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Composting question
Hi all.
I have recently taken early retirement and invested in a 1 acre back garden that is covered in shrubs and conifers and has honeysuckle miles long growing through it. The shrubs and confiers are all overgrown and some are absolutely massive, for example I have discovered a flat growing conifer that is 30 yards in diameter and it had rooted along it's branches. The decision I have taken is to clear the whole lot and start again. The soil although clearly exhausted is quite deap and fairly light. I have started the clearance with a chainsaw and brushcutter and have cleared around a third of it so far. I am digging out the roots as I go. I have invested in a shredder and I am only buring the roots and think branches, the rest has been reduced to chippings with the shredder. As you can imagine I have a fairly big pile of chippings. I have built half a dozen large compost bins (48" square and 60" high) as I was thinking of trying to compost the chippings. The question is if I compost the chippings will it be of any use. Bob |
Composting question
In article , Bob
writes The question is if I compost the chippings will it be of any use. Yes you can compost chippings, shreddings or sawdust providing you mix them with plenty of other material - and providing you give them sufficient time to bio-degrade. Once they have composted properly, they can be used in the same way as any other composted material. Some hints on making and using compost can be found in the urg FAQ at: http://www.nugget.demon.co.uk/MetaFAQ/organic.html -- Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs. |
Composting question
In article , Bob
writes The question is if I compost the chippings will it be of any use. Yes! :-) -- Kay Easton Edward's earthworm page: http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm |
Composting question
Yes you can compost chippings, shreddings or sawdust providing you mix
them with plenty of other material Thanks for this, Mixing with other stuff is a problem initially although I have been adding layers of horse manure and droppings from a local parrot breeding breeding outfit (this is a mix of wood shavings, droppings and seed shells, nut shells and large amounts of frut and vegetable matter. The guy who raises parrots is happy to deliver a trailer load of this stuff every month to get rid of it, it tens to be a bit wet though. I now have eight full bins of shredded chippings and I am about half way through, leaving them for a year or so is not a problem as I have a long way to go - at least it is keeping me fit. Bob |
Composting question
I'm jealous! Woodchip is great stuff once it's mostly broken down and I'd give my right arm for a few tons at the moment!
On a similar note, is chicken muck acidic or limey? I thought lime, but can't remember. Our local chicken farmer employs me to sort out his hedges and orchard every year and has kindly said I can help myself to the straw and wood shaving heap he has from the hens free range sheds and paddocks. It's not the stinky pure chicken muck that normal farms would have, more a sort of mix that pet hens kept on a small scale would produce - mainly bedding. I was considering getting a few trailer loads and mixing it with our horse muck to compost over a year or so and use when potting the young trees up. Does that sound sensible to everyone? Could any spare go straight under the newish (5 year old) hazel and quickthorn hedges? |
Composting question
Hazel,
Try asking a local tree surgeon, most of them shred the waste to reduce bulk as they have to pay to dump it. I have no doubt that they would drop off a load or two if you have the ability to handle it. Bob "Hazell B" wrote in message s.com... I'm jealous! Woodchip is great stuff once it's mostly broken down and I'd give my right arm for a few tons at the moment! |
Composting question
Hazel,
Try asking a local tree surgeon, most of them shred the waste to reduce bulk as they have to pay to dump it. I have no doubt that they would drop off a load or two if you have the ability to handle it. Bob "Hazell B" wrote in message s.com... I'm jealous! Woodchip is great stuff once it's mostly broken down and I'd give my right arm for a few tons at the moment! |
Composting question
Cheers Bob. As it happens there are lots of tree surgeons around here and I see them working quite a lot. However, all the locals also have horses or live near someone with horses, so all the chip seems to go to cover the all weather arenas and muddy paddocks - which is exactly what I want it for! There's a factory that mixes the chips with chopped electric cables, too, again for horse arenas and they buy it up. Great idea, shame about the location!
