It's happening!

[GinAndOnIt]

At last!

I posted last summer about our front garden, and the huuuuuge overgrown mass of lots of bushes which is stuck right in the middle. Well, today, our neighbour has moved all the horse fencing, FIL has turned up with the forklift, the bonfire is lit and DP is armed with the chainsaw. Hurray!

I'm posting the 'before' pictures again, in the hope I can follow up with the 'after' pictures this afternoon

Not to my knowledge, unfortunately - I'm looking at the way garden centres just put unlabelled roses in a 'lucky dip' and thinking they don't have a method either! I think quite a few can be grown as either climber/shrub (though obviously that won't work with a real rambler)!

I'm hoping it's sunny where you are so you're not having to pot up in the absolute deluge we are getting this afternoon!

I was about to come and answer with 'good luck'
yep - rain all day here too, bar about 10 minutes this morning. I have baked a Yorkshire Curd tart to cheer DH up :)

It's been windy drizzle with the odd shower - I didn't stay out there long

I think I'm gonna be spending this year moving plants around anyway as it's the first year with everything in situ, so perhaps I'll just shove the roses anywhere and move them around in Autumn when I know what they are.

Gin - I always say that this year will be the last of my having to move plants.... then find I need to do it on an annual basis anyway!! Things have this habit of growing and getting too big for the spaces I have given them!! I think provided the roses get loads of TLC in the way of food they'll be fine, but I don't really grow roses any more, sadly - not many are suited to a north-facing, northern site! There is a real trend for stunning mixed borders with roses alongside other plants at the moment, which I really love.

Oh, and book - I bet there are few moods so black that your cooking can't lighten them! I am trying to make lavender shortbread to have with the FIRST RHUBARB OF THE YEAR! (I've picked it very early and they're only really 2/3 of the length they should be, but it is so TASTY when it's young, like the fruit equivalent of champagne!)

ooh - my thug is looking really good .... lavender shortbread eh? Not had that - but a little tip - try a recipe with semolina/ground rice in the ingredients - makes a lovely texture...
This lady does all the best recipes Felicity Cloake

Oooh, that's a good tip! I don't have any in, but I will get some and try it! The shortbread was a success, mainly luck I think - and the fact I made it in a confined tin rather than trying to make rounds. I can't stop individual biscuits splurging everywhere when I put them in the oven! Don't know WHAT I do wrong but it's a reliable biscatastrophe every time.

Lavender shortbread?! What is this wonder you speak of - it sounds divine! Am I going to have to come to you two for cooking tips once the veg garden is up and running too?

Hah! good morning :)
just be a good recipe hunter Gin - and shove it sounds like you have it under control - it's never luck
I am actually at my DD's looking after DGS and it is fairly frosty out there , so no gardening/tidy up here ( I may just do a little prune of the apple tree mind ...)

It looks to be a lovely day here, but haven't been outside yet to see how cold it is. I'm itching to get out and do a bit of clearing up, but I'm frantically trying to finish painting the kitchen.

Have just been out trying to cut out the hawthorn from the middle of the japonica. It's lovely out there! I am absolutely longing for the door when we can afford proper gardening tools though! Using a rusty pair of secateurs that don't close properly anymore has given me the rage

If I wanted to reduce the size of the japonica, is it best to wait until autumn to cut it right back? Or does it not matter with an evergreen?

When you say japonica, what is it? I am confused as I only know it as a word that's often affixed to the end of another name to say the plant cometh from Japan, e.g. camellia japonica, chaenomeles japonica etc etc. But this may be my ignorance!!

For the biscuits, I harvest the flowers off a lavender bush and pull all the purple bits off and put them fresh into a jar of sugar. After a few weeks it makes the sugar go all fragrant. I then just replace the shortbread sugar with my stuff and, hey presto, lavender shortbread!! I also blitz the sugar in the food processor to fine powder then use it in cocoa which is lovely before bed

Bad tools are no fun! Hopefully the stores will get in decent quality secateurs soon for cheap!

Oh... I don't know! I'm only echoing what DP said. I googled it's description plus japonica, and it came up - I think there was a longer name but I can't remember it! It may have been skimmia japonica?

My mouth is watering at your cocoa description - I think I need to try that one. Lavender is on my list of plants to acquire this year!

Now is a good time to attack a skimmia if it is one of those! They're normally pretty well-behaved though and don't require much in the way of cutting back. I guess if it's been competing with a hawthorn, though, that might have changed!!

It's looks to be a nice shape and the least wild looking of all the plants here! I think I would just like it a tad smaller, or perhaps not so close to the path. We had another one too in the great big mix of bushes, which MIL has now claimed, and that was still very neat too.

