| Page 1 of 2 | 1 | 2 |
|
|
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
Hi all
I posted here a few weeks ago saying I'd got a new garden. Now I'm at the "planning what to do with it" stage and I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice you might have on the following projects: 1. The instant herb garden project. There's a pre-formed fibre glass raised pool with a wooden surround right up by the house (surrounded by wooden deck). I don't want it as a water feature (I have two other ponds - one quite LARGE). I thought I might empty it out, drill holes in the fibre glass, fill with gritty compost and plant with herbs. It's about 5' x 3' and about 2' off the ground. Faces SW and gets reasonable amounts of sun. What do people reckon - will this work or will it get waterlogged? 2. The native hedge project. Deciduous hedge runs up one side of the garden for about twenty five feet. It's about six foot high and has obviously been trimmed with hedge cutters and not much else done to it as it's got very thin in places. Hard to tell what it's made of at the moment, but I reckon it includes hawthorn, berberis and possibly viburnum. Also full of old brambles and rubbish growing through from next door's neglected and overgrown patch. I'd like to thicken it up a bit and try some evergreens to give a bit more privacy at this time of year - any ideas for relatively quick growing - preferably native - plants. I'd like it to stay an "informal" hedge. 3. The anti-magnolia project No, not that kind of magnolia. I like those. The previous owners overdid the "house doctor" bit and have painted the fibreglass edging of the LARGE (20'x 10') pond and the concrete path edging and the terracotta "brick" path edging (ALL over the garden) and even the stones lining the "stream" that feeds the pond, with magnolia paint!!! Judging by the amount they painted in the house I reckon they got onto "autopaint" and just couldn't stop...... I think it's ordinary emulsion, although it looks almost luminous in poor light and is doing the "natural" look of the garden no favours at all - any ideas for removing it? I hope you don't mind multiple questions in one message - I expect I'll think of some more later.......... Seasons Greetings Heather Gardening in Wiltshire, on the side of a hill. -- Spamtrap in operation. To reply to me direct put out the bins. To save yourself the trouble, reply to the Group. |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
"Heather" wrote in message ... Hi all I posted here a few weeks ago saying I'd got a new garden. Now I'm at the "planning what to do with it" stage and I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice you might have on the following projects: 3. The anti-magnolia project No, not that kind of magnolia. I like those. The previous owners overdid the "house doctor" bit and have painted the fibreglass edging of the LARGE (20'x 10') pond and the concrete path edging and the terracotta "brick" path edging (ALL over the garden) and even the stones lining the "stream" that feeds the pond, with magnolia paint!!! Judging by the amount they painted in the house I reckon they got onto "autopaint" and just couldn't stop...... I think it's ordinary emulsion, although it looks almost luminous in poor light and is doing the "natural" look of the garden no favours at all - any ideas for removing it? I hope you don't mind multiple questions in one message - I expect I'll think of some more later.......... Seasons Greetings Heather If the paint has soaked into porous stone/plastic/concrete, removal could be very difficult/expensive. Might be cheaper to discard the stones and replace with new. You could try paint stripper chemicals or white spirit (read the safety instructions on the container), but these chemicals are unlikely to be friendly to nearby plants or soil. You might also try a hot flame burner type of paint stripper, but NOT on plastics, and there is a risk of cracking ceramics, etc. As a last resort, you could overpaint in a more suitable colour. Happy New Year Bevan -- Spamtrap in operation. To reply to me direct put out the bins. To save yourself the trouble, reply to the Group. |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
The message
from "Heather" contains these words: Hi all Happy Christmas H I posted here a few weeks ago saying I'd got a new garden. Now I'm at the "planning what to do with it" stage and I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice you might have on the following projects: 1. The instant herb garden project. There's a pre-formed fibre glass raised pool with a wooden surround right up by the house (surrounded by wooden deck). I don't want it as a water feature (I have two other ponds - one quite LARGE). I thought I might empty it out, drill holes in the fibre glass, fill with gritty compost and plant with herbs. It's about 5' x 3' and about 2' off the ground. Faces SW and gets reasonable amounts of sun. What do people reckon - will this work or will it get waterlogged? Waterlogging could be a problem, I'd make LOTS of holes (big enough not to block with washed-down soil debris) and put a 6" stoney drainage layer in the bottom..any old bricks and broken blocks etc will do, as most herbs don't mind lime mortar. 2. The native hedge project. Deciduous hedge runs up one side of the garden for about twenty five feet. It's about six foot high and has obviously been trimmed with hedge cutters and not much else done to it as it's got very thin in places. Hard to tell what it's made of at the moment, but I reckon it includes hawthorn, berberis and possibly viburnum. Also full of old brambles and rubbish growing through from next door's neglected and overgrown patch. I'd like to thicken it up a bit and try some evergreens to give a bit more privacy at this time of year - any ideas for relatively quick growing - preferably native - plants. I'd like it to stay an "informal" hedge. It sounds well established, so it may be easier to renovate the existing plants than plant new ones in soil that's full of roots. Cutting back hard and a good mulch with manure will produce thick new growth from low down. I'd keep some brambles; they are so fast and can be trained across baldy bits, a good deterrent to dogs/intruders, and produce blackberries. If you decide there's room for new plants, there are some good evergreen cotoneasters which are quite fast. Holly is lovely but much slower, especially where there's competition from established plants. Ivy can be useful as a filler. All of them support a lot of wildlife. 