The Secret's Out!

52 comments

What have I been up to – my secret project? Read on and you’ll find out!

Well before the garden open days, I’d been thinking about creating a new flower bed, but of course it had to wait as I was too busy preparing for June 4th and 11th. I had, however, talked to my husband about my thoughts and where in the garden I wanted to make the flowerbed.

We had laid out pieces of wood in the shape I wanted, and measured the area, taken photos, and decided whether an obelisk to match the one in the wide border would look OK – my husband made a wooden ‘mock-up’ to find out! I had decided on my colour scheme, and which plants I would like in the bed, so I began to make a collection whenever I came across one on my list. The plants were tucked away by the greenhouse waiting for their debut!

The week after the second open day we began work. I needed help removing the turf – now you know why I asked the question about stacking turf! Once a section had been removed, I started digging.

Of course the ground under the turf was compacted, and I found myself struggling with my fork. My husband decided that he’d loosen the ground with a pickaxe, and this made digging quite a bit easier.

As I’ve mentioned before, every time I dig in the garden I hit blocks of the blue lias stone that our house is built of – and there they were again! As well as this stone, there were lumps of brick, large stones, pieces of metal, glass, oh – all sorts of things! I think we disposed of about 9 barrow-loads of rubble in all. I didn’t find any treasure, unfortunately!

Here are some of the objects I did find…

As the bed is near the three poplar trees, we were expecting to find roots across it, and sure enough – there were small ones, and one large one which had to be dug out and then cut.

This was the biggest one.

Well the digging went on for some days, followed by a rake-over, and a second dig.

Then I filled the wheelbarrow over and over again with the contents of the compost bin, which I dug into the bed.

It was time to put the obelisk together (the real one!) and place it.
Now to plant my rose and two Clematis around it! The rose is ‘Lady Hillingdon ’ and I had chosen C. ’Guernsey Cream’ and C. viticella ‘Alba Luxurians’.

I lined all my plants up ready to place them on the flowerbed. It looked like a lot -

- until I placed them! I hadn’t got even half of the number I’d need to fill the bed!

I planted what I had – and the following day, I went shopping…great fun, of course!

I went armed with a list – and ticked off quite a lot of them!

So today has been another planting day!

The bed is not full, of course, as the plants have been spaced carefully to allow for them to spread – especially the ones I grew from seed. I’m also going to grow some plants from seed for next year.

My colour scheme? White, cream. burgundy and lime green.

The whole ‘secret project’ took 9 days – not bad going, don’t you agree?

24 Jun, 2009
26 likes

Comments

Ian_digs_v2

Wow Spritzhenry,
Thats a good job-well done, I always insist I haven't got the imagination to design things like this but I can appreciate how much thought and hard work goes into producing a piece of art like this. I can imagine it took longer than nine days to work out the design before you actually started digging.

H & K's........Ian

24 Jun, 2009

Lincslass

Gosh Spritz it looks a treat and I like the shape and your colour scheme,when they fill out it will be smashing,you will have to keep us posted with more photo,s.I know its nice to go shopping but I always have a special feeling for the plants I,ve grown and nurtured myself,by the way did you give yourself a rest at all.Lol.

24 Jun, 2009

Gilli

Wow Spritz....what a great job you've done. It looks great and will be fabulous once it matures. Well done.

25 Jun, 2009

Louise1

Brilliant.
I like the colours and the shape of the bed.

And what is that last flower ? :)

25 Jun, 2009

Nariz

Lovely! Love the colour scheme. Well done.

25 Jun, 2009

Jacque

OMG Spritz I love it :) What a Gorgeous New Flower Bed :) Id of been Bursting 2 tell GOY all about it :)

25 Jun, 2009

Irish

well done, it looks brilliant already, i can just imagine how good its going to look when they all start spreading

25 Jun, 2009

Arlene

~Looking really good now and will be spectacular by next year!

25 Jun, 2009

Lily2

Well done, it's looking fantastic already. I am full of admiration for your organisation and forethought and I can see it really pays off. I tend to get an idea and make it up as I go along. That's why your garden looks fabulous and mine just looks ordinary and why I'm always having to move plants around!

25 Jun, 2009

Spritzhenry

Thanks, all - yes, I had to have frequent 'sit-downs' on that wooden chair I brought out - and lots and lots of drinks as it was during that hot period we had.

Lincslass, I agree - there are several lttle plants in there that I've grown, and I shall be watching over them anxiously!

Louise - that's Scabiosa 'Barocca' and if you go to that Sewing Machine place, they should still have some - the BIG 'Leisure and Gardening' place just up the road from there had them at three times the price!

25 Jun, 2009

Wagger

You certainly have an artist's eye - it's looking grand now, can't wait for next year's photos.

