This is our Garden Project Layout & Plans.
The Pandemic hit in March 2020 and so our plans to work on our external living space took a front seat as the space had been on our minds for quite some time.
The priority was to create a ‘safe’ area for our dog family, particularly Chico, our elderly dog who is now blind and mostly deaf as he needed a safe area where he could still go outside without harming himself.
A good sized area for the others to roam and adventure, mostly covered in grass but areas for exploration in the form of covered areas of shrubs.
Each area is quite specific in it’s need for work, below the plan is an image without the project area layers so you can see just how much work is/was needed in each area.
Our plan is to have the majority of the works completed by April 2023 which means the whole project will have spanned 3 years… now where are my wellies ?
Section 1
This area was my dads planting area for veggies and berries, he passed away in August 2017, so the area did not get the attention it needed and became unkept, it was his patch but we were not into growing our own veggies and didn’t want to remove the memories of him pottering around there.
We decided not to change the area much and tried to preserve as much of the area as we could in the condition dad had left it in, we removed dads planting/potting tables which were starting to rot and planted 12 Seaberry or Sea Buckthorn (Haloragaceae genus), these will produce a yellow/orange berry which contain Omega fatty acids, Vitamin A, C & E and having a high antioxidant content which can then be harvested and used as an organic source.
We still have a raised planting trough here which we will use for growing tomatoes, radishes and herbs, there are several berry trees in the ground and potted, in the ground we have gooseberries and Raspberries and in pots we have Blackcurrant, Redcurrant and more Gooseberries which will be relocated to permanent ground positions in the autumn of 2022 into Section 5.
Section 2
This was one of the first sections to be re-worked in 2020 as we needed to create a safe space for Chico who was then almost blind and mostly deaf, the area contained a wildlife pond, affectionately known as ‘The Puddle’ on one side and a ‘Decking Area’ on the other with a section of grass between the two, the whole area was open to the dog family, not something we could have if we were to keep Chico safe.
We have created 3 defined areas, a new ‘Wildlife Pond’, we have left the Decking Area (although this is planned to be replaced or removed at the end of 2022) with a solid patio area between.
The Wildlife Pond and patio area were created by the end of 2020.
The patio has a low fence around it, which you can just see in the picture.
This allows the other dogs to get over it but is enough of a barrier to stop Chico from going into the main garden area where he may do himself some harm.
Section 3
This has been the toughest challenge in our garden, a length of approximately 15 metres of fence was covered in English Ivy, it had grown to an incredible depth of over 2 metres with branches some 50 to 75 mm thick, we had to purchase a shredder specifically for this job, in April 2021 we started the task of cutting back areas of Ivy, we soon realised that almost everything that was planted in this section had been engulfed and killed by the Ivy.
It took us 4 months of working at least 4 hours almost every day to cut the Ivy back to our fence line where we reduced the height to just above the fence.
In the process we uncovered several shrubs that had not died but needed to be trimmed right back to help them survive which I am pleased to say all but one has.
As you can see in this image the shrubs a year on from being ‘rescued’ are thriving, from this Autumn we will start to shape the shrubs and trees to keep them from getting out of hand.
You can also see the new restraining fence we have added, this was added for two reasons…
- The ground sloped quite steeply from the grass area to the fence and was a problem for maintaining, adding the retaining fence allowed us to reduce the ground level to the front of it to almost that of the grass area making it easier to mow it when the grass grows back.
- The fence will also have a run of fine wire fencing above it to stop the dogs from getting into this area allowing a run to the bottom of the garden which will also be fenced off (Section 6) from the main garden for our visiting Foxes and Hedgehogs to freely move up and down the garden.
The majority of works on section 3 are now completed with the only remaining jobs to do of the main fence to be treated, the added height to the retaining fence to be installed and the ground cover (weed barrier covered with natural wood chippings) to the shrub/tree area.
Section 4
This section is the boundary to our neighbours of 20+ years, most of the boundary is fenced with several Laylandii trees at the bottom end forming a thick hedge line, unfortunately the Laylandii had succumb to the Russian Vine penetrating from the garden at back of ours causing them to die off over a few years.
Our neighbours have decided to replace the Laylandii with fence panels similar to that of those seen here in the image to the left side.
You can also just see the remaining Laylandii at the back towards the center of the image, these are now gone with the fence due to be installed in May 2022.
The huge Jasmine tree has also been removed, such a shame as the scent from it’s flowers were unbelievable when they bloomed, but necessary to replace rotting fence panels.
Once this part of the project is completed we will be able to progress with our plans for the bottom of the garden (Section 5).
Section 5
Originally placed here we had a shed that had passed it’s expiry date, the roof leaked, much of the timber was rotten and had also been a rooting point for the Russian Vine coming from the garden behind.
We have removed the shed and cut back much of the dense vegetation from the area that was behind the shed and removed several years of overgrown Russian Vine, the neighbours have also been busy cutting down the Laylandii in preparation for the new fence to go in.
Once the new fence is in place we will be moving the shed we have in section 6 to this area with a bike shed on the side of it.
The Sycamore tree you can see to the right behind the shed was heavily trimmed back in 2021, and has this year become home to a pair of nesting Magpies, we may need extra protection around our wildlife pond as they do like a fresh Newt for dinner !!
Section 6
Currently housing our ‘good’ shed which once the new fence is in place will be moved to section 5, a new dividing fence will be added which will span the garden where the shed currently sits, we will continue the grass and shrub border to that point.
Section 5 will be included into this section and this is where we will create a new protected area for our gardens wildlife visitors.
For our flying visitors which include Tits, Blackbirds, Thrushes, Wrens, Doves, Wood Pigeons and numerous Sparrows, we will be moving berry trees into the area, a watering hole and a new feeding post which will have various foods offered depending on the season.
Foxes, we have several that visit throughout the year and a Vixen who visits most evenings, fortunately this year (April 2022) she has visited with a cub, we feed them leftovers from the dogs meals and anything we have leftover including any meat, fruit & veg.
A new Hedgehog house will be installed as we have at least 2 visit us regularly to see what is being offered to the Foxes, also there will be Hedgehog access under the new fence and at the rear of the garden to allow continued access.
A few of the neighbouring cats also drop in during the evening and night, again to see what has been left out for the Foxes.
We also plan to install a camera/webcam to catch the action, hoping to live stream it here on our website for all to see.