3. The anti-magnolia project I think it's ordinary emulsion, although it looks almost luminous in poor light and is doing the "natural" look of the garden no favours at all - any ideas for removing it? If it's just emulsion, rain and weathering should wear it off, eventually :-) I hope you don't mind multiple questions in one message - I expect I'll think of some more later.......... It's not a problem, but posters often get more replies if they post each Q separately with its own header. It's better to state the topic in the header, too, that attracts far more interest than vague headers like "help" or "query". Janet |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
The message
from "Heather" contains these words: Hi all Happy Christmas H I posted here a few weeks ago saying I'd got a new garden. Now I'm at the "planning what to do with it" stage and I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice you might have on the following projects: 1. The instant herb garden project. There's a pre-formed fibre glass raised pool with a wooden surround right up by the house (surrounded by wooden deck). I don't want it as a water feature (I have two other ponds - one quite LARGE). I thought I might empty it out, drill holes in the fibre glass, fill with gritty compost and plant with herbs. It's about 5' x 3' and about 2' off the ground. Faces SW and gets reasonable amounts of sun. What do people reckon - will this work or will it get waterlogged? Waterlogging could be a problem, I'd make LOTS of holes (big enough not to block with washed-down soil debris) and put a 6" stoney drainage layer in the bottom..any old bricks and broken blocks etc will do, as most herbs don't mind lime mortar. 2. The native hedge project. Deciduous hedge runs up one side of the garden for about twenty five feet. It's about six foot high and has obviously been trimmed with hedge cutters and not much else done to it as it's got very thin in places. Hard to tell what it's made of at the moment, but I reckon it includes hawthorn, berberis and possibly viburnum. Also full of old brambles and rubbish growing through from next door's neglected and overgrown patch. I'd like to thicken it up a bit and try some evergreens to give a bit more privacy at this time of year - any ideas for relatively quick growing - preferably native - plants. I'd like it to stay an "informal" hedge. It sounds well established, so it may be easier to renovate the existing plants than plant new ones in soil that's full of roots. Cutting back hard and a good mulch with manure will produce thick new growth from low down. I'd keep some brambles; they are so fast and can be trained across baldy bits, a good deterrent to dogs/intruders, and produce blackberries. If you decide there's room for new plants, there are some good evergreen cotoneasters which are quite fast. Holly is lovely but much slower, especially where there's competition from established plants. Ivy can be useful as a filler. All of them support a lot of wildlife. 3. The anti-magnolia project I think it's ordinary emulsion, although it looks almost luminous in poor light and is doing the "natural" look of the garden no favours at all - any ideas for removing it? If it's just emulsion, rain and weathering should wear it off, eventually :-) I hope you don't mind multiple questions in one message - I expect I'll think of some more later.......... It's not a problem, but posters often get more replies if they post each Q separately with its own header. It's better to state the topic in the header, too, that attracts far more interest than vague headers like "help" or "query". Janet |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
The message
from "Heather" contains these words: Hi all Happy Christmas H I posted here a few weeks ago saying I'd got a new garden. Now I'm at the "planning what to do with it" stage and I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice you might have on the following projects: 1. The instant herb garden project. There's a pre-formed fibre glass raised pool with a wooden surround right up by the house (surrounded by wooden deck). I don't want it as a water feature (I have two other ponds - one quite LARGE). I thought I might empty it out, drill holes in the fibre glass, fill with gritty compost and plant with herbs. It's about 5' x 3' and about 2' off the ground. Faces SW and gets reasonable amounts of sun. What do people reckon - will this work or will it get waterlogged? Waterlogging could be a problem, I'd make LOTS of holes (big enough not to block with washed-down soil debris) and put a 6" stoney drainage layer in the bottom..any old bricks and broken blocks etc will do, as most herbs don't mind lime mortar. 