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posted by [personal profile] panik at 04:17pm on 28/04/2009 under ,
It's getting there. The impenetrable rainforest of this time last year is no more, anyway. I've slashed but not burned (it never really dries out enough to burn, tbh *g*), evicted or restrained the rampant and planted mucho fruit trees, bushes, all kinds of veggies. Today I got the perpetual spinach in at last, also cress, rocket, salad leaves, more beans, more peas, more sweet peas, marigolds, radishes, nasturtiums, lilies and stocks. The strawberries, artichokes, cukes and tomatoes are still too tiny to plant out, that'll have to wait till next time and the watercress hasn't arrived yet.

Still much to do, but I'm getting there.

http://pics.livejournal.com/gillyp/pic/000dcp39
My pot awaits the strawberries. That wall in the back was smothered in Russian Vine, it was a mighty struggle but I think I finally killed it. I'm putting a fig and a kiwi; maybe a peach there this year.

http://pics.livejournal.com/gillyp/pic/000dbqa2

The pond was so badly overgrown, all clear now, smelling gorgeously minty. The toads are back already.

http://pics.livejournal.com/gillyp/pic/000d692r

And the bluebells are coming out.

http://pics.livejournal.com/gillyp/pic/000d7as5

The Burgi Oak! This little chap grew from an acorn Richard Burgi dislodged from an Oak with his golf ball. He did that a lot. :o) The prevailing sound of the weekend was the steady 'thunk' of Richard hitting trees with his balls ;o) - That and the screams of the crowd as his balls hurtled towards them at incredible force and speed. RB is no golfer. Anyway, I grew this from one of those acorns. I thought the wee one might have pegged it, he spent the last 2 years in such a tiny pot and the winter was so harsh, but he lives! He's one tough Oakling. I've re-potted him anyway, in  oak-mould from the woods out back. I hope he'll be happy in his roomy new pot.

http://pics.livejournal.com/gillyp/pic/000da6x3

Pea sticks . Spinach, radish, marigold, cress and beans also lurk under here. That's my spanky new whitecurrant against the wall. The strawberries are wild-woodland ones which grow like crazy all over my garden. They're only tiny but taste amazing.

http://pics.livejournal.com/gillyp/pic/000d935h

[livejournal.com profile] alibongo calls him 'Jim in a snit'.
 
http://pics.livejournal.com/gillyp/pic/000d855b

Ferns - I have a lot of them; cold and wet is my moorland world. I usually grow a trailing fuchsia in this pot but this little chap's seeded himself and I haven't the heart to evict him. The violets are wild ones that have also seeded themselves everywhere.

http://pics.livejournal.com/gillyp/pic/000dday8

http://pics.livejournal.com/gillyp/pic/000d54pz

Still lots to do.
 
ETA: My free BBC seeds have just arrived. More stuff to plant. Oh joy.


Mood:: 'sore' sore
location: The sofa
There are 23 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 
posted by [identity profile] tx-cronopio.livejournal.com at 04:14pm on 28/04/2009
Oh, it's lovely! I covet your rock wall :)
 
posted by [identity profile] gillyp.livejournal.com at 04:19pm on 28/04/2009
Ah rock, schmock! Our world here is rock, even the house is built of it, and on it - it sits on the bedrock. One exceedingly wet summer we had a spring rise in the kitchen, right in front of the freezer. *g*

If I could send you some I would. As for lovely - it's getting there. I'm quietly pleased, but I can't wait for the solar-powered fairy lights to arrive from China. *G*
 
posted by [identity profile] betagoddess.livejournal.com at 07:02pm on 28/04/2009

What a beautiful, lush garden! Our is about the opposite - sunny, pretty dry and with mostly sandy soil. We DO have a shady bit which shelters a couple of ferns and soon our lawn will be absolutely covered with wild purple, yellow and white violets.

We also get lovely lily of the valley under our tiny poplar woods. =>}

I love your walls and rocks, pond and pots. Just lovely. =>}

 
posted by [identity profile] gillyp.livejournal.com at 07:09pm on 28/04/2009
It's lush because it never stops raining. :o) It's raining now, I knew it would, it's why I half-killed myself to finish today.

I love lily of the valley, when I was a kid we had loads of it but our garden is too small to risk something so invasive.

I've seen pictures of your garden, it looks wonderful.

Take care. Have a little extra love. ♥
 
posted by [identity profile] betagoddess.livejournal.com at 07:27pm on 28/04/2009

It's very satisfying when you've just planted things in the garden and it rains. =>}

It's raining here now, but we had an exceptionally dry April, so this is a very good thing.

Our lily of the valley is growing out into the lawn now, which is fine by us. It will be interesting to see how those plants stand up to being walked on from time to time. =>}

"Have a little extra love."

Thanks so much. I can ALWAYS use that. =>}

 
posted by [identity profile] mab-browne.livejournal.com at 07:20pm on 28/04/2009
Looking good. :-)
 
posted by [identity profile] gillyp.livejournal.com at 07:34am on 29/04/2009
Thank you, it bloody ought to do! The state of me this morning... *g*
ext_9267: (Default)
posted by [identity profile] aerianya.livejournal.com at 08:44pm on 28/04/2009
Your back garden makes me very happy. The snow is mostly melted so there may be some green for us around the corner.
 