|
Composting question
"Hazell B" wrote in message s.com... Cheers Bob. As it happens there are lots of tree surgeons around here and I see them working quite a lot. However, all the locals also have horses or live near someone with horses, so all the chip seems to go to cover the all weather arenas and muddy paddocks - which is exactly what I want it for! There's a factory that mixes the chips with chopped electric cables, That sounds like a pretty irresponsible thing to do! Are they really distributing small cut up pieces of copper and PVC all over the place? It sounds like the proverbial kicking the shit around till it is lost. Do they have a licence to do so? Does the local authority condone it? too, again for horse arenas and they buy it up. Great idea, shame about the location! -- Hazell B Franz |
Composting question
"Hazell B" wrote in message s.com... Cheers Bob. As it happens there are lots of tree surgeons around here and I see them working quite a lot. However, all the locals also have horses or live near someone with horses, so all the chip seems to go to cover the all weather arenas and muddy paddocks - which is exactly what I want it for! There's a factory that mixes the chips with chopped electric cables, That sounds like a pretty irresponsible thing to do! Are they really distributing small cut up pieces of copper and PVC all over the place? It sounds like the proverbial kicking the shit around till it is lost. Do they have a licence to do so? Does the local authority condone it? too, again for horse arenas and they buy it up. Great idea, shame about the location! -- Hazell B Franz |
Composting question
"Hazell B" wrote in message s.com... Cheers Bob. As it happens there are lots of tree surgeons around here and I see them working quite a lot. However, all the locals also have horses or live near someone with horses, so all the chip seems to go to cover the all weather arenas and muddy paddocks - which is exactly what I want it for! There's a factory that mixes the chips with chopped electric cables, That sounds like a pretty irresponsible thing to do! Are they really distributing small cut up pieces of copper and PVC all over the place? It sounds like the proverbial kicking the shit around till it is lost. Do they have a licence to do so? Does the local authority condone it? too, again for horse arenas and they buy it up. Great idea, shame about the location! -- Hazell B Franz |
Composting question
"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
... That sounds like a pretty irresponsible thing to do! Are they really distributing small cut up pieces of copper and PVC all over the place? It Just a guess but they probably recycle the copper as it's useful and just chop up the plastic sheath? -- Martin & Anna Sykes ( Remove x's when replying ) http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm |
Composting question
On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 09:50:22 -0000, "Martin Sykes"
wrote: "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... That sounds like a pretty irresponsible thing to do! Are they really distributing small cut up pieces of copper and PVC all over the place? It Just a guess but they probably recycle the copper as it's useful and just chop up the plastic sheath? they still shouldn't be disposing of the sheath in this manner. -- Martin |
Composting question
"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
... That sounds like a pretty irresponsible thing to do! Are they really distributing small cut up pieces of copper and PVC all over the place? It Just a guess but they probably recycle the copper as it's useful and just chop up the plastic sheath? -- Martin & Anna Sykes ( Remove x's when replying ) http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm |
Composting question
On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 09:50:22 -0000, "Martin Sykes"
wrote: "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... That sounds like a pretty irresponsible thing to do! Are they really distributing small cut up pieces of copper and PVC all over the place? It Just a guess but they probably recycle the copper as it's useful and just chop up the plastic sheath? they still shouldn't be disposing of the sheath in this manner. -- Martin |
Composting question
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Composting question
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Composting question
Quote:
(It is just the plastic, by the way, no copper) |
Composting question
To try to explain why I ham clearing the area!