2. The native hedge project. Deciduous hedge runs up one side of the garden for about twenty five feet. It's about six foot high and has obviously been trimmed with hedge cutters and not much else done to it as it's got very thin in places. Hard to tell what it's made of at the moment, but I reckon it includes hawthorn, berberis and possibly viburnum. Also full of old brambles and rubbish growing through from next door's neglected and overgrown patch. I'd like to thicken it up a bit and try some evergreens to give a bit more privacy at this time of year - any ideas for relatively quick growing - preferably native - plants. I'd like it to stay an "informal" hedge. It sounds well established, so it may be easier to renovate the existing plants than plant new ones in soil that's full of roots. Cutting back hard and a good mulch with manure will produce thick new growth from low down. I'd keep some brambles; they are so fast and can be trained across baldy bits, a good deterrent to dogs/intruders, and produce blackberries. If you decide there's room for new plants, there are some good evergreen cotoneasters which are quite fast. Holly is lovely but much slower, especially where there's competition from established plants. Ivy can be useful as a filler. All of them support a lot of wildlife. 3. The anti-magnolia project I think it's ordinary emulsion, although it looks almost luminous in poor light and is doing the "natural" look of the garden no favours at all - any ideas for removing it? If it's just emulsion, rain and weathering should wear it off, eventually :-) I hope you don't mind multiple questions in one message - I expect I'll think of some more later.......... It's not a problem, but posters often get more replies if they post each Q separately with its own header. It's better to state the topic in the header, too, that attracts far more interest than vague headers like "help" or "query". Janet |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
Thanks Bevan & Janet
I'm going to give the herb thingy a go (when the weather improves - pouring rain and COLD all day here today) so I'll let you know how it turns out. I know the paint will probably wash off "eventually", but you should see how garish it looks in the meantime..... I thought about painting over it but not sure that ANY colour would really look natural and as for replacing - it really is a LOT of stone/concrete and some of it is firmly fixed. Might try scrubbing it when the weather is better..... Happy New Year to all Heather -- Spamtrap in operation. To reply to me direct put out the bins. To save yourself the trouble, reply to the Group. |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
|
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
"Steve Harris" wrote in message
news:memo.20031230210514.5381A@net- Can I recommend Hyssop to you? You certainly can Steve. I've grown it before and found it to be an excellent bee plant. I am hoping to grow a few of the more bushy herbs here rather than just the low growers - I've got different plans for them - mainly involving being part of a scheme with paving. More on that when I've thought about it a bit more..... Heather -- Spamtrap in operation. To reply to me direct put out the bins. To save yourself the trouble, reply to the Group. |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
"Sacha" wrote in message
.. . 1. The instant herb garden project. If there's *plenty* of drainage, I think it stands a good chance and it sounds interesting, too. I shall give it a go and let you know how it turns out. Will post some photos when I find a good place on the web to put them.... 2. The native hedge project. Would Eleagnus 'do' with you - lovely scent on some of them? But in your shoes, I'd wait one whole year and see what you have got and how it can be improved. I know you're supposed to wait a year in any new garden, but I'm not sure I will be able to stop myself planting stuff anyway... 3. The anti-magnolia project First question is - can you stick the whole lot in a pile and hose it off? Not without digging up all the edging, some of which is cemented down - might work for the rocks though. put a few dabs of live yoghurt here and there on each one to encourage the growth of the 'natural look'. Like that idea - might try it if/when I scrub any of the paint off. Personally, I'm riveted by anyone who would paint stones with magnolia paint - and so MANY of them........! You should see the house..... (mind you magnolia works in a house!). Lovely people but they were not gardeners! Still at least I have a blank canvas to start with as far as most of the pants are concerned : ) Sacha Thanks for the ideas. Heather -- Spamtrap in operation. To reply to me direct put out the bins. To save yourself the trouble, reply to the Group. |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
"Sacha" wrote in message
.. . 1. The instant herb garden project. If there's *plenty* of drainage, I think it stands a good chance and it sounds interesting, too. I shall give it a go and let you know how it turns out. Will post some photos when I find a good place on the web to put them.... 2. The native hedge project. Would Eleagnus 'do' with you - lovely scent on some of them? But in your shoes, I'd wait one whole year and see what you have got and how it can be improved. I know you're supposed to wait a year in any new garden, but I'm not sure I will be able to stop myself planting stuff anyway... 3. The anti-magnolia project First question is - can you stick the whole lot in a pile and hose it off? Not without digging up all the edging, some of which is cemented down - might work for the rocks though. put a few dabs of live yoghurt here and there on each one to encourage the growth of the 'natural look'. Like that idea - might try it if/when I scrub any of the paint off. Personally, I'm riveted by anyone who would paint stones with magnolia paint - and so MANY of them........! You should see the house..... (mind you magnolia works in a house!). Lovely people but they were not gardeners! Still at least I have a blank canvas to start with as far as most of the pants are concerned : ) Sacha Thanks for the ideas. Heather -- Spamtrap in operation. To reply to me direct put out the bins. To save yourself the trouble, reply to the Group. |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
"Sacha" wrote in message
