Here you will find posts detailing progress and developments from my garden in Surrey, UK. I will share an update each month covering new projects, planting, and general improvements. As well as working on my own garden, I also offer horticultural services, focusing on design and maintenance. I successfully completed the RHS Level 2 Certificate in Practical Horticulture in 2020.
I’ve been hugely delayed in posting this blog and I’ll place the blame on our new whippet puppy. We brought Morris home on 23rd November and it’s been non stop since. I’ve only really been into the garden – every 30 minutes – to take him to the toilet! Here are some of the highlights from the last 3 months
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We dug over and planted into the bed which sits next to the new drive. As the space will be used to park the car, we choose to plant a grass that will fill out and create a nice green edge to the space, but won’t mind being stepped on from time to time. We used Hakonechloa ‘macra‘. This type
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As I mentioned in last months post, we now have 4 new planting beds at our disposal and this month we planted into 2 of these new spaces. For both beds we included shrubs for height and structure, as well as mid height and ground covering plants. We selected plants for their contrasting/complimentary foliage colours and textures and also thought
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From mid July onwards we had a team of landscapers work on our garden for 2 weeks. Since moving into the house (4 years ago this month) we’ve wanted to remove the large concrete slab located by the backdoor as it’s such an eyesore and waste of space. Getting rid of large sections of this slab has given us 4
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As June marks midsummer in the garden, I thought I would begin this post by reminding myself how much the willow has grown. Here is a before and after photo of the mound area, the first was taken at the beginning of January and the second at the end of June: The majority of the willow planted along the boundary
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The bird box we erected in November 2018 was used for the first time this spring by a pair of tree sparrows; here is a clip of them in action feeding their brood: Many of the plants in the garden have stared to bloom this month including this Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Ingwersen’s Variety’, which is mat-forming and semi-evergreen. I think this
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April has been a glorious month; we’ve had lots of blue sky and sunshine to enjoy whilst spending time in the garden. The national lockdown brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic has made me so thankful to have this space to retreat to. The crab apples (Malus ‘Eversete’) that we planted around the wall in November 2019 have bloomed this
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In last month’s post I talked about how we prepared a large new planting bed. In March we planted 2 trees into this space and they’ve instantly provided height and impact. Since we’ve already planted 3 multi stem silver birch in the garden (Betula utilis var. jacquemontii), we thought it would be effective to plant a single stem cultivar called
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We’ve already managed to tick off one of my targets for 2020 by preparing a large new planting bed. It’s approx 30 foot long and runs parallel to the wall. We removed a top layer of turf before digging it over and applying a layer of bark as a mulch. We’re mulling over the idea of planting some trees and
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We’ve really hit the ground running in 2020. Over the Christmas break we decided – rather spontaneously – to lay a living willow hedge or ‘fedge‘ as they are known. Our boundary line is approximately 150ft long, so we’d discounted the idea of planting a traditional hedge due to the cost. We were able to pick up 360 willow rods
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