It also has so much ivy and brambles tangled inside it, that I feel like I want to cut it back a bit so I can properly get rid of all the stuff inside.

I have another question... sorry! sort of

I don't know what to do about fencing in the front garden. I don't want to fence it at all, but I would quite like to keep GinDog contained now and again... next door have a short fence going down the centre and just across the front, but with a gap where their path is. Their fence doesn't come all the way up to the house - just as far as the path between our two houses. I originally thought I could carry the fence up to the house and put a gate on our connecting path, then fence in the bottom part of our garden and put a fence down there too.

But I don't want all that bulk I don't think. I don't want gates and fences blocking our two gardens off - it's nice and open at the top near the houses at the moment.

Does anyone have any bright ideas? I'm wondering if I could put some sort of disguised fence where the big bit of grass starts, maybe plant beds in front of it and grow things growing up it? I don't know. I don't think the fence needs to be tall - GinDog wouldn't jump over one to escape, he just likes to wander off if the opportunity is there! Our back garden is gated but it's small, and it will be all veg soon, so I don't really want him using that area as his to play/dig etc...

I'm wondering if you could use something organic, gin. Anything from low growing box or yew or even lavender hedges (if height isn't an issue) - or even stepover apple trees?

If you pinterest 'low growing hedge' there are some lovely ideas! I think one lovely one is to use sarcococca confusa - the smell you'd get in winter would be AMAZING and it's relatively easy to do from cuttings which would save ££. But it is a bit of an untidy beast the rest of the year, so it depends whether you want a 'looser' look!

I've just googled stepover apple trees - they are adorable! Do they actually grow apples too?!

I would like some sarcococca confusa - I think you've recommended that before because I have it written down to keep an eye out for someone with one.

DP loves box too, so I suppose I could entertain that idea

I've had all sorts of ideas of planting bulbs going up the path since seeing all the spring flowers starting to come up! I am daffodil mad (probably the Welsh in me!) and have always longed for a daffodil path. (Have I already said that? Probably...)

I'm going to start with framing the patterned path at the top first, I think. There are a load of snowdrops on some farmland we have that doesn't get used/seen which I am going to pinch once they've died back

Yes, they do grow apples, provided they are pruned right!

I like box, but there are 2 problems with it: it needs maintaining which means trimming, and it gets blight. Due to the latter, I'm having to replace all my lovely box balls with other things .

LOVE the idea of your daff-filled path and I am so jealous of your rich supply of snowdrops in the green! They are wonderful things and you'll be able to fill your garden with them in no time! Something is taking chunks out of mine - I don't know what, maybe a bird? - actually eating the flowers. I've never known that happen before!

I mentioned to DP about the trimming of box (reminding him that he is never around during the summer when things need maintaining, and he won't let me use the hedge trimmer.. not that I want to!)

That's such a shame about your snowdrops! I hope you managed to enjoy them before they got eaten?!

When is the best time to move bulbs? Is it once all the leaves have completely died back, or can I move once the flowers have finished? I'm worried I'll forget where they are buried! I have some daffodils to move too.

I move bulbs after they've finished flowering- that way, I know what and where they are but I don't ruin the flowers for this year. Things like snowdrops are MUCH better moved in the green than as bulbs.

I'm going to get a cordless hedge trimmer from Lidl when they are in - they are a bit lighter than corded, and much lighter than petrol. I think one of those would be really fine for box - it's not tough to cut, more that it needs trimming a lot to stay looking absolutely pristine.

Ah good, that's what I wanted to hear. I had visions of me scrabbling about in a field trying to remember where the snowdrops had grown! I wish I could send some your way.. there are loads!

The hedge trimmer is petrol I think. The tools we have access to are farm tools, and all seem to be fairly heavy duty. I'm not great with noise though really.. but I need to try and get over that this year so I can mow the lawn! If we only had a few box I'd be happy to chip away at them with loppers (when we eventually get some!) but I'm not doing that if the box is to be the length of the garden!!

Awww, you're so lovely! But never fear, mine will bulk up in time.

And ooof, yes, petrol-driven things are incredibly heavy and can be very loud! I think shears or topiary cutters might drive you a bit mad - they're OK for fine work, but when you have loads to do, it takes forever! I do wonder if it might just be easier for you to plant something that only needs cutting once a year!!

Have you thought about getting a push lawnmower? They are much quieter, though very old-fashioned now!

Yes, I think something lower maintenance would suit us better! Perhaps DP can have box when he retires.. if he ever retires

What is a push lawnmower? I like the sound of something quieter...

Just asked DP about push lawn mowers. He said no.

Apparently our lawn is too lumpy for it to work well.

When do you generally start cutting your lawn? Is now too soon?