Ideas for garden, starting from scratch

[Zebra]

I have a front garden which is bare earth and weeds at the moment. Previously it was piled up with earth which I had removed, and for the last five years it's all been covered in ply boards to keep the weeds down.
My plan for this year is to call in all my favours from friends whom I've done work for - one friend (a bison) to do all the hard landscaping, another friend (a gnu) to do all the planting, and another friend (an impala) to do the planning and designing.
I want a cottage look - no grass, I'd only eat it - a path through the middle for the postman, a terracotta patio one side, and a bed of bushes and shrubs the other. What sort of plants would be traditional for a 17th century house? I know nothing about plants! (South facing, very sunny).

 

[livias]

Hollyhocks! Yay great. Look stunning in summer, seed themselves around and are no hassle
But. There is always a but.
Plant or seed this year, flower next year

 

[Zebra]

[Googles Hollyhocks] Ooh, yes. Pretty.
Will post pics later today of garden as is.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Google Helen Allingham's paintings of cottages and their gardens--that might give you some ideas --

 

[JBean]

Gardens would have been working places, growing herbs and medicinal plants. The Geffrye museum in London has a nice example: http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/explore-the-geffrye/explore-gardens/17th-century-period-garden/

 

[plasticpigeon]

I've been trying to sort my garden out. It really is an art, one that I haven't mastered. However on the plus side, if you put in perennials rather than annuals, they come up year on year, and after a while they find their own space so nature does some of the arranging for you. I find that I don't have enough red in my garden. There doesn't need to be lots, but the odd splash can transform and otherwise slightly dull bed. Of the books that I have, the cottage garden book by Geoff Hamilton is nice. In that book he usually mentions when the plants were imported to the UK or if they are native so you can set some arbitrary cut off date if you like. However that would mean that you would be missing out on many great plants. According to Geoff Hamilton, most herbs came with the Romans so you're safe with herbs. I think lavender is a must, and box hedges seem popular. However I didn't head my own advice with the box as it grows slowly and is expensive to buy enough for a low hedge. It would also need constant trimming. If it is a cottage garden you are trying to create Gertrude Jekyll poularised the less formal look around the turn of the 20th century she she might be worth a look.

 

[Penners]

I'm a bit concerned that you and group of friends might end up creating a Serengeti look-alike, which is not quite Hertfordshire!

If you want a cottage garden look, then you definitely need tall-growing plants interspersed with traditional perennials. And you need to really stuff the beds with these plants, in order to reduce the need for weeding. That means that you should start by digging in loads of soil improving compost to create a really good soil structure.

Typical cottage garden plants are (as livias suggested) hollyhocks, plus lupins, delphiniums, alliums, paeonies, Shasta daisies, phlox, irises, sweet Williams, cranesbill geraniums... the list is endless. If you're having a path to the front door, it's lovely to line the path with lavender, which releases a wonderful perfume as you brush past it.

This web page might help you with design ideas:- https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/design/design-with-plants/cottage-garden-plants

Promise you'll post photos of the finished garden!

 

[tobydog]

The good thing about a cottage garden is that you can get away with most things, however, without planning and structure, it can quickly turn into a mess. Plant selection and location is critical so the impala will have its work cut out. You don't want to spend good money buying hundreds of plants, just to have them overwhelmed by a handful of thugs!

With plant selection, one of my key drivers these days is whether they are attractive to bees. This is from early spring with the bumble bees through to the autumn. High nectar / scent plants are vital in a cottage garden and, if you can get a nest or two of bees in your garden, that's great. Also, think about the hedgehogs and don't make your lower fencing too secure. Give them room to wander in and out, and a cosy stick and leaf pile in a quiet shady corner for hibernation in the winter and overly hot summer days.

Don't just think of summers plants. A cottage garden can become particularly dismal if it doesn't have year round interest. Think of structural plants and evergreens. Right at this moment our garden is awash with the scent of witch hazel. We have a third of an acre and two witch hazel trees. You can always smell them wherever you are in the garden.

Penners made a good point of getting the soil in good condition. This is particular important if you plan to use gravel or stones as a mulch because you'll never get easy access to the soil again. You will also need to consider soil compaction. If your front garden has been a building site for the past few years, there's a good chance that it's had the life squashed out of it. You may want to consider digging down a good 12" (presuming you have that much top soil) to free up the soil but only do this once you're worked out where your plants and paths are going. You don't want to de-compact ground that will later become a hard area.

The RHS is a very useful resource. I'm a member and I'm always referring to their website. You may also want to consider looking at Beth Chatto's garden. If you would like things on the low side regarding maintenance, she has a fantastic dry garden.

