Last weekend we finished the gravelling of the garden. Hubster dealt with the surprisingly tough job of putting in the edging next to the turf, and I hefted much of the tonne of gravel, aided by one of our neighbours. We dug a little pond and transferred in the water from the other pond, including a rather annoyed damselfly larva (who will no doubt take care of mosquito larvae come the summer).
So here are all the photos. We're getting a picnic bench to go in the centre of the gravel, as it's a lovely sun trap until about mid-late afternoon - we'll stain it blue to match the rest of the wooden things. There's going to be a breeze-block structure for our barbecue over in the back left hand corner, and Hubster is looking forward to barbecuing all manner of meat this summer. The maple to the left of the gravelled area has lots of bird feeders hanging from it, and I've counted robins, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, long-tailed tits, goldfinches and chaffinches.
The drought is going to be pretty tough on Jurassic Park this year with a hosepipe ban coming in, but we've got water butts set up, have figured out that our shower water is nearly enough to water the entire garden (and of course some plants like euphorbias and the Wollemia won't need it every day), and Thames Water have said drip micro-irrigation systems are fine as they're very water-efficient, so I'll be ordering one of them. I think there's reason to be optimistic - I just hope we're not restricted to standpipes...
So here are all the photos. We're getting a picnic bench to go in the centre of the gravel, as it's a lovely sun trap until about mid-late afternoon - we'll stain it blue to match the rest of the wooden things. There's going to be a breeze-block structure for our barbecue over in the back left hand corner, and Hubster is looking forward to barbecuing all manner of meat this summer. The maple to the left of the gravelled area has lots of bird feeders hanging from it, and I've counted robins, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, long-tailed tits, goldfinches and chaffinches.
The drought is going to be pretty tough on Jurassic Park this year with a hosepipe ban coming in, but we've got water butts set up, have figured out that our shower water is nearly enough to water the entire garden (and of course some plants like euphorbias and the Wollemia won't need it every day), and Thames Water have said drip micro-irrigation systems are fine as they're very water-efficient, so I'll be ordering one of them. I think there's reason to be optimistic - I just hope we're not restricted to standpipes...
Looks great! massive improvement, glad the owner let you do it
ReplyDeleteWill have to come round for a nosey!
Mark n Gaz x
Definitely! Next time you're at Kew let us know (especially if it's the weekend or the college holidays!). And come the summer you'll have to come over for a barbecue.
ReplyDeleteBarbecue...even better :) Will do!
ReplyDeleteWhich micro-irrigation system are you planning to purchase? I find myself in a similar situation. Separately, I recommended your garden (blog) to Will Giles the other day via Facebook - he has been approached by a TV company who are going to produce a series on tropical gardens. I thought you might be interested in giving them a Mesozoic angle! Best regards, Alex H
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation Alex. Usually Wilko's have a relatively cheap irrigation kit for 10-15 pots. There's one in our local Garden Centre place (Syon) for about £25 too - could be hooked up to a water butt relatively easily. It's about £45 for one with a timer.
ReplyDelete