is, it's full), as the leeks, swedes, courgettes, brassicas, spinach, and celeriac have all gone out. There are more brassicas (PSB, other caulis, savoy cabbage) growing on in pots, ready to go out later (in the space vacated by pototoes), and we'll also be sowing some turnips. Of course, we'll sow more radishes, spinach, salad leaves, and things like that, as space arises.

I thought some before/during/after photos of The Chipping Heap would be fun:

The Chipping Heap (garage end) (© Ian 2011–12)

The Chipping Heap (kitchen end) (© Ian 2011–12)

Lastly, we replanted our hanging baskets for summer (replacing the winter-season scheme's white heathers with petunias and lobelias), and putting the remaining plants with pelargoniums, fuchsias and cineraria into other pots for the front garden. The tomatoes, peppers and chilis have been planted into larger pots, to continue growing on windowsills. We then retired, tired.