The Mixed Border
I knew from the outset that I wanted a deep border that was filled with traditional cottage style plants. I love to see a rich variety of plants that mingle and support each other, although actually spacing plants so they each inhabit their own space without usurping others is surprisingly difficult and because of this, I am forever shifting plants around!
Step 1...mark out the border
I spent my first winter here trying and failing to design the garden on paper. I couldn't get anything to fit, so instead I went into the garden with a bit of rope and started laying shapes on the ground. This way I could visualise the shapes and adjust them as necessary.
Step 2...get digging
Ha! No chance. I soon discovered that taking up turf from a weedy couch grass area was just not going to happen so I borrowed a petrol rotavator, a beast of a machine. So I quite literally ripped up the grass with that and used it to dig over the ground...once I eventually got it started. So that was the first rookie error, chop up weed roots, get loads more weeds, oh well...
Once the border was marked out and the grass chopped up it was time to make a decision on the rest of the area. Just before I moved in there was a large static caravan sat mostly where the Japanese Garden is, but also quite far into what is now the Woodland.
I thought that I would get a garden from start to finish in six months. These garden make over shows do it in a day so come on, how hard could it be? Well quite hard actually as it turned out. I started with no knowledge of gardening, let alone designing one from scratch. Its not just the physical effort involved, but when you don't know your plants, how tall they will get, how long to get this tall as well as spread it means that its something of a leap of faith when you put a plant in the ground, but unlike the hard landscaping you can just dig it up and plant somewhere else.
It may seem obvious to say it, but there are also those rather uncooperative things known as seasons, especially that little bugger known as winter which stops you in your gardening tracks...to a certain degree.
Each year the border has been enlarged slightly, partly due to improving the quality of the edges and paying more attention to the shape of the paths.
The picture to the left, shows the border in 2019. The hedge behind has been allowed to gain some height due to the ferocious winds we have up here.