Six on Saturday - 30 November 2019

The propagator who planted the seed of this weekly gathering of plant lovers has thankfully a brief post, unlike mine.  This week I have a resume of the development of the back garden with particular reference to the gravel garden over three years....

"Your use of gravel makes everything stand out. Is it hard to work with on that scale?"  Since Lorna asked this question last week, I could use pointers as part of my SOS this week.  

One -Layout end of November 2019

Yes everything seems to stand out well.  With the backdrop of the evergreen oak, we chose pale coloured local  stone to help with light conditions in the garden, and form a contrast to plants.  It also helps with access and drainage.  The rotary washing line fits in a pipe buried under the circular slate stone in the area closer to the house.  

The area 15cm beyond this grey stone is my true gravel garden area where I am planting bulbs and other low growing plants that will thrive in these conditions without watering etc.  Apart from the veggie area which is bordered by chives along one edge of the gravel garden, I aim not to do any watering except for newly planted items  or plants in pots anywhere in the garden.  

All the cardboard has been absorbed, as I found out when I started to plant into the gravel garden this summer.  When planting small plants or bulbs the gravel is moved well aside from the planting hole,  a hole just large enough to accommodate the bulb or plant is made and a little bone-meal in scattered at the bottom and a little soil tumbled in before planting. The soil is leveled and the plant watered in, then the grit is swept back round the plant.   Seeds such as the Eryngium Silver Ghost were just scattered on the surface of the gravel early this year, worked their own way down through the gravel and seedlings emerged within a few weeks.

On a very modest scale as can be seen here, we did it slowly the easy way all by hand and we did it all ourselves.  If you let your mouse hover over the pictures you will get an idea of dates,

Two - There was lawn

This is what the garden looked like in June 2017 when the builders had just finished the conservatory and the grass just starting to recover.  We moved the position of furniture several times, sat in different areas etc. We knew that we didn't wanted any grass/lawn in either front or back gardens.  

Hot Summer 2017 - Conservatory completed

Three - The waiting game as plans are hatched

For the  winter of 2017/2018 having bought the seating area stones, the outer slabs of the seating circle acted as stepping stones through the grass.  The circle was temporarily sited, but eventually moved in the final plan onto a properly prepared level area.   I just had to get some of my plants into the ground, which had been been in the main untouched since the house was built.  More compost than I can imagine went to topdress the soil, and much cardboard was used underneath to smother the weeds.

Four  To dig or not to dig - conserving and moving soil

No soil from digging out the gravel area between the conservatory and from under the new shed left the garden, as it was used to adjust levels towards Gooseberry Corner.  The land sloped down towards the right quite steeply and moving barrowloads left a more gentle slope.

In this picture Mr S is fixing the edges on top of the turf.  I had also been reading up about the no dig gardening system.  Under the paths with the stepping stones we used a plastic weed controlling membrane.  In hindsight I wished we had not used this, cardboard from packing cases would have been quite sufficient.  Of course, being able to call out instructions from an upstairs window is a great advantage.  We often had days without going further, and looking at the layout and adjusting curves and the width of the path and position of the stepping stones.

Five  Gravel Garden Area 

For a person who loves plants the aim is to have as much growing space as possible.  However we thought a gravel area would give that flat area across which to enjoy views of the Acer bed were needed, and be reasonably free of plants to walk across to get to the 'Potager'.  We always have a smile when I say this out loud...it is a tiny patch for growing a few things for the kitchen, but since it is in full view from the conservatory like to keep it looking nice.

We had gravel areas and no lawn in our previous garden but not a specific planned gravel garden for planting into.

For the gravel area which I wanted to plant into, the grass which had been burnt dry, and the ground fried up hard as terre battue, was covered with a good double layer of cardboard.  All of this was saved from  our delivery of  bathroom fittings, kitchen cupboards etc..It was held down with stones waiting for the delivery of finer grade of stone than the one used on the paths.  CRS our local buidlers' merchants sent a lorry with a long arm and the large cubic metre bags were lifted over the back fence...and we moved barrow loads using an already battered wheelbarrow kindly lent to us by neighbours.  The difference in gravel size does add some interest and a good foil for some of my geology specimens.

At least a seating area for us to sit and chat during my sister's visit

Planting areas without gravel were topped with compost, and I started to pray for rain.

Six - Planting in the gravel garden 

2019 has been the year of planting into the gravel garden.  2020 will see a variety of bulbs emerging.

In conclusion this was a very effective way of preparing the garden.  When planting I can see that the ground in the beds and under the gravel is in excellent condition.  We have an army of worms, beetles and other creatures who have taken down the compost, we have had no compaction issues, and the drainage even with the heavy rain has worked well.  As I am the gardener the digging in the conventional way would have meant delay and frustration as on this clay soil it is often too wet or too hard and dry to be able work it.