Operation Garden Meadow - Part 2

After yesterdays success of finding and taking cuttings of the native honeysuckle I wanted for my meadow garden, this morning it was straight to Marks Mansion with the cuttings in a plastic bag. An hour later I had two decent sized pots of compost, one with seven soft wood cuttings of the native honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymenum, and one with six soft wood cuttings of another honeysuckle, whose true identification we don't know yet.

 

 

 

I also prepared two pots of seed compost for the perennial sweet pea and foxglove seeds that I collected. Below are their seed cases, perennial sweet peas on the left and foxgloves on the right

 

 

All four pots are now in my 'patch' at the bottom of the 'estate'. I'm not due back to Marks Mansion until next Saturday so will be very excited to see if my new 'babies' have germinated and taken.

 

The log pile in Mum's corner was looking messy.....

 

 

So I tidied it up a bit and put a few of the old terracotta roof tiles in between......

 

 

I had enough of the shorter logs and tiles left over to start a new little log pile on my side of the garden too....

 

 

The tree trunks on the right of the photo above, is where I'm going to plant my native honeysuckle eventually.

 

The birds have already started to help my cause. We had a bucket filled with very old dried out soil that we used to put under the feeders to catch the seed the birds dropped. And with the sunny weather, and occasional rain showers, some of the seeds have germinated. I now have five sunflower plants, plus some mixed grasses.

 

 

For now I'll leave them in situ, and maybe plant one or two of the sunflowers in the ground against the fence on my next visit.

 

The Lady of the Manor had decided she didn't like the path layout I created on my last visit, so after discovering another large slab underneath my bird hide (I'd forgotten it was there !), she created a new path layout. Well she told me where to place them while I done all the lifting and lowering.

 

 

I'm not going to complain, it's given me more room for my meadow !!

In the photo above you can see the heavily pruned forsythia behind the compost bin, the buddlia 'tree' in the right hand corner, the sunflower bucket and mini log pile against the fence on the right hand side, and the two metre long trays behind the slabs at the bottom. I'm going to sink the trays into the ground, fill them with small pebbles and gravel, and that will then be the access path to the compost bin. On the left hand side at the back, is Mum's rambling rose. It's an old variety rose that drops its petals quickly but on the upside it does provide autumn hips. Therefore I have had my orders not to go near it with the loppers !!

 

Before I continue, just a quick update on Mum's condition. She had an oncology appointment a few days ago and her consultant is really pleased with how much she has come on after all that horrific treatment she had to endure. I knew today that she was feeling better as we went out for a short walk up to the church and back. This for me, was a big milestone. I've not been able to go for a walk with my Mum for over two months, and we had a nice chat about the bottom of the garden and what to do next.

 

It must have been the fresh air, as the Lady of the Manor has now decided she doesn't want the new garden path to be laid on membrane after all. She's come round to my way of thinking and wants the meadow plants to reach right up to the path stepping slabs, with some planting in between the gaps.

 

So when we got back home, I set Mum the task of drawing the bottom of the garden to scale, while I shot out and started placing the slabs in to the ground before she changed her mind again !

 

 

 

 

 

And to finish my blog, here's a couple of rare photos of me working !!

 

 

No, I'm not trying to lift a slab with the spade, I'm actually scoring the ground around it so I know exactly where to dig. The first two are snug in the ground and slightly raised at the front to create a mini step, as this area slopes slightly. Two down, six to go. Then rain stopped play !

 

 

In this photo, you can see Mum's part of the bottom of the garden, the area to the left of me. Not very big is it !!! Ha ha ha.

 

So the final cost score for the bottom of the garden so far is Wendy £0 and Patsy £5 (she's already brought a Tiarella for her part of the new garden).