I owned the house last summer so I saw the garden last year, a jungle and not what I want. It was a good example of the wrong plants being planted in the wrong place, it was originally planted about 25 years ago and all the smaller shrubs have been killed off by the rampant ones. There were about 30 so called dwarf conifers, the sort sold as low growing and dwarf, the biggest was 30 yards across. Then there were brambles, russian vine and honeysuckle through the lot which meant all the plants were bare for the bottom 6 foot. Also down the north side were 70 odd leylandii at about 90ft tall, some of which had collapsed and were growing horizontally. From what I saw there was nothing worth keeping. What I have found is a paved area with stone build raised beds which are about 3 foot above ground level, I had no idea it was there and much is damaged by the conifers and the paving is mostly broken. The areas between were completely full of old leaves and confer droppings. From what I can tell this part of the old garden was set out with raised beds in a "s" pattern. Each bed runs from one side of the garden to within 4 feet of the other side, each bed is 4 foot 6 inches wide wit a 4 foot path betwen them, so far I have found 4 of these and I suspect there is at least one more. Also at the end of each one there is a marble (I think, white and hard) lifesize head, looks a bit like an angels head) I have no idea what they were used for - does anybody know about this sort of thing. Once I find out what the real state of this is I may try to repair it as it may be a great raised bed for vegetables although the idea of walking between them all on the "s" pattern to get to the rest of the garden does not appeal to me. The other thing I have found is the remains of a greenhouse which was about 25 foot long and about 12 foot wide, again this is totally destroyed by 25 years (possibly 50years) of neglect. It clearly was a wooden building with a couple of foot of brick as a base and a coal boiler and massive pipework. It had the remains of a cold frame down each side and a tap which has water attached, I know because the pipe broke when I found the tap by treading on it, it is great getting soaked on a frosty day, fortunately the pipe was lead so I managed to bend it over to slow the flow until I could get it fixed, interestingly turning the water off in the house didn't stop the flow. I am about two thirds of the way down the garden with my pilot cutting and in total I have cleared a third of it. The total garden is about 70 feet wide and 650 feet long so I have a long way to go so who knows what I will find next, I do know there are some very poor fruit trees at the far end but they have lot's of dead branches and may not be worth keeping. I couldn't get to them last summer but from what I could see there had very little fruit on them. At the end of the day this must have been laid out as a quite impressive garden, the house dates from the 1920's and was build in the gronds of an old manor, I am the third owner in that time and I as the last owner only had the house for 5 years I suspect these gardens were laid out when the house was built. Bob "Steve Harris" wrote in message ... In article , (Bob) wrote: The decision I have taken is to clear the whole lot and start again. Are you sure? It may be better to live with it for a while until you see what you have got - especially when the weather warms up. I would just remove stuff you definitely don't want initially. Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com |
Composting question
To try to explain why I ham clearing the area!
I owned the house last summer so I saw the garden last year, a jungle and not what I want. It was a good example of the wrong plants being planted in the wrong place, it was originally planted about 25 years ago and all the smaller shrubs have been killed off by the rampant ones. There were about 30 so called dwarf conifers, the sort sold as low growing and dwarf, the biggest was 30 yards across. Then there were brambles, russian vine and honeysuckle through the lot which meant all the plants were bare for the bottom 6 foot. Also down the north side were 70 odd leylandii at about 90ft tall, some of which had collapsed and were growing horizontally. From what I saw there was nothing worth keeping. What I have found is a paved area with stone build raised beds which are about 3 foot above ground level, I had no idea it was there and much is damaged by the conifers and the paving is mostly broken. The areas between were completely full of old leaves and confer droppings. From what I can tell this part of the old garden was set out with raised beds in a "s" pattern. Each bed runs from one side of the garden to within 4 feet of the other side, each bed is 4 foot 6 inches wide wit a 4 foot path betwen them, so far I have found 4 of these and I suspect there is at least one more. Also at the end of each one there is a marble (I think, white and hard) lifesize head, looks a bit like an angels head) I have no idea what they were used for - does anybody know about this sort of thing. Once I find out what the real state of this is I may try to repair it as it may be a great raised bed for vegetables although the idea of walking between them all on the "s" pattern to get to the rest of the garden does not appeal to me. The other thing I have found is the remains of a greenhouse which was about 25 foot long and about 12 foot wide, again this is totally destroyed by 25 years (possibly 50years) of