I'm very happy my wee patch makes you happy hon. :o) Snow still? Snow this time of year's not unknown here though getting rarer these days. Frost is more our problem, it tends to strike after a warm spell when all the blossom is out, it happened last year and no one got any fruit. I've bought fleece this year, I'm taking no chances. I think we're clear now though, hence my fight to get everything off the window ledges and out where it belongs (at last)

What do you grow up there? I would imagine it's a short season, as is ours. Do you start things off indoors like we have to, or just not bother (which I totally understand (o:)
ext_9267: (faerie babe)
We can grow pretty much anything, but plants that take more that 100 days to fruit are usually started indoors or grown in a greenhouse if they can't take the occasional cool night. Our long days and volcanic soil help things along.
We try to have everything hardened off by the last weekend in May so there are outdoors all the time or planted in the ground.
The weather this year is wonderful so far, seems like we really didn't have a summer last year. In the sixties tomorrow and tonight a BBQ for middle daughter birthday. We always hold our breath for this, it has snowed on her birthday before.
I haven't stared a single seedling this year so if I want anything that doesn't come back on it's own, I'll have to make a trip to the nursery.
Such a hardship for me too.*g*
 
posted by [identity profile] snycock.livejournal.com at 09:24pm on 28/04/2009
Oh, that's lovely! I wish I had your garden tenacity... :-)
 
posted by [identity profile] gillyp.livejournal.com at 07:41am on 29/04/2009
LOL. Well, it's only a small garden really, there's not a lot of excuse - and tbh, the mild, wet climate really does make every damn thing so rampant. The yards depth of evergreen honeysuckle I'd hacked back just before you came is right up the house and on the roof again. I fear it must die. ::fingers machete blade. thoughtful look::

How about some pictures of your green acres? ::she smiled::
ext_9226: (Default)
posted by [identity profile] snailbones.livejournal.com at 09:38pm on 28/04/2009


It all looks so gorgeous. Green and lushness. Don't you just love this time of the year?

I love your Burgi oak - two years old and still so wee, bless. I hope you can persuade him to live long and prosper.

Thanks for the pictures - you make me want to leap about outside and dig - except it's half past ten at night and it could prove a tad tricky... hmmm. Miner's helmet maybe?

 
posted by [identity profile] gillyp.livejournal.com at 07:46am on 29/04/2009
I do. I'll love it even better in a couple of weeks when the hawthorn and cow parsley is out - like it less haing to hack away the rampant vegetation but hey ho, tis the price you play for living in the rainforest - as we do, climatically; officially.

Wee Burgi oak - is he tiny for a 2 year old then? I thought he was doing OK. I may have bonsai'd him in that tiny pot - he has room to grow now though, he'll be OK. I'm just so glad he made it. I feared for him all winter long.

Stay inside at night is my maxim! Unless it's midsummer and properly light and even then, only go out to sniff the stocks and drink wine.

I have some solar-powered fairy lights on the way. I'm hoping they'll be magical, but rather fear we'll be just fending of moths all summer long.
 
posted by [identity profile] elmyraemilie.livejournal.com at 12:58am on 29/04/2009
Such gorgeous pictures. There's something wonderful about the color blue in and around a garden.

::mind wanders to garden center and blue stuff...::
 
posted by [identity profile] gillyp.livejournal.com at 07:50am on 29/04/2009
Blue was terribly fashionable here about 10 years ago, when I bought all the blue pots. I like it though, it looks intense with all the rampant green and matches the bluebells and forget me nots. Don't forget to post pictures! I intend to spam all summer long. :o)

How's your garden going? I'll be off to the garden centre again myself in a couple of weeks. I have a strong fancy for a cranberry. ::stokes chin thoughtfully::
 
posted by [identity profile] epistrophia.livejournal.com at 08:27am on 29/04/2009
Thank you for the picspam! Your garden looks so lovely!

I'm a little bit jealous of the Burgi Oak - and I love the "Jim in a snit"!
 
posted by [identity profile] gillyp.livejournal.com at 08:45am on 29/04/2009
Oh, shucks! It's getting there. You should have seen it a few months ago. It's very... rampant. *g*

The Burgi oak! Yeah, he needs a sign or something, doesn't he, as befits his status and magnificence *g* As for Jim, those Easter Island things are at most garden centres I think, nothing exciting or original about them, but I do love him, he looks so pissed off. In a month he'll be completely hidden, peeking out of the Solomon's Seal. :o)
 
posted by [identity profile] boogieshoes.livejournal.com at 01:56pm on 29/04/2009
*snerks at the 'burgi oak'*

and i love 'jim in a snit' - that's just awesome. thanks for posting pics of your garden. mine's coming along as well. i planted a lot - for varying values of 'a lot' - of herbs and food plants. it's always fun to see what other people liek to plant and how they like to see their garden take shape.

-bs
 
posted by [identity profile] frostdoll.livejournal.com at 06:54pm on 29/04/2009
Loevely photos! I spy some peony shots growing near the greens :)

I'm so envious, I long for a garden, just a little place for planting and digging and enjoy my flowers, instead I have an undersized balcony full of pots.

Kiwis are sloooow growers, my father is tending some in a borrowed allotment and it's taking ages to see the first flowers, do you have only one plant? Or do you know if any neighbours have another? Because the female plants need the pollen from the male flowers to produce fruits.
 
The kiwi I was looking at is self-fertile but I think we just don't get enough sun here anyway to make a kiwi viable sadly. I think I'm going with fan-training a William pear instead (which also needs a pollinator but lots of people have pear trees, I figure I'll be OK).

You can grow a lot on a balcony. Cucumbers, grapes, tomatoes, peppers, chilles, aubergines... Any chance of pictures of yours? :o)
loligo: Scully with blue glasses (Default)
posted by [personal profile] loligo at 05:35pm on 03/05/2009
Just wandering in from a search of interests to say that I've created a [community profile] permaculture community, and we would certainly be glad of your expertise if you felt like participating!
panik: (Default)
posted by [personal profile] panik at 05:53pm on 03/05/2009
OK, sure! I'm actually doing my Permaculture diploma at the moment and a mamber of the LJ permaculture com. Happy to join, thanks for asking.

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