The Great Lawn

The Handyman made a general comment on this blog the other day when he said that it was tricky sometimes to understand where in the garden I might be in any particular post; he also commented on the lack of attention the top lawn receives on the blog.

I'm planning on addressing his first comment by creating a walk through the garden in a post to come...currently a work in progress. To remedy his second point, I dedicate this post to the Great Lawn.

You should understand that this area is primarily the domain of the Handyman, he created the shape and the levels and selected, sowed and tends the grass.  He also, at least once a year, enlarges the circles in which the shrubs and trees which edge the lawn sit.

The work began in 2008, with all the ground works; setting the levels, flattening the top, and all the preparation for sowing the grass seed.

Not the Somme, but the start of the Great Lawn

Hmm, interesting (yet effective) riddling of the ground

Over the past 5 years the Handyman has nurtured the grass, cutting it at least once a week through the growing season, accompanied by some colourful language as the lawn mower (not a ride on version) misbehaves.  We have planted a number of trees and shrubs which are now becoming established and the transformation is incredible every time we remind ourselves of where we started.

inherited and re-sited Christmas trees

sambucus nigra - glorious in flower

So now as you enter the main drive at Holly Grove, through Stars Gate, the Great Lawn is on your left, all along the edge there are shrubs and trees to shelter and provide a screen for the garden from the drive.

One half of the Great Lawn

All of the Great Lawn

It has been interesting for me to focus on a view of the garden that I rarely consider and reminded me of all the work that has gone into Holly Grove over the past 8 years - helpful to reflect on what has been achieved so far rather than on what is yet to be done - thank you Handyman for the prompt!

A Path Much Travelled

The Handyman almost always has a hard landscaping project on the go at Holly Grove and the early Spring of this year was no different.  I made, what I thought, was a subtle comment on the grass path between the main drive, where we park our cars, and the house.  Through the Winter months this can become quite muddy and slippy, and in the Summer the grass becomes worn with the continual traffic.

June 2014

Not so subtle it seems, I came home from work one day in March to find the grass being lifted and, concrete blocks laid for the edging setts and stone being laid as foundations for a lovely gravel path.  Then edging setts placed on the boundaries, black (dark grey) dust on top of the stone and then the final pea gravel in shades of grey and pink. All topped off with solar lights to light our way from the driveway at night (you can just see them at the bottom of the pergola posts).  Beauty and function!

June 2015

PS We were so taken with the colours and quality of the gravel path that it now continues along the back of the house and up into the swing seat garden, adding it to the north side of the house is a work in progress.

Party Patio Progress

The previous post made me think about how far the hard lansdscaping and planting around the party patio has come over the past four years and all the Handyman's hard work.  So as well as adding some photos of our finished result I thought it might be good to show the different stages we've been through...

virgin site summer 2007

trying out the proposed site for evening sun June 2008

construction begins June 2009



patio foundations and oak post for the roof July 2009



down goes the paving August 2009



on goes the Goat House roof July 2010

dressed and ready to party July 2011



Renovation and Reroofing

The title of this post doesn't sound as though it has much to do with gardening but the Handyman's largest project to date will have a significant influence on the look of our surroundings and on how we use the garden.

When we first moved here over three years ago there was a selection of outbuildings opposite the back of the house, christened 'the shantie town' by the Handyman. It was a real jumble of corregated iron and wood shacks together with the original outhouse and a concrete block building that had been built to house goats kept by a previous owner of Holly Grove.

Over the time we've been here the Handyman has removed some of these shacks and has plans to renovate the original outhouse. The old Goat House is the largest and most substantial of the buildings and has been used by us as a workshop, this was to become the biggest and most complex of the Handyman's projects to date.

The work began last August when we designed the party patio and incorporated the proposed pitched roof of the Goat House renovation into the patio design. The photos below show the two beams that will support the end of the pitched roof, the end of Goat House can be seen that will support the outside fire and chimney.










On completion of the party patio the focus shifted through the winter months to creating a workshop for the Handyman in a small barn on the other side of the garden. When the building was ready it took several weeks to relocate all the tools etc.

So as Spring arrived it was time to start work on the pitched roof. Roofing is not a job that the Handyman has tackled before, but he likes a challenge! So with some advice from his brother C, the Handyman set off. Unfortunately due to an accident and some broken bones the project was put on hold for 8 weeks or so...

Following confirmation that his bones were healing well, the project continued...below are a couple of photos of the beginnings of the handcut roof, each piece cut and put in place by the Handyman. there was much deliberation over the angle of pitch and the inclusion of hips on each end of the building - we find ourselves looking at the shapes and sizes of local roofs and deliberating on the aesthetics of each.











The next stages were to apply the felt and then the battens for the tiling. I spent a lot of time feeling very anxious as I watched the Handyman climbing up the scaffolding and across the roof - all this just 16 weeks after breaking two bones in his leg!

We then spent more time looking at a range of tiles - colour, shape and size - and eventually the Handyman sourced some reclaimed tiles which should allow the building to blend into the garden and surrounding architecture. Then last Saturday the tiling began, with the help and knowledge of a friend P, who shared some of the secrets of roof tiling with the Handyman.