neglect. It clearly was a wooden building with a couple of foot of brick as a base and a coal boiler and massive pipework. It had the remains of a cold frame down each side and a tap which has water attached, I know because the pipe broke when I found the tap by treading on it, it is great getting soaked on a frosty day, fortunately the pipe was lead so I managed to bend it over to slow the flow until I could get it fixed, interestingly turning the water off in the house didn't stop the flow. I am about two thirds of the way down the garden with my pilot cutting and in total I have cleared a third of it. The total garden is about 70 feet wide and 650 feet long so I have a long way to go so who knows what I will find next, I do know there are some very poor fruit trees at the far end but they have lot's of dead branches and may not be worth keeping. I couldn't get to them last summer but from what I could see there had very little fruit on them. At the end of the day this must have been laid out as a quite impressive garden, the house dates from the 1920's and was build in the gronds of an old manor, I am the third owner in that time and I as the last owner only had the house for 5 years I suspect these gardens were laid out when the house was built. Bob "Steve Harris" wrote in message ... In article , (Bob) wrote: The decision I have taken is to clear the whole lot and start again. Are you sure? It may be better to live with it for a while until you see what you have got - especially when the weather warms up. I would just remove stuff you definitely don't want initially. Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com |
Composting question
"Martin Sykes" wrote in message ... "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... That sounds like a pretty irresponsible thing to do! Are they really distributing small cut up pieces of copper and PVC all over the place? It Just a guess but they probably recycle the copper as it's useful and just chop up the plastic sheath? Disposing of unrottable PVC in this way is just as irresponsible. I doubt very much if it is legal to do so. Franz |
Composting question
"Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... Disposing of unrottable PVC in this way is just as irresponsible. I doubt very much if it is legal to do so. Franz I'm not sure this would count as 'disposing of it'. It's just being used as a surface to ride horses on. I don't think it's any different that putting down tarmac or concrete. As long as at the end of its life it is removed and disposed of properly then what's the problem? People use broken CDs as decorative mulch. Bob Flowerdew uses old carpets. As long as that's not it's final resting place it should be fine. -- Martin & Anna Sykes ( Remove x's when replying ) http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm |
Composting question
On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:06:59 -0000, "Bob" wrote:
I owned the house last summer so I saw the garden last year, a jungle and not what I want. It was a good example of the wrong plants being planted in the wrong place, snip What I have found is a paved area with stone build raised beds which are about 3 foot above ground level, I had no idea it was there and much is damaged by the conifers and the paving is mostly broken. The areas between were completely full of old leaves and confer droppings. From what I can tell this part of the old garden was set out with raised beds in a "s" pattern. snip Sounds fascinating. Like an archeological project. I hope you're taking pictures of 'before' and 'after' as well as progress and discoveries in between. It might also be worthwhile to see if you can find out something of the history of the house/grounds, too. This is certainly a project worthy of documentation. |
Composting question
"Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... Disposing of unrottable PVC in this way is just as irresponsible. I doubt very much if it is legal to do so. Franz I'm not sure this would count as 'disposing of it'. It's just being used as a surface to ride horses on. I don't think it's any different that putting down tarmac or concrete. As long as at the end of its life it is removed and disposed of properly then what's the problem? People use broken CDs as decorative mulch. Bob Flowerdew uses old carpets. As long as that's not it's final resting place it should be fine. -- Martin & Anna Sykes ( Remove x's when replying ) http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm |
Composting question
On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:06:59 -0000, "Bob" wrote:
I owned the house last summer so I saw the garden last year, a jungle and not what I want. It was a good example of the wrong plants being planted in the wrong place, snip What I have found is a paved area with stone build raised beds which are about 3 foot above ground level, I had no idea it was there and much is damaged by the conifers and the paving is mostly broken. The areas between were completely full of old leaves and confer droppings. From what I can tell this part of the old garden was set out with raised beds in a "s" pattern. snip Sounds fascinating. Like an archeological project. I hope you're taking pictures of 'before' and 'after' as well as progress and discoveries in between. It might also be worthwhile to see if you can find out something of the history of the house/grounds, too. This is certainly a project worthy of documentation. |
Composting question
"Bob" wrote in message ...
