I Changed My Garden From A Dump Into an Eden by Andrew Bromley - HTML preview

Chapter 11: The Rest of the Garden

Other Work

To fill in some of the other jobs in the garden we painted the fence on the other side of the garden with the brown preservative. The path that runs up the centre of the lawn i had to trim away any overhanging lumps of grass by using an electric strimmer . The strimmer head can be angled so that you can get a clean cut both horizontal and diagonal.The square section in the middle of the right hand lawn is again layed with a weed control fabric topped with stone chippings. There is a small ribbed barrier gonig around the edge of the section. We have a few garden ornaments in place. we had some gladiolus growing in a square pot. Me have to also keep the edges nice and clear by using the electric strimmer and a pair of long handled shears, the type for cutting at an angle.

Into April

 By now we are coming into early April and the basic groundwork to the main part of the garden is nearing completion. Once you got the foundation work done you have finished a major task. Up keeping its major condition is fairly easy. Now you can concentrate on the finer points like planting new shrubs,flowers etc.Now is the time to utilise the greenhouse and start growing flowers and vegetables from seeds.I started this project in August 2015 and completed the groundwork by April 2016 and now every day i come into the garden i see something new to try and grow. The exiting part has only just begun.

Chapter 12: My Plants

Into Spring

In this chapter i would like to show the areas where we had been working on the various plants and flower beds. In the spring and summer this is where the garden will come alive in a bloom of aromas and colour. A lot of flowers will attract wildlife to your garden like butterflies, bees and wasps. What they do is perfectly normal as bees are busy collecting the pollen from various plants. This is the period where you can come into the garden and relish in all your hard work over the past months. Believe me it is all worth the effort. I have been looking back at some of the photos i have taken on this project, most have gone into the making of this ebook ,and i am really amazed how much the garden has transformed up to this point in time.

Flowers and Seeds

Now you can concentrate on any new seeds or plants that you intend to grow.For my garden along the border where the camellia tree is, it has already bloomed and and there was quite a display of small pink flowers. I am going to grow some Asters and snapdragons at the front of the border and some geraniums at the back close to the fence. I will also grow some hollyhocks close to the fence as these grow quite tall. Always remember with a flower bed have the tallest variety at the back and the shortest at the front. Along where the small picket fence starts i will plant some marrigolds. In my greenhouse i have already got these plants growing in propogators. I have also got some tomatoes growing as vegetables have a great appeal to some people.

Tomatoes

I found that growing tomatoes was quite easy as i found that they germinate quite quickly in the right conditions. When they were about 8 inches tall i bought some growbags from my local garden centre and 2 grow pots and made a space in the greenhouse in the corner and planted the tomato plants in them. The variety of tomato that i grew were "Money Maker" so they are a vine type. This means that they will grow quite tall so you will need to supply a support like some bamboo rods that you can tie the plants to for support.

Small Selection

 I haven't got a large selection yet as this was my first attempt at growing any plants from seeds. This year will be like an educational period to see what will grow and what will not. Remember you only learn from experience, so always plant more of the same plant than what you need as there will probably be some plants that grow slower than others and probaply some won't grow at all.

Privet Hedge

On the tiered section the lawn is growing nicely and we decided to grow a privet hedge along the right hand fence. They are cheap to buy and in time they will grow and thicken and you can trim and shape them to make a very attractive addition to the garden. They take 2 to 3 years to grow to a convenient size but the wait is well worth it. At the back behind the small fence we planted a fern and weigela shrub.

Marrygolds

Marrigolds come in various colours and can cover quite a lot of area so you can use them for ground cover. They can get quite bushy but are very prone to frost and slugs in thier early stages. Make sure that all the frosty mornings are finished when you plant these outside.

Red Acer

In the cove section we planted a red acer in a large pot so that it has some room to grow. These are shady to semi shade because they don't like too much sun beating down on them. In the summer the leaves are green but in the autumn they turn a reddish colour . To the left near the fence we planted a hydrangea ,we bought it small as it is cheaper that way, but the pleasure is to watch it grow. Hydrangeas colour is determined by the type of soil it is in. An acidy soil will make them blue while an alkaline will make them pink or red.

Antirrhinums

In the pot near the edge of the picket fence are containers with snap dragons "Antirrhinums". They are easy to grow from seed and grow in a multitude of colours. They are given the name "snapdragons" because if you squeese the flower gently, it resembled the shape of a dragon opening and closing its mouth

Hollyhocks

My hollyhocks are growimg quite nicely. They can reach hights in excess of 5 to 6 feet so you will have to provide some support for them. They come in a multitude of colours and they provide a colourful backdrop for the fence behind. they are probe to slugs and frost in thier early stages. When the flowering season has finished you can cut them down to about 6 inches and they will grow again next year. Next to my hollyhock is a Red Star, a large leafy shrub that enhances any garden.

Concluded

This now concludes my gardening activities up to this point but even though i have finalised my ebook, my gardening activities are still continueing and in due course i hope to write a second ebook about the finer points of growing and looking after plants. I started this project back in 2015 and it has certainly been educational and rewarding.

Final note

Thank you for reading my ebook. I hope that it has inspired you to improve your garden into a nice little eden. Remember it will not happen overnight. The golden rule is you only get out of it by the effort you put into it. Imagine that a few months from now that you can surprise your neighbours ,friends and family with a completely transformed garden. That is the reaction that i got from my friends and family. As you progress take photos or video your progress so you can look back and see the changes and show them off to your friends. So on that note i will now leave you to it.

! Happy Gardening !

Please visit my web site for more infornation

http://www.joy-of-gardening.co.uk/