Clay banks, Ericaceous plants

[charlie]

I think maybe you just like playing with the diggers etc?!!
Good plan to work with a hard edge though, much easier in the long run

[kGarden]

I think maybe you just like playing with the diggers etc?!!

Can't imagine what gave you that idea?


2018


2017


2017 again :D


2016


2015. And transplant some shrubs of course:



2014 No diggers involved ... but used one to turn the compost heap:



2013 Electricty and Water to greenhouse (and water all round the garden)


2012 Digging the maze


2011 Some double digging ... and a trenching machine, for a change:



2011 Pig-power instead of Horse-power for some of this year's digging ...


2010 Rip out the old tennis court ... and plant a hedge:



2009 Move a Barn. Then need some footings:



2008 Transplant a few bushes ... and remove an old hedge:



2007 Pond removal ... and used a plough for digging - instead of a digger:

I think maybe you just like playing with the diggers etc?!!

Actually ... maybe you are right :)

[kGarden]

Update ... of sorts

Last picture posted was the concrete ring-beam at beginning of October:



not a lot to report since then - it gets too muddy to do anything heavy-duty on the clay here



Dug it out again



Liner



Water

need to figure out how big a pump I need, and build a Reed bed for filtration.

[kGarden]

Time I gave an update on the Oriental Themed Stroll Garden Project

Recap:

The breaking up of the original pond left me with a pile of rubble in an out-of-the-way corner



and the building of a house extension left more rubble:



and a humongous clay soil pile (way WAY bigger than it looks in the photo)



Muck-away quote for that lot was £8-grand. So I spent the money (probably a couple of times over!) on the Oriental Themed Stroll Garden project

The Plot in 2015





Gabions to put the concrete rubble into. Nope, you can't just tip it in, the cages buckle, so its piece-by-piece-by-hand ... I didn't know that at the start ...



Start of resumption of work in 2016:



Some contouring and then topsoil added



Resumption of work in 2017:




Path creation


Dug a Pond

Resumption of work in 2018:



Filled the pond back in [Doh!] in order to be able to shutter it for a concrete ring-beam



and then dug it back out again



2019:



The (imported) Acid Soil bank (alkaline clay here)

Resumption of work in 2019 (bit of a theme going on ...)



Foreground has Rhododendrons on Inkarho rootstock which, hopefully, will tolerate my alkaline clay



Rocks delivery



Rock Bank at the far end of the pond



Done for 2019. Azalea Acid Bank smothered by Amaranthus caudatus

[charlie]

Good to see the progress, I am guessing like me you thought in your minds eye you would have it done in no time!

[kGarden]

I am guessing like me you thought in your minds eye you would have it done in no time!

Yes ... biggest problem is the eyes-bigger-than-stomach syndrome. Each "room" we have built has been more ambitious than the previous. We went to Chateau la Ballue (Brittany) in the spring and got a bit bitten by the Topiary bug.

The view from our bedroom window in the morning



and amongst an array of totally bonkers creations, such as the Temple of Diane



I fancy having a go at Venus's Door - can't be more than a handful of Thuja plicata atrovirens, surely?!



at the top end of my Hydrangea Walk



which needs a focal point feature at the end

Although Hydrangeas are proving to be a major struggle here. They hate the summer, wilt frequently, despite the fact that they have [leaky hose] irrigation. I wonder if I should go for something different. Lost rather a lot too over the years, so not as established as it should be.

kGarden Hydrangea Project