Creating a border from an existing patch of grass... or a field!

After almost two years of meddling with "The Field" and the planting, it is now time to structure the new future garden.

The first year was the year of the trees, more or less 450 planted so far, to create a strong backdrop against the land boundaries. 

Lots of those trees are slow growers, and have been planted for the future generations, oaks for instance!



Then I planted an eclectic collection of dahlias, roses, grasses, all collected or bought from different places, knowing that I will have to move them around in future new locations.

This time, I am working hard to define the borders, by defining areas where I will have no grass or rushes at all.

Following different advice from fellow gardeners, I am starting by hedges and shrubs to establish some kind of focal points around the different zones.

So best way I found to start the "construction" is to let the grass growing and using the mower, literally drawing the borders carefully by defining their contours.



I went for a series of leaves shapes, 3 at the start.



Then when I was happy with the design, I stripped a length of grass right in the middle of the "leaf",  two feet wide (eventually you can also use the mower to define the length of this strip).

The hard part is to remove the grass. If you have regular established lawn, you can hire one machine to do the job. But believe me in a former cultivated field, nothing beat the good pick axe.

If like me, you don't like the gym, it's also a good and fast way to lose weight and gain some muscles!

When it's done, you can then plant your hedge, with a good distance between each plant, accordingly to the type of your choice. 

Oleander hedge and at the back
a big round circle
of grass and trees

I have variegated privet, mature oleander and laurel. You don't have to follow a straight line, an arc or a wave should work too.

Now I have an hedge, a contour, next using a grass cutter, break the grass following the border shape.

Using the pick axe, remove a narrow strip of lawn/grass all along the shape, and you will get a good idea of your border size. At any time you can readjust, and you have kept some strip of grass, put it back in place firmly in the soil if you think you made a mistake.

When you have finished the border contour, strip the rest of the grass inside your border.

Plant your selection of shrubs. Don't forget some shrubs could grow bigger than you think so be generous on the spacing.

Anyway when they are established, sometime next year, I will still have time to move them around, before their full maturity.

Voila! You have now your borders, then late winter or early spring you can fill them up with the flowers of your choice, from seeds is a good and cheaper idea if you need plants by the dozen.

What do you think? Any tip to add?

More photos below:

Some gravel to ease the maintenance
on the electric pole

You can see here clearly the contour

Starting removing the grass and planting a bit at the time

The pointy end of the leaf with a laurel
hedge in the middle

At the back of the pole some roses
and other plants
will have to mov

Back in the Field!

I always liked to alternate between a couple of projects. It's for me a better to focus on achievable goals, and it's also a good way to beat boredom.

So since yesterday, after a successful time in the orchard, I am spending some time preparing for next season in the Field.

I started last winter a bit of a border and cleared out some overgrowing patches of grass around the new trees.

This time I decided to tackle further the project by developing my real first border, including a nice planted small roundabout. This area will be hopefully a start for many paths to come down and behind the trees.

The grass plot at the back and the entrance to the new area

Following the entrance I created a circle with plants like buddleja, azelias, and penstemon
in a pink/purple colour theme

Slow progress in the orchard

  

Despite a great weather spell for the past two weeks, the orchard work is progressing very slowly.

I am trying to set up the grass before the end of the month, and I am struggling with an important amount of roots, brambles and all sorts of weeds.

Not fun but I am getting there. After cutting down the "grass", I cover up the boggy soil with some top soil, then grass seeds and finally a thin layer of compost to feed the future grass.

At last, I saw today the grass peeking out of the soil. Not too much of it yet, but because of the good weather, this patch will be green very soon.

I didn't and couldn't remove all the roots, because I don't have a way to move heavy machinery over the ditch surrounding the orchard.

I am not too worry cutting the grass quite often the first year is usually a good method to stop the weeds.

In the polytunnel, the tomatoes have been all delicious, small Sungold orange variety.

Weeds are still a minor issue in the tunnel, difficult to remove all of them. Hoeing more often maybe will do the trick.

Finally I get rid of most of the tomato plants, after all the sun light is weaker and at this time of the year, you can't expect really much more tomoatoes. So time to remove all the plants and think ahead for the winter growth.

I mail ordered seeds from Klaus Laitenberger own collection.

I also ordered a fantastic propagation tray from Fruit Hill farm, highly recommended.

The main point is that its very sturdy and will last for few years, even if it's quite cheap.

