Mo mentioned that we don't post enough pictures, so feeling suitably shamed I thought I'd come out of hiding and post something about what I've been at for the past few months.
Back in December we moved house to this new plot:
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It's easily twice the size of my pervious shady garden, and being south facing has opened up a whole new range of possibilities in terms of the plants I can try.
Beyond a few existing plants there wasn't much in the garden, save two wooden decks, a big shed and a seating area.
I knew that they would all have to be removed to make best use of the space but before that I had some plants to dig up from the old garden that I didn't want to leave behind.
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Borinda papyrifera took quite a bit of work to wrangle it out of the ground.
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Luckily the new garden wasn't too far away, so the wheelbarrow was called into action, it performed valiantly in shifting a great many plants including this Borinda lushuensis
Some plants heeled in and others spending winter in pots, it was time to start a bit of wrecking.
The two slippery decks were the first to go.
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Next up was the shed, which took a couple of weekends to take down. I've never seen so many screws holding something together in my life!
Except for the fact that rot was starting in one corner this thing would have been hurricane proof!
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Shed gone, it was time to get to work on the soil. Sticky, heavy and wet clay.
Any areas of ground that weren't put down to lawn had spent the last decade suffocating under a layer of thick black plastic, with a weed riddled gravel mulch on top. Anerobic, compacted and without an earthworm in sight, it really needed some love!
Many, many, many cubic meters of municipal compost, horse manure and coarse sand have been incorporated, with yet more needed.
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As the soil is so heavy I'd decided to raise some of the planting areas to give a good foot depth of free draining material, which will make all the difference to the establishment and long term survival of the more tender plantings.
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But that won't be enough on its own, so I'm currently installing drains which should help to get some of that water moving and improve conditions a bit more.
I'd intended to leave the seating area until the autumn before tacking it, but somehow found myself, sledge hammer in hand, knocking down the wall. It was so satisfying to see it tumble, as well as giving the opportunity to vent some aggression.
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Planting has begun, with a mixture of both tender and hardy succulents being bedded out for the summer.
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Two of the four Leylandii have been felled, but the remaining couple are staying for the moment as they do provide good shelter, at least until I come up with an alternative. The garden's fully open to the east, but I don't want to block the sunlight so any planting to break the wind can't be too high.
When the drainage is installed I will then be able to get on with planting out the more permanent shrubs that'll form the year round structure. Oh and the fence needs painted, and a new patio installed, and hopefully a greenhouse added at some point...