OUR GARDEN

 

 

As you can see we have no immediate neighbors, only sheep and cattle from time to time and we look forward to when there are lambs or calves in the fields on either side of us, it is wonderful to watch them playing and hear their cries.

 

FLOWER OF THE MONTH-DAFFODILS

When we arrived here in 1995, six weeks was spent in working inside the cottage getting new flooring laid upstairs, fitting in built in wardrobes etc and gutting and refitting the kitchen as this is perhaps the most important room in the house, we moved in five weeks before Christmas so it was a bit of a rush to get ready as our son and daughter were coming with two young children.

The garden was a bit of a wilderness when I started work in it in late January 1996, there was nothing but a few mature shrubs and trees with no flower beds, in fact what is now flower beds in front of the cottage was covered in concrete, I feel that all that was done for quite a few years in the way of maintenance was to cut the grass.

 

The first thing to do was to get a shed erected so that I had somewhere to store my tools and other equipment such as the mower and scarified etc, the next job was to put up a greenhouse as I had brought a large number of fuchsias with me and they were not all hardy, these were up the top of the garden covered with an old sheet to keep off the worst of the frost, fortunately in this part of the country frosts are few and not very severe, even so if the roots of a hardy fuchsia are frozen its very unlikely to survive. As there was an off peak electricity tariff still in existence as the cottage was heated by night storage heaters prior the installation of oil fired central heating in 1992, I felt that electric heating would be the most convenient and controllable in these circumstances. This did mean that an overhead supply would have to be run from the cottage to the shed and thence to the greenhouse, as luck would have it the electricity board had placed a pole in the garden from which we take the cottage supply so it was also used as an intermediate support for the overhead supply to the greenhouse. An electronic two stage thermostat was used to control a 1 Kw fan heater, this type of heater was chosen because it keeps the air circulating and helps to prevent botrytis from getting a hold in the winter, during Dec, Jan and Feb I only keep a frost protection level of 4 to 5 degrees C, then when the days begin to lengthen the overnight temperature is gradually increased as more plants that have over wintered spring back into life, also at this time there are trays of young plants and seedlings that need a little more warmth to give them a strong early start.

         'We have always grown our own vegetables since we had our first garden that was large enough, That was in 1968 when we moved to a village in Nottinghamshire called Farnsfield, we do not follow the modern fashion in gardening and use only organic methods of cultivation in both flower and vegetable production, but use a mix of each method according to needs, we are fortunate in that the local farmer dumps all his surplus farmyard manure in the field next to us so we have a continuous supply for use as a mulch and for digging in where possible. All kitchen and garden waste is composted and supplements the manure

No vegetables had been grown in this garden for many years so a vegetable garden had to be established. This was formed by digging three rectangular areas, two approximately 16' x 12' (these were to be the actual areas for vegetables) and one 16' square in which to grow soft fruit inside a cage or else the birds would get it all, the fruits grown are:- Raspberries, Tayberries, Black & Redcurrants, and two varieties of strawberries,Hapil(early) and Symphony(mid season)

The planting in the two vegetable plots is rotated each year, plot one will have manure dug into it in the autumn and planted with potatoes in the spring(first early--"Rocket" in late Feb) and (second early--"Kestrel" in mid March, psst, the slugs don't like these.). The potatoes are followed by the brassicas, usually Sprouting Broccoli, Curly Kale, Summer and Red cabbage.

Plot 2 is limed and fertilizer and is used for all the other vegetables , these usually consist of :-

  1. Runner beans

  2. Broad beans

  3. Early peas

  4. Garlic

  5. Red & white onion sets

  6. Leeks

  7. Rocket

  8. Carrots

  9. Parsnips

  10. Beetroot

  11. Leaf beet (perpetual spinach)

  12. Cos lettuce

The greenhouse is used during the summer to raise and grow, Tomatoes, Melons, Capsicum (sweet peppers) and Chili peppers, three plants of the latter are sufficient to last us all year as they dry and keep well without loosing any flavour or potency.

A small herb plot is used to grow, Sage, Rosemary, Parsley, Mint, Chives and Coriander.

The flower beds that have been created have been planted with a view to low maintenance and bearing in mind that the soil tends to be on the acid side, shrubs were chosen with this in mind, i.e. Camellias (11), Azaleas (5) and Rhododendrons (3).Information on these shrubs and other plants can be obtained from The Royal Horticultural Society or the Botanical gardens at Kew, location and other information can be obtained from the RHS Plant Finder, Other shrubs that have been planted are :-

Syringa vulgaris 'Charles Joley' (Lilac)...................Hibiscus Syriacus 'Blue Bird'

 

 

It is not practical to list all the herbaceous perennials that have been planted over the last four years, most of these have been raised from seed, so only a shortened list is given here :-

Lychnis Arkwrightii 'Vesuvius' .................................Anemone japonica 'Praecox'

There were several trees that had to be removed, one was a Horse Chestnut that was soon going to be interfering with the telephone wires, this was not replaced, and 4Wild Cherries that had developed bacterial canker, these were replaced with a Silver Fir, Eucryphia nymansensis, Styrax japonica and a Snake Bark Maple. There were 3 existing apple trees, one similar to a Coxes Orange Pippin and two of unknown type. To these were added a Conference pear,Egremont Russet and Bramley Seedling apples, Victoria Plum and a Damson 'Shropshire Prune', the Plum and Damson have yet to bear fruit. Other trees that have been planted include an Acer 'Crimson King' Laburnum, Flowering Almond, Contorted Willow, Magnolia Soulangeana 'Brozzonii and a Sweet Chestnut. 12 conifers of various size, type and colour have been planted in the beds and along the western boundary a hawthorn hedge has been replaced with a conifer hedge of Cupressocyparis 'Castlewellan Gold' to form a year long wind break as wind is the biggest problem in this garden.

