This is our new home, this is it, we’ve well, we moved in about a month ago now. We bought it in January, so we spent the early part of this year sourcing everything out, but it’s real, it’s done, we’re in, we’ve moved in, we’ve unpacked.
Devon’s Away and I’ve Got the Garden
And now well, Devon’s away this week, so I’ve got an opportunity to get stuck in with the one bit of the house I’m allowed, well relatively complete control of, which is the garden. So I thought to start with I’d make a cup of tea and show you the garden elements of the new house, what we’ve got to play with, the challenge I have ahead, and work out a rough plan.
From a Vineyard to a Hot Tub
Devon and I have sat down and worked out roughly what she wants in the garden, which is snorts everything from a vineyard, which I’m not quite sure was quite work up here, but maybe we’ll grow a few grapes for her and give it a go, to a hot tub, which we’re not doing, to a few other bits, but my job is to make it into the most beautiful garden for her and for us, for Ollie. So I’m going to grab some milk for this and I’ll show you around.
The Front of the House and the Red Sandstone
So this is the front of our house and it’s the most beautiful high street, it’s got this grass bank at the front of it and then we’ve got a tiny little border that fronts the house, this is very typical of the Eden Valley, this is the red sandstone that you’ll see in most cottages around here, the house is from 1846, so it’s really old, it’s grade two listed. There’s me waxing lyrical about how quiet it is and then obviously an arctic goes past.
The Roses and the Border
Anyway, this one border flanks pretty much all the houses up the road, most gardens have sort of gone for roses and ours has roses in it, you’ll see already the first thing I did when we moved in was put two of the pots from the dog garden in there, other than that I’ve not really touched this area yet. I want to, I think we’ll keep the roses, but I want to get some nice roses in there, we’ve got this climbing rose that goes over there, but that needs a lot of work, I’ve got a feeling the soil needs a lot of improvement.
Watch It and See What It Does
I don’t really want to mess around with it too much at the moment cuz it’s really hot, it’s the middle of summer, the best thing to do whenever you get a new house, a new garden is just to watch it, see what it does, see what’s working, see what’s not, see what’s working for everybody else and then I take it from there, cuz if I want to move the roses, now is really not the best time to do it.
Leave It Well Alone for Now
So I’ll weed it and I’ll tidy it and I might put a few annuals in there over the summer months just to get a bit of color, but other than that leave it well alone, but we’re sort of envisaging maybe adding some more climbers, tidying up these ones, but then also it’s quite lovely as it is, but let me show you through to the back garden, which is the big project, well come with me, come.
The Back Garden Is a Real Work in Progress
So I say we’re unpacked, everything’s a bit of a work in progress at the moment and this bit is a real work in progress. This is our back garden, it’s needs a lot of work, as laughter you can probably see, it’s deceptively bigger than it looks, when we first came in the weeds were up here and so I’ve already started clearing all that, tidying up.
The Sleepers and the Paving Have Got to Go
Oh he’s got a stick, but and I’m not one to throw shade on anybody else or what they’ve done, and the previous owners have done, but it’s not to my style or Devon’s, it’s got these big chunky horrible wooden sleepers that aren’t really doing anything, they’re not retaining anything, they’ve not been put in very well, so they can come out, this retaining wall isn’t doing anything really, the steps are horrible, the paving is, well look snorts, it’s just it’s laid on very little hardcore, so will start to fail over time very quickly.
Let the Plants Do the Talking
This pagola I really don’t like, my style of garden is all about the plants, allowing the plants to do the talking, using trees to add structure and architecture and form to hold the space, and using plants to tell the story, be it through the color or the texture. I’ve already ripped up the paving here, so I want to take this out because actually what this is doing already is hiding this, which is this big beautiful old gnarly Parathatheia, which is a Persian ironwood.
This Tree Is Something to Work With
It’s something I talk about a lot, the trunk’s lovely, it’s been really badly pruned over time, but I can rescue that, cuz inside the structure of it is just amazing, so there’s really something to work with here, and this will do the same job as the pagola is doing at the moment, so it’s going to Paras grow horizontally, so over time it’s already doing that, it’s halfway over the pagola at the moment, but this will get wider and wider and wider, and that will provide the shade and a little sanctuary nook to be able to hide under.
The Hedge Can’t Stand, So That’s Going to Come Out
There’s an Osmanthus there, and one thing I am quite excited about is this tree Py, which obviously we miss flowering this year, it’s absolutely taken over by brambles, this hedge can’t stand, so that’s going to come out. So at the moment, it’s a lot of what I need to do is just get in here and empty it out, one thing I do really love, sorry I’m going back and forth at the moment because it’s, I’ve never had my own garden, so this is this is very exciting.