To try to explain why I ham clearing the area! I owned the house last summer so I saw the garden last year, a jungle and not what I want. It was a good example of the wrong plants being planted in the wrong place, it was originally planted about 25 years ago and all the Bob A fascinating read, thanks. Do you have plans for what you want to achieve with your garden? It sounds as if you will be able to create a few different distinct areas within your garden. You need to do the basics first like work out where the sun rises and sets and winds blow from. What soil type you have Acid Alkali and if is is light (sandy) or heavy(clayey). Get a feel for how good the soil structure is and look around to see what other gardeners are growing. Then work up a design for each area that you plan to develop. With all that space you can afford to keep stuff you may want later. So I would be tempted to keep the trunks of the conifers. You mau want to make some more informal types of raised beds or banking somewhere in the garden. And lastly, take photographs as you go. Nice project Phil |
Composting question
"Bob" wrote in message ...
To try to explain why I ham clearing the area! I owned the house last summer so I saw the garden last year, a jungle and not what I want. It was a good example of the wrong plants being planted in the wrong place, it was originally planted about 25 years ago and all the Bob A fascinating read, thanks. Do you have plans for what you want to achieve with your garden? It sounds as if you will be able to create a few different distinct areas within your garden. You need to do the basics first like work out where the sun rises and sets and winds blow from. What soil type you have Acid Alkali and if is is light (sandy) or heavy(clayey). Get a feel for how good the soil structure is and look around to see what other gardeners are growing. Then work up a design for each area that you plan to develop. With all that space you can afford to keep stuff you may want later. So I would be tempted to keep the trunks of the conifers. You mau want to make some more informal types of raised beds or banking somewhere in the garden. And lastly, take photographs as you go. Nice project Phil |
Composting question
Recycling of old wire - this is how it works.
In the old days they used to shove the whole lot into a fire, let it burn and when cool recover the copper, or whatever metals were left behind. This was deemed not very responsible so now wire is recycled like this. It is cut into small pieces. It is shaken, thrown around one hell of a lot and generally agitated until the metal part (copper or other) falls out. I know it seems hard to believe but apparently it does just work its way out. Then they separate the two, recycle the copper and are left with a load of plastic insulation to deal with. There is no market for recycling the insulation so what happens next seems to be known already. |
Composting question
Recycling of old wire - this is how it works.
In the old days they used to shove the whole lot into a fire, let it burn and when cool recover the copper, or whatever metals were left behind. This was deemed not very responsible so now wire is recycled like this. It is cut into small pieces. It is shaken, thrown around one hell of a lot and generally agitated until the metal part (copper or other) falls out. I know it seems hard to believe but apparently it does just work its way out. Then they separate the two, recycle the copper and are left with a load of plastic insulation to deal with. There is no market for recycling the insulation so what happens next seems to be known already. |
Composting question
Do you have plans for what you want to achieve with your garden? It sounds as if you will be able to create a few different distinct areas within your garden. I did have a plan but as I have discovered things I am modifying it. Basically the land is on a slight slope and runs exactly east - west with the bottom of the slope being in the east. My first part of the project was to build a conservatory which meant that we were left with a steep slope for the first 10 yards or so, I have now terraced this with a wide set of steps - in the centre of these is a ramp to get a wheel barrow up. I have built a wooden ram which pits into slots in the brickwork to allow other things up including a mini digger so far - this ramp is normally stored in my workshop. The beds withing the terrace are to be used for annuals as it will give a good lot of colour in the summer and they are easy to clear each year to allow me to keep the beds clean. Next will be a patio area with a 20 foot by 10 foot pond along the north side, I have excavated it (hence the digger) but it will be finished in the spring when the fibre glass will set properly, along the north side is an eight foot high wall at which ends at a small outbuilding which has the filtration equipment in it. From the front of the outbuilding across the garden I planned a frame to hold climbers and to effectively separate the 'room part of the garden from the rest. The winds are predominately west to east so breaking up the garden into rooms will soften the impact of the wind, also as the run north south they do not cread a massive shadow problem. After that my plans were a broad path winding between shrubs followed by another break this is now going to change as I will have the greenhouse on the site of the old one with a smaller area of perennials and small shrubs