Green shoots
Here we go then, the first post in the new blog. I've been getting so into the whole gardening thing of late that I felt it prudent to begin another blog, outside of Openzedoor, dedicated solely to pursuits around the flora and fauna in my garden.
My outside space has become a source of great pride, having developed over the years. Ever since I bought my first property with a garden my fascination with plants has grown. It was the year 2000 and I decided, mainly due to the fact I now owned, rather than rented, a two-bed flat, that the garden wouldn't simply become another toilet for the dog.
If my memory serves me correctly, I started with a baby chusan palm comprising two fronds, a couple of ferns and a sappling eucalyptus. Shortly afterwards I added a Japanese acer and a cabbage palm.
I knew I wasn't going to be in the flat forever, so the plants lived in pots for the first five years or so of their lives, serving as a mobile garden. Gradually the flower bed got planted with some bamboo, another cabbage palm and some echium pininana, but in hindsight, the whole affair was rather an amateur attempt at gardening, not helped by the dog peeing lovely dead patches on the lawn.
When we moved in 2006 it took two trips with a transit van to collect all the pots, and I divided and transported much of the flower bed too. I remember returning to the flat a month or so later to pick up some mail to find the garden totally overgrown and the plants I had left behind either dead or dying, the new occupants, barbarians that they were, evidently didn't give a toss about the garden. I then wished I'd dug up the lot.
Back to the present day, three years after moving to our little cottage and those chusan palms are now huge, I recently had to top out the eucalyptus (still potted) because it blew over, and now it is finally in the ground, the acer is making up for all those years confined to its pot and spreading its branches like it's on steroids.
Much of what started in pots is now flourishing in the ground, including bamboo, bananas (Musa Basjoo) and even a gunnera, while new arrivals are occupying the clay containers.
The lawn part of the garden is taking on the jungle clearing look I had always wished for, and on the patio there's a hint of the med. We've even got herbs and fruit growing by the back door.
For a small garden we've got a lot of greenery. The purpose of this blog is to record developments from now on and relay information and history about the plants I already have. It will help me to learn and will hopefully provide a valuable insight into what can be grown in our little corner of south Essex.
I would welcome any suggestions or comments.
Enjoy!
My outside space has become a source of great pride, having developed over the years. Ever since I bought my first property with a garden my fascination with plants has grown. It was the year 2000 and I decided, mainly due to the fact I now owned, rather than rented, a two-bed flat, that the garden wouldn't simply become another toilet for the dog.
If my memory serves me correctly, I started with a baby chusan palm comprising two fronds, a couple of ferns and a sappling eucalyptus. Shortly afterwards I added a Japanese acer and a cabbage palm.
I knew I wasn't going to be in the flat forever, so the plants lived in pots for the first five years or so of their lives, serving as a mobile garden. Gradually the flower bed got planted with some bamboo, another cabbage palm and some echium pininana, but in hindsight, the whole affair was rather an amateur attempt at gardening, not helped by the dog peeing lovely dead patches on the lawn.
When we moved in 2006 it took two trips with a transit van to collect all the pots, and I divided and transported much of the flower bed too. I remember returning to the flat a month or so later to pick up some mail to find the garden totally overgrown and the plants I had left behind either dead or dying, the new occupants, barbarians that they were, evidently didn't give a toss about the garden. I then wished I'd dug up the lot.
Back to the present day, three years after moving to our little cottage and those chusan palms are now huge, I recently had to top out the eucalyptus (still potted) because it blew over, and now it is finally in the ground, the acer is making up for all those years confined to its pot and spreading its branches like it's on steroids.
Much of what started in pots is now flourishing in the ground, including bamboo, bananas (Musa Basjoo) and even a gunnera, while new arrivals are occupying the clay containers.
The lawn part of the garden is taking on the jungle clearing look I had always wished for, and on the patio there's a hint of the med. We've even got herbs and fruit growing by the back door.
For a small garden we've got a lot of greenery. The purpose of this blog is to record developments from now on and relay information and history about the plants I already have. It will help me to learn and will hopefully provide a valuable insight into what can be grown in our little corner of south Essex.
I would welcome any suggestions or comments.
Enjoy!
Comments
Post a Comment