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Turning a concrete terraced yard into a garden
Hi,
I currently have an average sized concrete terraced yard with about 15 pot plants in. It's north facing but gets a reasonable amount of sunlight. I'm thinking about what I can do to make it "more green", and to attract more wildlife. I would like to retain the shed and decking. Currently we get visits from blue tits, robins, slugs, bees, blue bottle flies, and ladybirds in small numbers. I would like a patch of lawn but there doesn't seem space for it. Also anything that involved digging up the concrete would probably be expensive. Does anyone have an ideas for things such as lawns,water features,beds,particular plants that would make my yard more green?! See attached for photos of my garden. thanks Ric |
#2
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You've obviously got more scope for trellis and climbing things up walls. But don't let things get too tall - they have an annoying habit of leaning over the edge and flowering for your neighbours and not for you! For wildlife - avoid pesticides - the things that eat your plants are food for the birds. Think about growing british native plants, or at the very least avoid plants with double flowers. Certainly try a small water feature - you may get some insect life in it. But make at least part of it shallow enough for the birds to splash in. We noticed a big increase in birds when we added a shallow "stream" to our pond.
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getstats - A society in which our lives and choices are enriched by an understanding of statistics. Go to www.getstats.org.uk for more information |
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i'm probably going to go down the route of getting a couple of very large containers. i was even thinking of getting a separate half-barrel from somewhere and making a tub pond also, i don't have a car. so does anyone know of how to get a large quantity of soil to fill my containers delivered? i do have a birdfeeder already - you can see it in the photo attached to my kitchen window! |
#5
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Turning a concrete terraced yard into a garden
On Tue, 24 May 2011 20:31:35 +0000, redbush wrote:
islaygardener;922667 Wrote: How about a bird feeding station from the RSPB ? Mine has attatchments for everything, including a small bird bath and you could simply isert he stake into a large planter ? What about a half barrel pond for water plants ? And maybe build some raised beds next to the wall ? many thanks for the suggestions. i'm probably going to go down the route of getting a couple of very large containers. i was even thinking of getting a separate half-barrel from somewhere and making a tub pond also, I don't have a car. so does anyone know of how to get a large quantity of soil to fill my containers delivered? I am car-less too. I don't know how physically fit or capable you are so... I cycle almost everywhere. Courtesy of Freecycle (nothing to do with cycling look it up on http://www.freecycle.org) I now have a trailer for my bike. There are livery stables about 2 miles from here and they have a huge manure pile. They are happy to let me dig a couple of feet in to get through the actively rotting layer to the rotted down nutrient rich layer which is a bit rich on it's own. They gave me a couple of feed bags to fill up and I can tow about 60Kg of composted manure back per trip. I'm mostly going to use this to improve the soil in the small back garden here, but I also mix it in with bought soil based compost for my pot based plants. Cost so far is about £10 for the compost. The exercise is priceless Warwick |
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Turning a concrete terraced yard into a garden
On Tue, 24 May 2011 20:31:35 +0000, redbush
wrote: islaygardener;922667 Wrote: How about a bird feeding station from the RSPB ? Mine has attatchments for everything, including a small bird bath and you could simply isert he stake into a large planter ? What about a half barrel pond for water plants ? And maybe build some raised beds next to the wall ? many thanks for the suggestions. i'm probably going to go down the route of getting a couple of very large containers. i was even thinking of getting a separate half-barrel from somewhere and making a tub pond also, i don't have a car. so does anyone know of how to get a large quantity of soil to fill my containers delivered? i do have a birdfeeder already - you can see it in the photo attached to my kitchen window! Many garden centres and some of the sheds (such as B&Q) sell suitable compost such as John Innes (and occasionally topsoil) by the bag and have local delivery services. More expensive than ordering a truck load of topsoil but less likelihood of significant weed content. We invariably use JI No 3 for our containers. rbel |
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But also put in some water feature (even if only a large shallow bowl) where the water is only 1-2 inches deep. Quote:
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I find it is useful to provide food that your neighbours don't provide - in may case this means fat cakes (which bluetits particularly like), and a mesh tray that I can put food on for ground feeding birds - your robin would like that. Especially if you added suet pieces and dried mealworms.