So now that the grass patch is almost done, it's time to tackle the vegetables plot.

For that after clearing up the plot, I will spread green manure (ordered from Fruit Hill Farm).

This is a great way to suppress the weeds over winter. Then two weeks before planting a first lot of potatoes, I will have to cut all the manure and dig it down.

This will give essential nutrients and nitrogen to the future crop, and hopefully a more manageable soil!

Strawberry field in the orchard

Things are moving quite well in the orchard despite the horrendous wet and cold weather we have so far this month.

At the back of the polytunnel I have enough space for growing fruit.

The position is ideal because it's full sun there and the fertile soil is dry enough but full of good nutrients for red berries.

So to make sure I don't grow berries only for the slugs and birds, I am going to install next year a fruit cage (5m by 6 metres).

This explains the presence of four salvaged rusty poles at each corner to mark the presence of the future cage.

I am not yet decided on the brand or where to buy it so if you read this and know some good deal around Dublin or Ireland, contact me in the comments below.

When you have an area populated by nettles and brambles for decades, expect hard work. It is crucial I think to get the soil right, so get rid as much as you can of all the roots and brambles 'knots'.

Believe me, it worth the efforts. In my case I expect I will still have the odd root and nettle growing for a while.

But if I constantly work the ground, sowing and growing demanding vegetables, I am hoping that over time nettles and other weeds won't be too much of a problem (well we'll see in few years).

Below is a crude design of the orchard. As you can see the challenge is the access limited to one small wooden bridge at the moment. So no heavy machinery, most of the tools I used there are a pick axe, a rotovator and lots of sweat :-)

Couple of more things to achieve, main one is the compost area and finishing all the gravel paths (in orange)

I also hope to have the grass sowed in the orchard before mid September. After that time temperature start to drop and it's virtually impossible to get the grass seeds germinating.

The Cottage garden

This was one of my first project a year ago, creating a small cottage garden corner.

Last year with a cold spring but a very hot summer it was a fantastic success.

This year it was great, colourful and bright until July, but recently with the torrential rain we had so far in August, it's fading away quickly.

Some of the plants are thriving like this mallow. Other are struggling.

I still have some gaps to fill up to complete the planting, probably a task for next early spring.

Before the perennials, I put there lots of bulbs, daffodils mostly, but also alliums for a bright display in spring.

I still have to find a way to prolong the season and get autumn flowers.

By the way the mallow was a bargain, 6 euros as a small plant, not too bad.

Growing veggies

A garden without vegetables can't be a real garden. Small or big space, you have to grow vegetables to appreciate it.
Tasty courgettes, potatoes, green beans, etc...

This year was my first attempt at courgettes, starting from a pack of humble seeds.

It begun in May with a seed tray in a small greenhouse and then got the seedlings outdoor mid June.

The summer has not been great this year so I don't believe I will get a great harvest but the few courgettes I already cooked are absolutely delicious.

The Orchard

One of the recent jobs I started this year is the transformation of an enclosed three quarter of an acre plot.
This started a year ago by weeding a lot the entire place and planting 10 fruit trees.
Unfortunately by lack of time I had to let it grow wild, but I managed to get some lovely apples and plums last year from the young trees.
This time I decided to tackle the issue and to help settling the orchard, I added in the middle a polytunnel.

Polytunnel up! Plum tree on the left

My budget is on the low side, so I chose an inexpensive model, but I have to admit it has been very easy to install.

The plastic of the polytunnel need to be buried to make it stronger

It took me two full days on my own but I am quite pleased by the result.







The next step was to clean up around the polytunnel. To do so, I started creating pathways with a layer of horticultural liner, to stop the weeds and a lot of stones.

The challenging aspect of this plot is its complete lack of access, being totally surrounded by ditches.

Border in place made from palettes



First path to the bridge in place...

So last year I built a small wooden bridge on a side, which means that all the materials can be bring now by wheelbarrow.

I don't even know anymore how many rounds of gravel I did to create the paths.

View from the bridge

Because the soil is mostly made of silt and clay, it is very wet, which means that just throwing stones there was not enough.

So because the path width will risk to expand every time I walk there, I decided to recycle some palettes I found and kept, and create a strong wooden frame for the sides.


The idea is to get some lawn around the trees, some paths to walk around the orchard easily, with some new areas dedicated at the back to fruits (sunny spot) and growing vegetables.