between the first divider and the greenhouse. Then comes the raised beds - they look like a 12 month project on their own to get right - the raised beds run north south and the greenhouse is on the same orientation. So far there will be no grass at all, the paths will be brick paving to the point of the end of the raised beds. After that I do want to have an orchard and I still want my path winding through shrubs but I will have to see what else I find. Of course I still have about 400 feet of garden to plan so any thoughts are welcome. The soil, it is pretty exhaused because of all the treens but it is good quality but faily light, I only know about some parts but when I excavated the pond the soil was a good 18 inches deep before the subsoil, I suspect it is shallower further up the slope which might explain the raised beds. On thing about the beds is that they have a pretty substansial woden frame down the centre of each one which must have supported something. I have retialed the trunks of the very large leylandii, they didn't have a single trunk and I have about 300 of these stacked in the garden - I plan to use them to create the frams form my climbers. Yes I am taking photographs and so is my wife, including the one of me trying to stop the water when I cut into the pipe, the ground is white over with frost and she finds it amusing to show everybody. Anyway it is a project that will take me a number of years and no doubt the plans will change many times as they have so far, what I have tried to do is to finish the first area before moving on but winter is the best time for jungle clearance (no leaves to get in the way). Bob |
Composting question
"Bob" wrote in
: Anyway it is a project that will take me a number of years and no doubt the plans will change many times as they have so far, what I have tried to do is to finish the first area before moving on but winter is the best time for jungle clearance (no leaves to get in the way). Well it certainly makes a really interesting read! I hope you will keep us up to date on your future discoveries and plans. Victoria -- gardening on a north-facing hill in South-East Cornwall -- |
Composting question
"Martin Sykes" wrote in message ... "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... Disposing of unrottable PVC in this way is just as irresponsible. I doubt very much if it is legal to do so. Franz I'm not sure this would count as 'disposing of it'. It's just being used as a surface to ride horses on. I don't think it's any different that putting down tarmac or concrete. As long as at the end of its life it is removed and disposed of properly then what's the problem? People use broken CDs as decorative mulch. Bob Flowerdew uses old carpets. As long as that's not it's final resting place it should be fine. Do you really think anyone is going to sort the PVC from the rottable stuff when the time comes? Franz |
Composting question
"Martin Sykes" wrote in message ... "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... Disposing of unrottable PVC in this way is just as irresponsible. I doubt very much if it is legal to do so. Franz I'm not sure this would count as 'disposing of it'. It's just being used as a surface to ride horses on. I don't think it's any different that putting down tarmac or concrete. As long as at the end of its life it is removed and disposed of properly then what's the problem? People use broken CDs as decorative mulch. Bob Flowerdew uses old carpets. As long as that's not it's final resting place it should be fine. Do you really think anyone is going to sort the PVC from the rottable stuff when the time comes? Franz |
Composting question
"Martin Sykes" wrote in message ... "Franz Heymann" wrote in message ... Disposing of unrottable PVC in this way is just as irresponsible. I doubt very much if it is legal to do so. Franz I'm not sure this would count as 'disposing of it'. It's just being used as a surface to ride horses on. I don't think it's any different that putting down tarmac or concrete. As long as at the end of its life it is removed and disposed of properly then what's the problem? People use broken CDs as decorative mulch. Bob Flowerdew uses old carpets. As long as that's not it's final resting place it should be fine. Do you really think anyone is going to sort the PVC from the rottable stuff when the time comes? Franz |
Composting question
Do you have plans for what you want to achieve with your garden? It sounds as if you will be able to create a few different distinct areas within your garden. I did have a plan but as I have discovered things I am modifying it. Basically the land is on a slight slope and runs exactly east - west with the bottom of the slope being in the east. My first part of the project was to build a conservatory which meant that we were left with a steep slope for the first 10 yards or so, I have now terraced this with a wide set of steps - in the centre of these is a ramp to get a wheel barrow up. I have built a wooden ram which pits into slots in the brickwork to allow other things up including a mini digger so far - this ramp is normally stored in my workshop. The beds withing the terrace are to be used for annuals as it will give a good lot of colour in the summer and they are easy to clear each year to allow me to keep the beds clean. Next will be a patio area with a 20 foot by 10 foot pond along the north side, I have excavated it (hence the digger) but it will be finished in the