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getstats - A society in which our lives and choices are enriched by an understanding of statistics. Go to www.getstats.org.uk for more information |
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by the way - good luck - and let us know how you get on.
__________________
getstats - A society in which our lives and choices are enriched by an understanding of statistics. Go to www.getstats.org.uk for more information |
#9
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Turning a concrete terraced yard into a garden
On May 24, 11:11*pm, Sacha wrote:
On 2011-05-24 21:31:35 +0100, redbush said: islaygardener;922667 Wrote: How about a bird feeding station from the RSPB ? Mine has attatchments for everything, including a small bird bath and you could simply isert he stake into a large planter ? What about a half barrel pond for water plants ? And maybe build some raised beds next to the wall ? many thanks for the suggestions. i'm probably going to go down the route of getting a couple of very large containers. i was even thinking of getting a separate half-barrel from somewhere and making a tub pond also, i don't have a car. so does anyone know of how to get a large quantity of soil to fill my containers delivered? Can you trade something you can do for an hour or three with someone who will bring you compost/soil for *your tubs in their car or truck? snip -- Sachawww.hillhousenursery.com South Devon- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I would be carefull of bringing in topsoil as you don't know what weeds you may be importing as well |
#10
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Turning a concrete terraced yard into a garden
On 24/05/2011 13:55, redbush wrote:
Hi, I currently have an average sized concrete terraced yard with about 15 pot plants in. It's north facing but gets a reasonable amount of sunlight. I'm thinking about what I can do to make it "more green", and to attract more wildlife. I would like to retain the shed and decking. Currently we get visits from blue tits, robins, slugs, bees, blue bottle flies, and ladybirds in small numbers. I would like a patch of lawn but there doesn't seem space for it. Also anything that involved digging up the concrete would probably be expensive. Small lawns are a lot of hassle for no great benefit. Try growing some of the nectar rich flowers recommended in the butterflies thread and scented annual climbers like sweet pea and morning glory on the sunny side. If you are patient hydrangea petiolaris will do very well on a north facing wall. Things that are a drought tolerant will be less trouble in containers like thyme, rosemary, chives and sedum spectabile. Does anyone have an ideas for things such as lawns,water features,beds,particular plants that would make my yard more green?! Any chance of breaking down to soil level up against the wall so you could plant some of the climbers into the ground? More of the same sort of container planting after choosing a theme colour for them would be one way to go. Regards, Martin Brown |
#11
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Turning a concrete terraced yard into a garden
On 24/05/2011 16:41, Martin Brown wrote:
On 24/05/2011 13:55, redbush wrote: Hi, I currently have an average sized concrete terraced yard with about 15 pot plants in. It's north facing but gets a reasonable amount of sunlight. I'm thinking about what I can do to make it "more green", and to attract more wildlife. I would like to retain the shed and decking. Currently we get visits from blue tits, robins, slugs, bees, blue bottle flies, and ladybirds in small numbers. I would like a patch of lawn but there doesn't seem space for it. Also anything that involved digging up the concrete would probably be expensive. Small lawns are a lot of hassle for no great benefit. Try growing some of the nectar rich flowers recommended in the butterflies thread and scented annual climbers like sweet pea and morning glory on the sunny side. If you are patient hydrangea petiolaris will do very well on a north facing wall. Things that are a drought tolerant will be less trouble in containers like thyme, rosemary, chives and sedum spectabile. Does anyone have an ideas for things such as lawns,water features,beds,particular plants that would make my yard more green?! Any chance of breaking down to soil level up against the wall so you could plant some of the climbers into the ground? I have had success in drilling through concrete - 16mm hole - and pushing the roots of a small home grown honeysucle cutting into the hole with some compost. The plant is thriving 10 years later. If you can hire/borrow anSDS drill and use a 25mm bit and enlarge the hole slightly, so much the better Malcolm |