25 Jun, 2009

Louise1

Aha !
I have it already Spritz, bought it a few months ago and am waiting for the buds to open up, they've been forming for about a week or so now.
They had them for sale at SW.
Infact, they still had some there last weekend when i went in (presumably NOT the same batch as mine a few months ago ? !!!!).

25 Jun, 2009

Hollyeves

Its looking good .........yuor garden must be Beautiful with all the things you have in it..............

25 Jun, 2009

Pondlady

really good work, it will look extra good after it fills in, would you like to help me with my garden

25 Jun, 2009

Usernut

That is superb, well done. i,m sure it will motivate a few people to try to do there own.
I,m looking at my small garden and wondering......mmmm.

25 Jun, 2009

Paulthegard..

Fantastic work and great blog. Hard work but making new borders is a great job isn't it. When I dug my front garden borders, I, like you found lots of buried(rusty) treasures but one has proved invaluable. It is a steel post(pointed at end and about one inch diameter. I use it a lot when prising oot roots for my customers. Someone told me it was actually a pin that was used when laying the footings/foundations for the houses. They evidently, hold the shuttering in place which the cement is poured into!

25 Jun, 2009

Andrewr

Good blog spritz. Like the new 'feature' - and less mowing for hubby!!

25 Jun, 2009

Bonkersbon

Your hard work really has paid off Spritz...looking really good already.All that digging reminded me of the time I dug out the pond area.Also found lots of rusty old bits and pieces,but like yourself....no treasure !

25 Jun, 2009

Clarice

Spritz it looks brill, can just imagine it in a few years time, just thinking if i did something like that it would take most if not all my garden up.

25 Jun, 2009

Balcony

Like everyone else I think your new flower bed is really great! :) I like the idea of your colour scheme - mine is just a "cottage garden" of a balcony! Some years I've planned on a colour scheme - one year it was to be mostly variegated plants, especially Geraniums - I did get in quite a few of them but ended up with many more green plants.

Talking about variegated Geraniums, the local council has gone "overboard" in planting them this year but they look so nice "en masse"!

25 Jun, 2009

Dawnsaunt

Well, what can I say, a BIG WOW. The hard work has been well worth it. So neat and tidy as if the ground has never been disturbed. Great plants too and looks established already :-)

25 Jun, 2009

Morgana

Well done a lot of hard work and will look pretty with all the colours when flourishing.

25 Jun, 2009

Catfinch

What fun that you and your husband got to do this together...that is the best part..and the garden is beautiful and will be beautiful for years to come...thanks for taking the time to share this with us...it is already lovely and will be a joy to watch come along...

26 Jun, 2009

Blodyn

I'm all for breaking up expanses of gras. It looks much better with the flower bed now, and will be fsantastic when all the plants fill out.

26 Jun, 2009

Sue_sullivan

Great blog. What a lovely shape and colour scheme.

26 Jun, 2009

Keithsmum

I enjoyed reading about your big surprise - it looks lovely and I also learned that you can put more than one plant up an obelisk! I was going to do the same again this weekend but I know better now! Thanks for sharing this with us.

26 Jun, 2009

David

What a lot of work, but the new bed looks fantastic already. I do like the sound of your new colour scheme. :-)

27 Jun, 2009

Tonyb158

Excellent work and planning, my veg garden was planned, but can't say the same for the flower garden at least not all of it, but it seems to work and well and we get quite a lot of colour, but for next year we are going to try and spread to the perrenial colour better over the year.

27 Jun, 2009

Daff

Well done, that's looks great. You've put a lot of hard work into that, but it'll be worth it. x

27 Jun, 2009

Jan65

Really enjoyed seeing this taking shape and look forward to another photo when all the plants have spread out! It'll look gorgeous! Well done on all your hard work.

27 Jun, 2009

Milky

Fantastic new border Spritz......you must have worked very hard to get it all dug and planted in 9 days......But it was worth the effort.........It looks brilliant............

27 Jun, 2009

Grindle

As everyone else, I think your new bed looks amazing Spritz, love the planting. You must have worked so hard on it

28 Jun, 2009

Maccrimmon

looks great spritz and will get even better as it fills out , a great step by step guide to show how to do it properly

28 Jun, 2009

Brinleym

Spritz that is superb, all the hard work you have put in has paid off WELL DONE.

28 Jun, 2009

Seaburngirl

fantastic design and i see a few of my favourites in there. which phygellius is it? I have spare 'candydrops cream and candydrops ivory' if you are interested.

28 Jun, 2009

Spritzhenry

Hallo everybody - I've just written a short blog on my enforced absence from GOY - and reading your lovely comments has been very enjoyable!

I am enjoying my new 'island bed' and it gives me a nice surprise whenever I walk outside! I haven't got used to it being there yet.

Sbg - that would be great if you can spare them!

The ones in the bed are called 'Candydrops peach'.

28 Jun, 2009

$fractal$

Fractal

You have worked very hard and it looks excellent. Very well done and I like your blog too.

28 Jun, 2009

Spritzhenry