The long game - Page 2

Ivy has been the bane of my life. It was 18 inches thick all round the garden and took 6 trips to the tip. As the fences have been replaced the roots have been dug out. Would help if the neighbours would do the same. Taking a day off once in a while can do you good otherwise things can turn into chores. Recharge the batteries.

I am debating whether to just use an industrial strength weed killer, all I am putting down there is a patio.

I had to use weedkiller on my allotment then covered it withweed suppressing stuff. Left it alone for a while and now still got weeds but not so many. If it is only a patio you are putting down go for the weedkiller.

Used feed n weed for the first time today, trying to build up a good root system and suppress those weeds and stinging nettles. Bought a 12ltr spreader from B&Q along with Evergreen 4 in 1. After loosing some of it trying to get the right setting i just managed to cover the whole garden but the bag i has was for a 200sqm lawn but mine is fractionally bigger, more 300sqm. 

I'll reapply in 2 weeks and then i'll start looking into autumn feed.

hi Dan

Welcome to the (gardening) club.  you sound hooked - no hope for you now! - I live in Padstow (not far from you).  I have been given lots of plants by my mum and friends who live 'up country' and told that "it grows to about 2-3 foot" only to find that in Cornwall's warmer weather the plant gets to about 5 foot so be warned!

There are alot of fantastic gardens in Cornwall open under the NGS and I'd encourage you to go along to have a look at some of them, particularly the smaller, private gardens.  It will give you lots of ideas, they often sell plants you can see growing in situ and the tea and cake are always great!

Hi SFord,

I am off to Heligan on Friday so I should get a good indication on how well plants grow as it's only 3.5 miles up the road so the climate shouldn't be that different.

Dan x

I loved my visit to Heligan, went with my husband so it was a bit of a route march aroung the place as he doesnt know how to wander. How is your garden growing Dan? I have started cutting a few things back getting ready for the winter and managed to find some plants for my neighbour. We are both avid gardeners and swap any extras we get. Not sure what i would do without my garden or allotment.

Good afternoon,

It has been awhile since I updated you guys with how the garden is progressing. To tell you the truth I have been focusing all of my attention on the lawn, the weeds are dying back and the grass is greening up. I have taken the mower up a notch and have been looking into some seed to spread over to thicken it up.

During the winter months I'll manly focus on the building work that needs to be done, for example reroofing the old outside toilet turning it into a potting shed and installing raised beds for veg, oh and finally digging out and graveling over my parking spot so we can fit two cars on it.

Will try and keep you updated with pictures

Dan x

Don't envy you the cleaning you had to do!  My sister-in-law's first house used to be owned by a chain smoker, we went round with my steam wallpaper stripper to do one of the bedrooms before she moved in, and the steam loosened the nicotine from the stairwell, it was running down the walls, totally gross.

At least you've got that out of the way, and can now focus on getting on with the garden.  let me know how you do your raised beds, I'm debating whether to use old railway sleepers (expensive, but the beds would be wide enough to sit on, good as I'm disabled), old scaffolding boards, slightly cheaper but not wide enough to sit on, or bully the Husband into building me some raised beds with bricks.

You can always tell a true gardener, as they start to nibble away at the lawn to make the flower or veg beds bigger to accomodate more interesting things than grass.

I am very jealous of the size of your plot, though!

I garden a new garden on a very tight budget and have found ebay fantastic for seeds. My best purchase from my local hardware shop - a very rare shop now - is a digging hoe. It chops the ivy and roots and has been invaluable for digging up the plethora of stumps I have. The other thing I could not manage without is my solid steel pole, 6 ft long, given to me by my late father. It smashes concrete however thick, gets under stumps and levers them out or smashes up thick roots. I have no idea where he got it and have never seen another. Good luck with your garden!

Hello people, 

Spring is in the air and i have risen from my hibernation (with cronic back pain) and have restarted my epic quest to tame the garden.

I have given the grass its first cut of the season, the strange thing is it hasn't stopped growing all winter!

I have started to clear the second front half of the house ready for a herb garden

Ran out of weed prof membrane so thats on the list if things to get tomorrow along with 250kg of shingle, terracotta pots and herbs.

Stay tuned for more wonderful updates.

Dan xx 

Finished the 'bistro' area just in time for winter to return, just need to put up some herbs and some lavender and wait for the summer to hopefully return.

Very impressive. Love it.  Can't wait to see it when you have some pots planted up.  Well done.

What a productive day, one minute I was sat with a pint of tea looking at the stinging nettles starting to grow in the shabby corner of the garden, then the next I had a shovel out digging it all up to put a weed proof membrane down ready to put some decorative bark down.

.

Cornish weather is the stranges thing, absolutly hounding it down in Truro, dry as a bone in St Austell. But anyway.

Asda is the place to go at the moment for bark chippings, 3, 70L bags for £10