spring when the fibre glass will set properly, along the north side is an eight foot high wall at which ends at a small outbuilding which has the filtration equipment in it. From the front of the outbuilding across the garden I planned a frame to hold climbers and to effectively separate the 'room part of the garden from the rest. The winds are predominately west to east so breaking up the garden into rooms will soften the impact of the wind, also as the run north south they do not cread a massive shadow problem. After that my plans were a broad path winding between shrubs followed by another break this is now going to change as I will have the greenhouse on the site of the old one with a smaller area of perennials and small shrubs between the first divider and the greenhouse. Then comes the raised beds - they look like a 12 month project on their own to get right - the raised beds run north south and the greenhouse is on the same orientation. So far there will be no grass at all, the paths will be brick paving to the point of the end of the raised beds. After that I do want to have an orchard and I still want my path winding through shrubs but I will have to see what else I find. Of course I still have about 400 feet of garden to plan so any thoughts are welcome. The soil, it is pretty exhaused because of all the treens but it is good quality but faily light, I only know about some parts but when I excavated the pond the soil was a good 18 inches deep before the subsoil, I suspect it is shallower further up the slope which might explain the raised beds. On thing about the beds is that they have a pretty substansial woden frame down the centre of each one which must have supported something. I have retialed the trunks of the very large leylandii, they didn't have a single trunk and I have about 300 of these stacked in the garden - I plan to use them to create the frams form my climbers. Yes I am taking photographs and so is my wife, including the one of me trying to stop the water when I cut into the pipe, the ground is white over with frost and she finds it amusing to show everybody. Anyway it is a project that will take me a number of years and no doubt the plans will change many times as they have so far, what I have tried to do is to finish the first area before moving on but winter is the best time for jungle clearance (no leaves to get in the way). Bob |
Composting question
Do you have plans for what you want to achieve with your garden? It sounds as if you will be able to create a few different distinct areas within your garden. I did have a plan but as I have discovered things I am modifying it. Basically the land is on a slight slope and runs exactly east - west with the bottom of the slope being in the east. My first part of the project was to build a conservatory which meant that we were left with a steep slope for the first 10 yards or so, I have now terraced this with a wide set of steps - in the centre of these is a ramp to get a wheel barrow up. I have built a wooden ram which pits into slots in the brickwork to allow other things up including a mini digger so far - this ramp is normally stored in my workshop. The beds withing the terrace are to be used for annuals as it will give a good lot of colour in the summer and they are easy to clear each year to allow me to keep the beds clean. Next will be a patio area with a 20 foot by 10 foot pond along the north side, I have excavated it (hence the digger) but it will be finished in the spring when the fibre glass will set properly, along the north side is an eight foot high wall at which ends at a small outbuilding which has the filtration equipment in it. From the front of the outbuilding across the garden I planned a frame to hold climbers and to effectively separate the 'room part of the garden from the rest. The winds are predominately west to east so breaking up the garden into rooms will soften the impact of the wind, also as the run north south they do not cread a massive shadow problem. After that my plans were a broad path winding between shrubs followed by another break this is now going to change as I will have the greenhouse on the site of the old one with a smaller area of perennials and small shrubs between the first divider and the greenhouse. Then comes the raised beds - they look like a 12 month project on their own to get right - the raised beds run north south and the greenhouse is on the same orientation. So far there will be no grass at all, the paths will be brick paving to the point of the end of the raised beds. After that I do want to have an orchard and I still want my path winding through shrubs but I will have to see what else I find. Of course I still have about 400 feet of garden to plan so any thoughts are welcome. The soil, it is pretty exhaused because of all the treens but it is good quality but faily light, I only know about some parts but when I excavated the pond the soil was a good 18 inches deep before the subsoil, I suspect it is shallower further up the slope which might explain the raised beds. On thing about the beds is that they have a pretty substansial woden frame down the centre of each one which must have supported something. I have retialed the trunks of the very large leylandii, they didn't have a single trunk and I have about 300 of these stacked in the garden - I plan to use them to create the frams form my climbers. Yes I am taking photographs and so is my wife, including the one of me trying to stop the water when I cut into the pipe, the ground is white over with frost and she finds it amusing to show everybody. Anyway it is a project that will take me a number of years and no doubt the plans will change many times as they have so far, what I have tried to do is to finish the first area before moving on but winter is the best time for jungle clearance (no leaves to get in the way). Bob |