When the tiling is complete the rest of the project to turn the Goat House into a garden studio will be mothballed until next Spring whilst we start work on a couple of major projects in the house. I'll update this blog with the progress of the Goat House as things are added.

I've ventured up onto the scaffolding at various stages, though I found the experience somewhat daunting (I don't do heights very well).

The views across the garden and surrounding countryside were amazing - wonder if the Handyman could incorporate a viewing platform in the roof design? Hmm!

Gardener Turned Painter?

We have lots of places to sit at Holly Grove - not that we spend much time using them! But they are an important part of the garden; the metal table and chairs outside the sunroom door make a lovely spot to sit for breakfast and the companion seat at the top of the circle lawns is perfect for an afternoon cuppa, then the swingseat in the evening sun...

To these the Handyman is adding a small gazebo in the shade by Valentine's gate. This was a structure he made for our previous garden and it has been sitting dismantled in the 'builder's yard' since we moved here three years ago, so as you may imagine it is in need of a coat of garden paint/preservative...my job.

Not quite the transition between gardener and painter that Monet evoked in his Giverny garden but then he probably had 'staff' to paint the Chinois bridge. The painting of the gazebo will take me several days to complete as I intend to attack it a bit at a time. At the same time I'm repainting the metal table and chairs, a glutton for punishment you may say, but the reward will be in having one new place to linger and another refreshed.

As an antidote to all this painting I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen garden removing the gone-to-seed rocket and radish (I always sow more than we can eat) to the compost bin and sowing two more rows of carrots and one row of Little Gem lettuce in their place. The cut and come again lettuce sown in the half barrel earlier this year has been a great success and is still flourishing and we had the first thinnings of our carrots last night for tea with the first of the sugar snap peas - delicious! I don't have a photo of these as they went straight from plot to plate in minutes.










In the greenhouse the first courgettes are ready and small green tomatoes are appearing on all the varieties. The first two tiny cucumbers have also materialised -- how exciting! Oh, and I glimpsed the first ripe raspberry as I was sowing the carrots; must go out and harvest it for my breakfast...
Yummee! Hoping for more in the coming days.

Time Flies...

I can't believe that it is almost a week since my last post on this blog. The weather has been variable from hot, sunny days to cloudy and cool with heavy showers. The poor plants don't know whether they are coming or going and neither do I; one day in shorts, t-shirt and sunhat and the next back in my fleecy trousers and waterproof jacket.

On one of the sunny days I lifted the autumn planted onions, a fairly good crop they are drying off on the greenhouse staging and then we'll see how they store. In the space freed up I have planted Brassica Petit Posy plug plants - a free offer from one of the gardening magazines. By all accounts these plants should provide greens through autumn and winter. We're looking forward to tasting this brussel sprout/kale cross vegetable. Cauliflower, Pak Choi and Wa Wa Sui cabbage seeds have also been sown.

The red onions are shortly to be lifted freeing up another half bed. More carrots will be sown here with a second sowing of kohl rabi.

In the (nearly completed) greenhouse the tomatoes, courgettes and peppers are in flower and it's time for me to pot on the cucumbers to their final pots and keep my fingers crossed for baby cucumbers later in the summer.

On the construction front: work continues intermittently on the greenhouse, the glazing panels are a nightmare to fit, however one side of the greenhouse and both ends are now fully glazed, leaving only 2 panels on the other side and half the roof to complete. A new slimline water butt and stand await positioning on the end of the greenhouse to catch precious rain water and whilst it was raining yesterday I put together my recently delivered potting bench (below), a posh addition to my very tidy shed.

The pergola linking the steps is progressing much more quickly than the greenhouse (that's because this is the Handyman's project). My contribution has been to paint the structure and select and plant the plants. The side supports are all in place (below), leaving only the overhead struts to position and a bit more painting to complete.

Planting has already commenced with two climbing roses on the trellis by the top steps. The roses are Creme Anglaise and Evening Light (below). I've yet to decide on what to plant by the remaining four panels but no doubt clematis and more roses will feature.

So an enjoyable week in the garden, lots of different jobs completed and more to look forward to over the coming days, including a trip to the local nurseries looking for inspirational climbers for our new pergola.

Party Patio

A major piece of the garden hard landscaping has reached a significant point in its progress...all of the paving and the main structure for the roof are finished. The Party Patio is a large area sitting in one of the sunniest spots in our garden next to the Goathouse. It will be used to share meals with friends and for general entertaining.

The Handyman and I spent time yesterday evening reviewing his handiwork and considering the next phase of the project...the outdoor fireplace for those chilly evenings when you'd rather be outdoors but the temperature drives you in.

We spent time considering the size and visual weight of the fireplace and laying bricks in various mock-ups, we also referred to the fireplace in the dining room for proportion; books, magazines and my ideas scrapbook were strewn around the dining room table...we both love this process of design and build; it seems to work well for us to date...time will tell wth this project.

Whilst walking around the patio thinking of the options I really noticed for the first time the shapes made by the wooden joists, all contructed by hand by the ever versatile Handyman, the shapes against an October sky I thought were very evocative of the skill that has gone into creating the structure.

Now how to plant up the borders that will enclose the patio? Time for me to get the gardening books out and develop a planting plan over the Winter months.