The Old Castle Wall Next Door
Oh look, he left a black bin bag of rubbish. This is the old castle wall, where we live there’s a castle next door to us, so there’s this beautiful old wall and snorts, then you’ve got this beautiful Hydrangeas climbing up it, which got loads of character, there’s honeysuckles and Wisteria. Obviously this is a mess at the moment, but can be very easily sorted out, and actually again there’s a there’s a huge border here.
This Is Our Family Garden
So I need to get into that as well, and then the same on the other side of the wall, through the gate, but this is there’s a bit more garden back there, but for the immediacy, this is our this is our family garden, this is Devon and mine’s garden to be able to grow things in together. So it’s quite a project, it’s about 250 square meters in total, so it’s it’s a big size garden, lots of opportunity to play with, it’s just unearthing what’s the good bits of what’s here, and the good bits of what here are the original bits.
We’re in Cumbria and We Have the Most Beautiful Stone
Cheap nasty structures like this I can’t stand, they’ve used cheap Indian paving, which is fine, it has its place, but we’re in Cumbria and we have the most beautiful stone, be it the sandstone from Pen Roof or or granite or limestone, and actually making this feel a lot more natural. So step one, find out what’s here, take out the sleepers, I’m going to use, the other thing that I’m really keen to make sure I do is minimize completely any waste and any materials required.
Minimize the Waste and Make a Log Store
So for example all this old paving that’s been brought up and all the old hard standing, I’ll bring in a crusher and use that for the subbase for any new paving or hard standing that we need, the wooden sleepers we’re gonna make a log store out of. Never had an open fire before, so very excited about that, but need somewhere to store the logs, and it’s little things like somewhere to keep tools, so I need to work out what that is, what’s the practical area of the garden, where I can keep a wheelie bin, where I can keep the wheelbarrows.
The Only Access Is Through the House or the Gate
The only access into the garden is either through the house or through that gate there, so we’ve not got the luxury of a garage or a driveway or a shed yet, but the reality is we’ll need something like that. The key with any project like this is to not rush it, understand the space, understand what you have, celebrate what you have, work out what it is you want the garden to do, every designer will have a different way of tackling a garden space like this.
Plants and Planting, That’s All I Know
My intrinsic style is plants and planting, that’s all I know, so it’ll be maximizing planting space, what those plants are, how they’re put together, I don’t know yet, where the actual seating area is where Devon and I can enjoy time together in the garden, do we have a greenhouse, all that sort of stuff, it’s a case of making a wish list with Devon, which she’s done, and then probably stripping that back and doing it bit at a time, not making it into an overwhelming project.
Take My Time and Get It Right
We’re going to be living here for a long time, so for once I can take my time on this and get it right, and the other thing is when people have their gardens designed or a project like this, it’s obviously very sunny now, it’s lovely, we’re in summer. The reality is most people would want, possibly Devon included, to be able to use this garden this year, that just is snorts not going to happen.
Work Out What the Sun Does
The reality is you need at least a few months to see the space and to discover it and to work out what the sun does, to work out where the light is at certain points in the day, to work out where the shade is, to work out which bits stay wet, which bits get dry, to work out what plants will grow where, rather than rushing it. And then wait until the optimal time to plant, and now is not the optimal time to plant.
From Now Until September to Look at All That
We have the luxury of between now and September to look at all that, to look at the light levels, to look at the aspects, to look at the drainage, all the microclimate side of things, to look at the trees and do maybe a bit of tidying up, to get rid of all this utter tut that’s been left here and tidy it up, so that over autumn and winter and spring I can get everything planted, so that from maybe next May it feels like an established garden.
Slow Gardening Is the Best Gardening
It’s slow gardening, and that’s the best gardening, it’s about enjoying the process. So yes, I’ve also now got the demo garden at Form, so from having no gardens I’ve now got two, the demo garden at the nursery will be about experimenting and playing. This garden will be a piece of me, this will be, it’ll have to be for Devon, the best work I’ve ever done, and a beautiful garden that is everything I love personally, I’m not making this for anybody else, other than for us.
Join Me on This Journey
And I can also play, so if you could like, subscribe, comment, and follow, any ideas you might have for the space, if you’ve got any experience of growing plants in the north, I’d be desperate to hear from you, but join me on this journey, another journey on top of all the other journeys I’m on, but this is home, is it Ollie.