Composting question
Do you have plans for what you want to achieve with your garden? It sounds as if you will be able to create a few different distinct areas within your garden. I did have a plan but as I have discovered things I am modifying it. Basically the land is on a slight slope and runs exactly east - west with the bottom of the slope being in the east. My first part of the project was to build a conservatory which meant that we were left with a steep slope for the first 10 yards or so, I have now terraced this with a wide set of steps - in the centre of these is a ramp to get a wheel barrow up. I have built a wooden ram which pits into slots in the brickwork to allow other things up including a mini digger so far - this ramp is normally stored in my workshop. The beds withing the terrace are to be used for annuals as it will give a good lot of colour in the summer and they are easy to clear each year to allow me to keep the beds clean. Next will be a patio area with a 20 foot by 10 foot pond along the north side, I have excavated it (hence the digger) but it will be finished in the spring when the fibre glass will set properly, along the north side is an eight foot high wall at which ends at a small outbuilding which has the filtration equipment in it. From the front of the outbuilding across the garden I planned a frame to hold climbers and to effectively separate the 'room part of the garden from the rest. The winds are predominately west to east so breaking up the garden into rooms will soften the impact of the wind, also as the run north south they do not cread a massive shadow problem. After that my plans were a broad path winding between shrubs followed by another break this is now going to change as I will have the greenhouse on the site of the old one with a smaller area of perennials and small shrubs between the first divider and the greenhouse. Then comes the raised beds - they look like a 12 month project on their own to get right - the raised beds run north south and the greenhouse is on the same orientation. So far there will be no grass at all, the paths will be brick paving to the point of the end of the raised beds. After that I do want to have an orchard and I still want my path winding through shrubs but I will have to see what else I find. Of course I still have about 400 feet of garden to plan so any thoughts are welcome. The soil, it is pretty exhaused because of all the treens but it is good quality but faily light, I only know about some parts but when I excavated the pond the soil was a good 18 inches deep before the subsoil, I suspect it is shallower further up the slope which might explain the raised beds. On thing about the beds is that they have a pretty substansial woden frame down the centre of each one which must have supported something. I have retialed the trunks of the very large leylandii, they didn't have a single trunk and I have about 300 of these stacked in the garden - I plan to use them to create the frams form my climbers. Yes I am taking photographs and so is my wife, including the one of me trying to stop the water when I cut into the pipe, the ground is white over with frost and she finds it amusing to show everybody. Anyway it is a project that will take me a number of years and no doubt the plans will change many times as they have so far, what I have tried to do is to finish the first area before moving on but winter is the best time for jungle clearance (no leaves to get in the way). Bob |
Composting question
"Bob" wrote in
: Anyway it is a project that will take me a number of years and no doubt the plans will change many times as they have so far, what I have tried to do is to finish the first area before moving on but winter is the best time for jungle clearance (no leaves to get in the way). Well it certainly makes a really interesting read! I hope you will keep us up to date on your future discoveries and plans. Victoria -- gardening on a north-facing hill in South-East Cornwall -- |
Composting question
"Bob" wrote in
: Anyway it is a project that will take me a number of years and no doubt the plans will change many times as they have so far, what I have tried to do is to finish the first area before moving on but winter is the best time for jungle clearance (no leaves to get in the way). Well it certainly makes a really interesting read! I hope you will keep us up to date on your future discoveries and plans. Victoria -- gardening on a north-facing hill in South-East Cornwall -- |
Composting question
"Bob" wrote in
: Anyway it is a project that will take me a number of years and no doubt the plans will change many times as they have so far, what I have tried to do is to finish the first area before moving on but winter is the best time for jungle clearance (no leaves to get in the way). Well it certainly makes a really interesting read! I hope you will keep us up to date on your future discoveries and plans. Victoria -- gardening on a north-facing hill in South-East Cornwall -- |
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