Sadly, if I was starting a garden from scratch now, I would probably avoid using any box hedging. We have a lovely box garden but it may be only a matter of time before it succumbs to either box blight or the dreaded box caterpillars that are making their way across the country. You may want to research some alternatives.

Finally, give some thought to an animal friendly water feature. Water brings a cottage garden alive and will attract all sorts of additional critters that you would not otherwise see.

Despite all the work done on our house, the most satisfying thing I have ever done is build on and develop our garden. I spend hours out there, sometimes just looking and listening. Enjoy the experience .

 

[Penners]

attractive to bees.

Have a look here:-

http://sundaygardener.co.uk/wildlife_friendly_plants.html

 

[livias]

Much as plants are fun and pretty, make sure that you have first finished all the hard landscaping like paths and walls and patios. They do a lot to make the garden interesting in especially in winter and you dont want to be doing building works around delicate plants, having to move them etc

Any garden looks good in summer. It is getting a garden to look good in winter that is the challenge. Structure and height and Rosemary Verey all help

 

[Zebra]

Thank you all, I shall attempt to digest all that information and discuss it with my impala friend, particularly the plant suggestions.
I've been unable to upload pictures as my hinternet is down but shall do so as soon as it is fixed.
As for hedgehog access, I'd love to do that, but the garden is entirely surrounded by brick walls except for access into the driveway from the road, so I doubt they're snuffling around much.
As for soil conditioning, you mean like horse manure? Or..... hang on..... no!

 

[Penners]

As for soil conditioning, you mean like horse manure?

I think any variety of equine manure will be good for the garden. And you may already have a source of that....

 

[Zebra]

Progress has been made. That impala is a real animal when it comes to digging. I'm exhausticated, and I didn't do half as much as her.
The raised drainhole covers have been reduced- well, one has, one to go. The ivy has been dug out, and the privet, and the soil has been moved. Can't do photos right now though, sorry, too tired to raise my hooves with the camera. Gonna go roll about in the bath.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Tht's an excellent web page Penners--its given me lots of ideas, just need an Impala now to do the digging and a Zebra to provide enrichment for the soil

 

[Zebra]

Progress so far. Paths and beds delineated.

Now I am going to use all the old bricks I have dug up in the garden to make small walls out of. In the following pictures I have laid them out to see what they look like. Clearly this is just a demonstration; mortar will be added forthwith! The lowest course you can see in these pictures will end up below ground.
I have a question. It's purely a matter of taste, but I'd like your opinions. Do you prefer with flints on top:
or without?

There is a precedent in the house for using flints in the wall. The side extension which I demolished and rebuilt had large flints in the plinth. There is a lot of it in the soil, which I have saved.
But I'm not sure whether it looks a bit naff.

 

[Penners]

mortar will be added forthwith!

Our garden has a gravel gravel path near the house that is separated from the lawn and flower beds by a low brick wall which is unmortared. It was like this when we bought the house, and we planned at some point to dismantle and rebuild it properly mortared. However, my wife has tucked small alpine and tumbling plants into the gaps between the bricks, and we now really like it the way it is. It has never given us any stability problems.



PS: Yes, I know the grass needs cutting, but it's just too bloomin' cold today!

 

[Zebra]

Interesting! And the soil doesn't all wash out through the gaps? The bricks are laid as headers though, mine wouldn't be.
That grass looks very tasty Penners, I'm on my way.
Also, is that oak you've used for those posts, or just normal building timber?

 

[Penners]

You're welcome to come and munch as much as you want, Zebra. It's new turf, so it's very lush and juicy. Just take care not to leave hoofprints, if you don't mind!

The posts are not oak, they're treated softwood which is guaranteed for 25 years! I installed them only a few weeks ago after our huge Rambling Rector roses pulled down the old framework last year. There are chains hanging from post to post for the roses to grown up and along. I had to cut them right back during the winter in order to install this new framework, but they're shooting up again by the end of the summer they'll be about 2 metres high.

 

[Zebra]

Aha. And are those postholders simply sunk into the ground or set in concrete? I want to make something similar along the front.

 

[Penners]

Aha. And are those postholders simply sunk into the ground or set in concrete?

They're simply hammered into the earth. They're 80cm long so pretty deep and stable. The vital thing is to make sure that you use a vertical spirit level assiduously between each hammer blow, to make sure that they remain absolutely vertical in both planes.

The above-ground sockets aren't very attractive, but they'll soon be hidden amongst plants.