Great to hear that you are well enough settled and raring to go Nic. I'm
glad that there weren't too many breakages in transit.

We discussed my setup a long time ago but if you'd like I can stick a
couple of pics on the gallery. (I remember a comment that you'd probably
have a bit of difficulty with the slope rate of my path.)

Anyhoo, from the sounds of it you have an ideal mix. Sun, shade, exposed
and sheltered. What more could you want?

I recommend that you make haste slowly :-)

Take a year to assess the nature of the garden before you do anything
drastic. In that year you will get a better feel for the native plants,
their responses to the site and stuation. My plans evolved from doing
just this and I still made some mistakes.

This will also give you a chance to draw up the best possible solutions
to your needs for you and your trees in terms of visibility,
accessibility and security.

Are you in a place that is new to your partner or does she know it well?
Is she a plantswoman? If not, test the soil and assess its pH and
drainage. Watch where shadows are cast by buildings and trees (are they
evergreen/deciduous?). Work out where the sun rises and sets throughout
the year. Where do prevailing winds come from? After a year, your feel
for all of this will be much greater. You may also spot things that are
already there that can provide good future material.

I removed a few things in haste that I should have attempted to
transplant. Most regrettably a row of old Winter Jasmine that was
growing where it shouldn't be.

I use the sheltered and shaded front of my house for cosseting newly
repotted, recently removed air layers, establishing yamadori in their
first week or two, tender maples etc. This area gets passed regularly
with a mist sprayer. It is also an area of potential conflict as I
constantly have to strive to keep the path to my front door clear enough
for family and visitors! Any spare space in the ground here is used for
Maples, Ferns, Tree Ferns and Hostas.

Just beyond the shaded area is my main greenhouse, still sheltered
though. This one used for propagation and overwintering.

All benches, trees and boxed up trees in training are at the opposite
side of the house facing into the prevailing wind and catching the sun
from dawn till dusk.

I've made use of the large Silver Birch, that was there before I
redesigned, to cast partial shade over half of my main bench. That is
where all my Maples are happiest with full sun dappled naturally through
the open canopy.

New benches have provided me with much greater control of my developing
stock but wind strengths here means that I have to keep a close eye on
weather forecasts and move stuff down to floor level or tie things down
if there's a real blow.

Spare ground (former vegetable beds and old chicken run) has slowly been
taken over for development in the ground. Great variations in water
retentiveness and fertility mean that a good range of stuff has slowly
been found the right environment. Some trial and error has been the key
here.

I hope some of this is of use. There are some articles on beches,
columns and security, that may be worth revisiting, on my site at
http://www.actionvideo.freeserve.co.uk/articles.htm.


Cheers

Kev Bailey
Vale Of Clwyd, North Wales Zone 9

Snipped:-

What I'd like to know, is how have you setup your trees? What works for
you? What doesn't work? If you had to start from scratch, what would
be
the one or two most important thing to consider? Also, what zone/area
are
you in (I suspect it might make a difference in set up).

And if you're up to it, a couple photos of your setup on our gallery
would
be very cool indeed :-)

Thanks

Nic


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