Category: Gardunning

Well all the builders have finally gone – and not on the best terms… with jobs about 90% done. Disappointed with the landscape gardening company – went really well for 2 weeks then they overran, then tried to cut corners on jobs and it shows.

That said, the majority of the work was good, and we now have both turf and a new patio area sorted.

I’m on hols this week so I’m working on painting all the sleepers. I found this really good paint called Bartoline – an “almost” creosote-like paint that is really making the plants stand out against that dark background.

As well as painting the sleepers, I’ll be giving everything a dig over and a bit of TLC, as it was all pretty well neglected while the work was going on. had a pleasant surprise with the sunflowers, the multi-headed ones have really come out great! Lots to do to get things looking good, movement of trees (2 x Ceanothus) and reorganising the plants in the garden. I’m looking overall for a “cottage garden” feel… despite being have strong architectural feel. I think it can work. Lots of planning, and general love needed!

In the mean time, the canna lilies have really fired up this year and are looking good. The raspberries are producing well, and the tomatoes (Roma) are amazing!

The shadier part of the garden requires a complete rework, and the front of the garden – stone rings – will need to be completely revamped and brought back to life. I’ve got about 1/2 tonne of topsoil from the building works to help with that so it’s all good! Not all success sadly, 2 clematis plants are in a really poor state so will need more than a bit of coaxing to get them happy again.

The Morning Glory has gone mad also, strangling the pear tree and generally looking a bit too wild! It really needed to be contained through an obelisk or similar, but everything is good learning and experience.

The hot weather has caused issues with the lawn, not the best time to have put a new lawn in(!)….and Marley seems to have created his own little runway so he run off some steam between walks, but it’s what it is. No worries. Watering for about 2 hours of an evening to keep things running smoothly. It’s looking good!

So, onwards and upwards. The exterior of the place will be done next year, to make everything (hopefully) stand out, the interior in a few weeks. It’s definitely starting to feel like our own place.

I wanted to get away from the grind of tech-based study recently so I’ve signed up for a Horticulture Basics course offered by ADL.

I’m really pleased with the format, with a massive shout out to Cara Gage for getting me enrolled and sorted so quickly.

It’s become immediately useful, I’m studying lawns at the moment – handy as I’ll be getting some in a few weeks!

The course material is good – it’s all online, and I’ve been assigned a tutor to help me with any issues. Assessment is through assignments, along with a final end of course exam.

I’m well used to online studying having done a degree and postgrad through the Open University . I’m really looking forward to doing something vocational again (last time was with the OU doing an Astronomy course – which was awesome).

The topics I’ll covering include:

• Lawns
• Plant Biology
• Vegetables
• Propagation
• Soil and Horticultural potential
• Fruit
• Weeds
• Flowers
• Trees and Shrubs
• Plant Protection
• Ecology

If all goes well and I get good assignment feedback, I’ll almost certainly consider something more formal like the RHS Level 2 Theory exams (and if that goes well, the Level 3 ones)! This isn’t so I can become academic … it’s purely that I want to know what the hell is going on with my garDunn!

For more details of the Horticulture Basics course from ADL, please visit here.

There’s lots of big works planned for the garDunn this year. Costly ones too!

We’ll be replacing a few hundred paving slabs with grass again, to break up the whole “Roman ruins” current look of the garden. We’ll be tidying up the brick boundaries to make sure it all looks great.

Paving slabs will be used to set up other areas of the garden though to save on materials. The end result should mean a more balanced look around the garden – and plenty of areas where there’ll be loads of colourful flowers to bring everything to life and attract loads of wildlife.

The garden did initially have lawns some 20 years ago, it will be great to see it reappear. Guess I’ll have to buy a lawnmower and all the wonderful accoutrements like an edger, strimmer and boxes of lawn feed!

As well as the garden, there’ll be loads of work on the exterior of the property (painting, roof tile cleaning, gutter tidying), and also some interior things while we we update furniture, get the TV on the wall, reintroduce brick back to the fireplace, and do similar fun things to really make our place our home.

First stages first though… quotes are still coming in for the garden work.

Hoping it will all be sorted by the end of July.