.. . 1. The instant herb garden project. If there's *plenty* of drainage, I think it stands a good chance and it sounds interesting, too. I shall give it a go and let you know how it turns out. Will post some photos when I find a good place on the web to put them.... 2. The native hedge project. Would Eleagnus 'do' with you - lovely scent on some of them? But in your shoes, I'd wait one whole year and see what you have got and how it can be improved. I know you're supposed to wait a year in any new garden, but I'm not sure I will be able to stop myself planting stuff anyway... 3. The anti-magnolia project First question is - can you stick the whole lot in a pile and hose it off? Not without digging up all the edging, some of which is cemented down - might work for the rocks though. put a few dabs of live yoghurt here and there on each one to encourage the growth of the 'natural look'. Like that idea - might try it if/when I scrub any of the paint off. Personally, I'm riveted by anyone who would paint stones with magnolia paint - and so MANY of them........! You should see the house..... (mind you magnolia works in a house!). Lovely people but they were not gardeners! Still at least I have a blank canvas to start with as far as most of the pants are concerned : ) Sacha Thanks for the ideas. Heather -- Spamtrap in operation. To reply to me direct put out the bins. To save yourself the trouble, reply to the Group. |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
"Sacha" wrote in message
.. . 1. The instant herb garden project. If there's *plenty* of drainage, I think it stands a good chance and it sounds interesting, too. I shall give it a go and let you know how it turns out. Will post some photos when I find a good place on the web to put them.... 2. The native hedge project. Would Eleagnus 'do' with you - lovely scent on some of them? But in your shoes, I'd wait one whole year and see what you have got and how it can be improved. I know you're supposed to wait a year in any new garden, but I'm not sure I will be able to stop myself planting stuff anyway... 3. The anti-magnolia project First question is - can you stick the whole lot in a pile and hose it off? Not without digging up all the edging, some of which is cemented down - might work for the rocks though. put a few dabs of live yoghurt here and there on each one to encourage the growth of the 'natural look'. Like that idea - might try it if/when I scrub any of the paint off. Personally, I'm riveted by anyone who would paint stones with magnolia paint - and so MANY of them........! You should see the house..... (mind you magnolia works in a house!). Lovely people but they were not gardeners! Still at least I have a blank canvas to start with as far as most of the pants are concerned : ) Sacha Thanks for the ideas. Heather -- Spamtrap in operation. To reply to me direct put out the bins. To save yourself the trouble, reply to the Group. |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
"Sacha" wrote in message
.. . 1. The instant herb garden project. If there's *plenty* of drainage, I think it stands a good chance and it sounds interesting, too. I shall give it a go and let you know how it turns out. Will post some photos when I find a good place on the web to put them.... 2. The native hedge project. Would Eleagnus 'do' with you - lovely scent on some of them? But in your shoes, I'd wait one whole year and see what you have got and how it can be improved. I know you're supposed to wait a year in any new garden, but I'm not sure I will be able to stop myself planting stuff anyway... 3. The anti-magnolia project First question is - can you stick the whole lot in a pile and hose it off? Not without digging up all the edging, some of which is cemented down - might work for the rocks though. put a few dabs of live yoghurt here and there on each one to encourage the growth of the 'natural look'. Like that idea - might try it if/when I scrub any of the paint off. Personally, I'm riveted by anyone who would paint stones with magnolia paint - and so MANY of them........! You should see the house..... (mind you magnolia works in a house!). Lovely people but they were not gardeners! Still at least I have a blank canvas to start with as far as most of the pants are concerned : ) Sacha Thanks for the ideas. Heather -- Spamtrap in operation. To reply to me direct put out the bins. To save yourself the trouble, reply to the Group. |
New Year - New Garden. Thoughts Appreciated
"Sacha" wrote in message
.. . 1. The instant herb garden project. If there's *plenty* of drainage, I think it stands a good chance and it sounds interesting, too. I shall give it a go and let you know how it turns out. Will post some photos when I find a good place on the web to put them.... 2. The native hedge project. Would Eleagnus 'do' with you - lovely scent on some of them? But in your shoes, I'd wait one whole year and see what you have got and how it can be improved. I know you're supposed to wait a year in any new garden, but I'm not sure I will be able to stop myself planting stuff anyway... 3. The anti-magnolia project First question is - can you stick the whole lot in a pile and hose it off? Not without digging up all the edging, some of which is cemented down - might work for the rocks though. put a few dabs of live yoghurt here and there on each one to encourage the growth of the 'natural look'. Like that idea - might try it if/when I scrub any of the paint off. Personally, I'm riveted by anyone who would paint stones with magnolia paint - and so MANY of them........! You should see the house..... (mind you magnolia works in a house!). Lovely people but they were not gardeners! Still at least I have a blank canvas to start with as far as most of the pants are concerned : ) Sacha Thanks for the ideas. Heather -- Spamtrap in operation. To reply to me direct put out the bins. To save yourself the trouble, reply to the Group. |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:26 AM. |
|
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
GardenBanter