Tuesday 12 April 2011

The back garden - an oasis of calm?

Oh lordy I think these builders are really trying to drive me mad and I'll tell you a secret, it's working! I just what to go out there, turn off all their generators and if possible find their own personal volume dials and make them all QUIETEN DOWN!! Arrrghhhhhhhh.

It is a glorious day, a t-shirt day and when you get those in April in N. Ireland it is usually time for a celebration let me tell you! But no, here I am inside trying desperately to hide from the noise and the choking dust (they are doing lots of drilling today and the sky is full of cement/concrete/plaster dust) oh and all the blasted white vans - I swear I think ALL the white vans in the country have descended on to our little road, most of them triple parked outside my front door!

So enough ranting, thank you for letting me get that off my chest.

The last bed was filled with soil on Saturday and the bestest horse manure in the land. Andrew knows a lady from school/work now too, whose family owns stables not too far from here! Oh joy upon joys, we went up and they said we could take as much horse poo as we liked = happiness! (Okay I have to point out I am NOT scatological, well not anymore scatological than any other gardener, hahaha) The heap was huge, taller than me by a good margin and not only warm but positively hot and steamy (oh lord this does sound like a porn post about poo - so wrong on so many levels).

So the bed was filled with the displaced 'soil' from in and around it, poo and lots of multi-purpose compost and lots of ericaceous compost for the planting pockets. Thank goodness for big name budget supermarkets - we got all that compost for a great price ;) We have all the main plants ready to go in AND Andrew just walked in through the door with a lovely looking azalea, the last piece of the puzzle. I have asked him to draw a wee picture for you of what is going where but I have a sneaking suspicion that he might be out there planting them instead, haha.
He is!! Couldn't hold himself back and who can blame him?

So what have we got. Well, the Paper or Canoe Bark Birch 'Betula Papyrifera' went in first. It's only fair as it's been waiting there on the patio in a pot for the longest time. This is one of our favourite variety of tree the bark, for which it is known, is stunning and I look forward to the tree settling in and growing up so we can enjoy it. Maybe one day Andrew will make a canoe from it (as the Native American Indians do) and we can sale away :)

Then the gorgeous Witch Hazel 'Hamamelis × intermedia 'Diane' (red/orange flowers), a 'Blood of China' red Camelia (in bud) and lastly our newest arrival, a rosy/red Azalea 'Nico' (also in bud). I am so excited ~ this really is looking like a real garden!!
 







The Camelia was a real find, I personally really wanted one as I love the foliage, so glossy and dark throughout the seasons but everywhere we looked they were ridiculously overpriced. That is until Andrew was browsing the internet and saw that the very same big name budget supermarket had a load coming in last Thursday - well he was at the door before they opened to get the best one - hahahaha. I love him and his thrifty ways - it really pays to look around! This specimen was actually on the short list and it's bigger and stronger than any of the ones we saw in the nurseries = SCORE!


And just to finish off this post....most of the builders have all packed up and left - one generator is still going but that's ok, for now. Ahhhhhh and now it has stopped; time for a nap Maggie? I think so too...

8 comments:

  1. "poo porn" lol!

    things are looking good! regarding that second to last picture: i hadn't realized you had so much stuff surrounding your backyard! when you're down in the garden, does all the neighboring stuff just tower up or is it not that noticeable from ground level?

    i love maggie's beard! and the charm on her collar!

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  2. Carrie, is yours one of the first houses in that development? If you can endure it, they will get finished one day. And you'll have lots of lovely new neighbours ;~( ?

    Let your Andrew plant in peace, you can tell us the story with your pictures. Coming on to be a delightful little garden.

    Paperbark hmmm, we had an indigenous tree with beautiful peeling bark in the last garden. Commiphora. Grew them from seed. Must see if that would grow here?

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  3. Things are really starting to take shape now with the plants going in!

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  4. The trees will give you lots of privacy once they grow - I love trees!

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  5. Great that you found a local source of horse manure! Your beds will thank you for it. Poor Maggie, how did she cope with all those builders in her garden?

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  6. It's worrying how ecstatic one can get on finding a huge pile of steaming horse poo :)
    Everyone put nicely to bed, so that's good :)
    Mo

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  7. Just think how lovely and quiet it will be in the not too distant future! Flighty xx

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  8. I love to have heaps of compost. But lorry load of horse dung, or any dung for that matter may invite strings of complain letter from fellow neighbours here.... Good luck to you and andrew.

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