#12
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Turning a concrete terraced yard into a garden
On Tue, 24 May 2011 16:41:45 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote: On 24/05/2011 13:55, redbush wrote: Hi, I currently have an average sized concrete terraced yard with about 15 pot plants in. It's north facing but gets a reasonable amount of sunlight. I'm thinking about what I can do to make it "more green", and to attract more wildlife. I would like to retain the shed and decking. Currently we get visits from blue tits, robins, slugs, bees, blue bottle flies, and ladybirds in small numbers. I would like a patch of lawn but there doesn't seem space for it. Also anything that involved digging up the concrete would probably be expensive. Small lawns are a lot of hassle for no great benefit. Try growing some A man on the car boot was recently selling off cuts of astroturf.. All the look and none of the mowing of the nectar rich flowers recommended in the butterflies thread and scented annual climbers like sweet pea and morning glory on the sunny side. If you are patient hydrangea petiolaris will do very well on a north facing wall. Things that are a drought tolerant will be less trouble in containers like thyme, rosemary, chives and sedum spectabile. Does anyone have an ideas for things such as lawns,water features,beds,particular plants that would make my yard more green?! Any chance of breaking down to soil level up against the wall so you could plant some of the climbers into the ground? More of the same sort of container planting after choosing a theme colour for them would be one way to go. Regards, Martin Brown -- http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk |
#13
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Turning a concrete terraced yard into a garden
mogga wrote:
On Tue, 24 May 2011 16:41:45 +0100, Martin Brown wrote: On 24/05/2011 13:55, redbush wrote: Hi, I currently have an average sized concrete terraced yard with about 15 pot plants in. It's north facing but gets a reasonable amount of sunlight. I'm thinking about what I can do to make it "more green", and to attract more wildlife. I would like to retain the shed and decking. Currently we get visits from blue tits, robins, slugs, bees, blue bottle flies, and ladybirds in small numbers. I would like a patch of lawn but there doesn't seem space for it. Also anything that involved digging up the concrete would probably be expensive. Small lawns are a lot of hassle for no great benefit. Try growing some A man on the car boot was recently selling off cuts of astroturf.. All the look and none of the mowing Funnily enough, I heard a couple of hours ago in a conversation with my elderly neighbour and his visiting son that a new housing development in the town centre is surrounded by astroturf lawns! Ian |
#14
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Turning a concrete terraced yard into a garden
"Ian B" wrote in message ... mogga wrote: On Tue, 24 May 2011 16:41:45 +0100, Martin Brown wrote: On 24/05/2011 13:55, redbush wrote: Hi, I currently have an average sized concrete terraced yard with about 15 pot plants in. It's north facing but gets a reasonable amount of sunlight. I'm thinking about what I can do to make it "more green", and to attract more wildlife. I would like to retain the shed and decking. Currently we get visits from blue tits, robins, slugs, bees, blue bottle flies, and ladybirds in small numbers. I would like a patch of lawn but there doesn't seem space for it. Also anything that involved digging up the concrete would probably be expensive. Small lawns are a lot of hassle for no great benefit. Try growing some A man on the car boot was recently selling off cuts of astroturf.. All the look and none of the mowing Funnily enough, I heard a couple of hours ago in a conversation with my elderly neighbour and his visiting son that a new housing development in the town centre is surrounded by astroturf lawns! Ian Damn good stuff where you do not have the depth of soil to sustain a lawn, such as in the OP's situation. A 'few inches of soil' dumped onto the concrete and then lawn would be hopeless, whereas Astroturf would be satisfactory and give the 'green lawn effect'. My step mother used it at her hotel when she converted some bedrooms on the front to make an apartment for herself, with a veranda over the Snack Bar covered with Cyril Lawn, as it was all those years ago. Horses for courses. Mike -- .................................... It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. .................................... |
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