Another restoration project in Cornwall is the Lost Gardens of Heligan, where in 1914 the gardening staff went off to war and did not return, as a result the gardens went to 'sleep' and were not rediscovered until 1990. A massive restoration project was then started and the gardens opened to the public in 1992 to enable funds to be raised to continue the work and to enable visitors to follow the restoration work. the restored gardens are being replanted and run as they would have been in their heyday. If you want to read more on this you can visit the website at 'www.heligan.com.' or purchase the book " The lost gardens of Heligan' by Tim Smit from Amazon .co.uk.

During the autumn of 1998 a pergola & arbour was constructed and planted. In January and February a pond was dug and the surrounds planted, this year the concrete area along the rear of the cottage is due to be replaced with some form of paving, the style of this has yet to be decided. Whatever you do please find time to enjoy your garden and the provision of permanent garden seating will help towards this aim. We are just waiting now for our work to grow into a good looking mature garden........................

Hydrangea Macrophylla ....................................Lavatera 'Olbia Barnsley'

 

Year 2000

Time moves on as do the plants and trees in the garden, This year did not see much more hard landscaping undertaken ,really only preparation for laying the rear patio and path, the Manhole cover was lowered 9" and the well capping removed and the last few feet of the shaft filled with rubble, The area outside the back door (17sq mtrs )was then reconcreted, this time to ensure that the fall is away from building. Ceramic tiles have been purchased for the patio area and natural slate for the path along the rear of the cottage, This work will probably take place during the spring of 2001,weather permitting! We had 100 days of rain in this area between the end of Sept and December, we were lucky not to have been flooded as were many other parts of the UK.

In July of this year the garden was entered into the 'Liskeard in Bloom' competition and also into the Parish Garden competition, The result of this was the First prize in both for the best large garden and Second prize in the Parish Competition for Window boxes, Planters and Hanging Baskets and also for a Feature displaying Climbing Plants (The Pergola)

There was so much time and hard work involved in entering the two competitions that in 2001 we are going to bypass the competitions and garden only for our own pleasure this will give us much more time to wander around and sit down and enjoy the flowers etc,.

The following photographs were taken by the Judges of the 'Liskeard in Bloom' during their visit in July........

 

 

Looking east from under the Laurel tree

Looking east towards the summer house

The pond looking northeast

The vegetable garden and fruit cage looking west from the summer house

 

Year 2001

March 12th.

Well the weather finally gave us a break from rain during February and allowed me to lay the ceramic tiles on the patio, lay a new concrete path and lay natural slate tiles on it, all that is needed now is to grout the joints, hopefully we will get a couple of dry days in which to get this done, the spaces between the path and the cottage and the path and the retaining garden wall have been covered with blue/grey and white stone chippings obtained from a local quarry, these areas will be planted with low growing and creeping plants such as Campanula, Thyme, Chamomile, Thrift and Edelweiss.This area of chippings will also be used to accommodate pots of fuchsias, begonias with pansies and gazanias to add a bit more interest.

A start has been made with seed sowing in the greenhouse, three colours of Ageratum, Antirrhinum, two colours of Gazania, Pansies, Sweet peas, Tomatoes, Phlox, Nemnesia, Aster, Zinnia, Lobelia, Marigold, Achillia, and Lychnis Arkwrightii.

Out in the garden vegetable plots garlic is already about 6" high and shallots, onion sets, first early and second early potatoes and broad beans have been planted

March 17th.

This is a big day for Cornwall and the world of horticulture as The Eden Project opens its doors to the public for the first time today. This project was first envisaged in the mid 90s by Tim Smith who was the prime force behind the restoration of the Lost gardens of Heligan near Mevagissy on the south coast. It is on a massive scale with the site being a worked out china clay pit and covering an area equal to 35 soccer pitches and the greenhouses or Biomes as they call them large enough to house fully grown Teak and Mahogany trees, the humid tropics biome is 47m or in old fashioned terms 152ft high and will be kept at rain forest temperatures and humidity with plantings of Balsa, Cocoa, Coffee, and Rubber. In the Warm Temperate Biome the plants of the Mediterranean, California, and South Africa can be found with Citrus fruits, and Vines growing alongside Olive Trees, while all around are the vivid colours of flowers from sunny climates, giving the air a scent of the warm perfume of a summers holiday. The areas outside the biomes are planted with plants, shrubs and trees from all over the world that are hardy enough to survive the temperate Cornish winter. On its opening day people were waiting from 4am until the opening time of 10 am and by lunch time they had to close the gates as the site was becoming overcrowded, I hope this bodes well for this ambitious project.

October/01

The patio and rear path were finally finished during April this year  these photographs were taken during August.

Looking west

Looking east

December 27th.

The Eden Project has surpassed all estimates of visitors and has clocked up over 1.6 million visitors up until Christmas this year and plans are now being made to install a third biome to house a desert environment, this will be a welcome addition to the site. Also in the pipeline is a project to build a large car park close to the A30 trunk road and operate a park-and-ride scheme between there and Eden itself, this should help to ease the traffic problems that occur during peak summer periods.

 

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