Wall finished and now planning rockery project

Now that my stone wall has been re-built I can start designing the raised bed in front of it, which is going to have a rockery in the corner to grow alpines and lime loving plants.

The rest will be gravel with plants like lavender.

The idea being that it will eventually be low maintenance if it is never dug over, and weeded by hand as soon as a weed appears.  The bed is not large enough to be as minimalist as I'd like but it won't be densely planted so any weeds will be obvious, and a few stepping stones may be needed to walk on top of the bed.  I have yet to buy the grit and gravel, but I did buy some lime today.  As my soil seems to be pH7 neutral wherever I take soil to test, then the plants should be ok until the lime makes a difference (which I read could be 2 or 3 years).  As this is the sunniest part of the garden (facing south) and the only area with no trees nearby, it is ideal for a gravel garden and rockery.

I'm pleased that I have the place to myself at the moment, with no work being carried out.  The weather stayed quite sunny and dry all week for the stone walling until Thursday, when heavy downpours were forecast.  I suggested to the stone waller that he may want to take that day off, as I also had to go shopping for my niece's birthday present which I nearly forgot about, and which had to be delivered by Saturday.  He said something about having intended doing my steps (which had not been discussed when he had estimated the cost of the wall) so I said he could do the steps another time, thinking I was being nice and not making him work in the heavy rain.  When Friday morning arrived I woke up feeling really anxious, which is unusual for me.  I couldn't shake off that feeling all day, and for some reason he seemed to be in a not so good mood on Friday compared with the previous days.

I knew that there wasn't much left to do on the wall, and so discussed the steps.

Did he have any cement with him?  No....but you can't do concreting in the rain anyway, he said.

Fair enough.  (even though it wasn't raining)

I then mentioned that if the layers of stone were concreted together it would be harder for the ivy to burst through (the ivy is coming from next doors' garden and there is no partition wall as that stone wall had fallen down before I moved here).  He didn't seem to want to use concrete, said it would look awful and suggested I keep spraying it with glyphosate and clipping it.  Forever, it would seem, as my neighbours wild patch is never cleared and would continually feed in to my steps.  He then seemed to get annoyed with me and said that if I wanted to use concrete then I can do it myself.  

Apart from being a bit taken aback by his rudeness, I didn't think the steps would be that stable or safe without some concrete holding it all together.  He finished the wall and left by about 2.00pm on Friday, saying that he would have to look in his diary at home to see when he was next free to do the steps.  I still paid for a full weeks work on the wall, and was left wondering whether I should have just let him come in on the rainy Thursday when my steps would probably have been included in that price, whether concreted in or not.  I need to buy some better treads anyway, so I think another trip to the local quarry may be necessary. 

Maybe he was pissed off with me because I'd asked him to re-do one part of the wall which had loose stone that wasn't stable (an area he was going to leave alone), but I did carry all the new stone he'd brought from the quarry up two steep flights of steps while he got on with work, saving him the time and bother of going up and down all those steps.  On his way out the door on Friday he suggested I have a bonfire for all the wood at the end of my garden, and laughed out loud in a condescending mocking tone when I said there were too many trees around, as if I was so silly to feel cautious.  He had a real 'attitude' on Friday that was so different from the friendliness of the first 3 days.  When I looked on the internet about how to have a safe bonfire, it also mentioned being careful of sparks if there are many trees around and having a bucket of water nearby in case of problems with the fire, so I guess my cautious nature wasn't totally unfounded, especially as I'd never had to do a bonfire on my own before.  

He is coming back on July 11th with another guy to fell my ash trees as previously arranged, and I've not decided yet whether to have him back to do the steps if I can't have concrete, and if his presence comes with the same kind of surly attitude.  I also wasn't that impressed with the fact he had emptied his wheelbarrow of rocks (which I had taken the trouble to find for him earlier) on to the middle of my lawn, which I had to move out of the way today.  He had plenty of time to do that one step that was broken and which he had a stone left over in which to replace the tread.  It was left in a more unstable condition after removing the ivy, and I still don't know why he rushed off around 2pm  instead of continuing until 5pm as usual. I had been so impressed with him up until that last day (was going to offer him other jobs), when he came back in a different mood entirely despite my having effectively paid him for having taken the day off.   If he really wanted to work in the pouring rain then he should have said so, rather than project all that negative energy towards me which I had been picking up since I first woke up that morning, wondering what was going on - one of the pitfalls of being an empath and sensitive to energies.

Anyway, it's good to get it all out of my system, that's the beauty of having a blog.

I noticed that he had planted some of the plants he had brought with him for going into the crevices of the wall, into the bed on top of the wall.  This area was supposed to be left alone as I already said I had plants for this area, so I moved the ajuga to a more shady area under my newly planted hawthorn hedge, which it will probably like better anyway, and applied some lime to the corner area on top of the wall for my aubretia, dianthus, lavender, and some trailing plant with little red carnation type flowers which was moved from the other bed.  

There are plenty of rocks lying scattered around the whole area, so some are being used for edging the flower bed on top of the wall, and the rest will be part of the rockery.  Still much to clear below the raised bed on the narrow terrace itself, which is my only possible area for sunbathing free from the shade of trees.  

Below, i just want to make a list of the plants I planted today in the corner of the top of the wall bed, in case the name tags get washed away.  Which is quite likely considering the kind of non-summer we have had so far, and it is raining very heavily at the moment. I read somewhere about there having been a months worth of rain in 24 hours and that there was 60 per cent less light level than we should have at this time of year, and I have to say that this summer is not 'normal', even considering our erratic weather patterns.

So in the top of the wall bed we have so far:

Saxifraga Southside Seedling

Dianthus 'Cranmere Pool'

Dianthus 'Haytor White'

Dianthus Inschriach Dazzler

Dianthus 'Pop Star'

Aubretia

Lavender Hidcote

Lavender Lullingdtone Castle

Festuca glauca

There were also already two 'Gertrude Jekyll' rose bushes there which were planted last year and are still not very tall.  I took a photo of one the other day, as they had revived a bit after encircling each bush with some Epsom Salts.

Gertrude Jekyll Rose

The only other roses that are in bloom are the 'Wild Edric' in my front garden (below)

None of my other rose bushes have bloomed so far this year.

Below is my list of plants which I want for the raised gravel bed and rockery, and to grow over any wall on the terrace (level one).

1.  Cotton lavender  (already have, awaiting planting)

2.  Cordyline australis  (ditto)

3.  Echinacea purpurea

4.  Dianthus  (various other varieties)

5.  Hebe 'Emerald Green'  (already have)

6.  Lavender 'Grappenhall'

7.  Various mossy saxifrages (I already have one growing elsewhere in my garden which I took a pic of, below)

Also groundcover plants are needed for along the side of the walls and gaps in the paving stones and to hold the bank of earth together by the steps, where the collapsed wall is reduced to an earth bank filled with rubble and held together by nothing more than the roots of the ivy.  My plan is to clear as much as possible while not making the mudslide worse, and hoping the plants (both groundcover and hedging shrubs) will somehow knit the whole thing together and make it more stable, so I can gradually remove the ivy completely.  Right now it is a complete mess, and there is much earth to shovel up from where it has fallen on to the terrace area.  If I can clear myself more floor space there may be room enough for a small table and chair, so I can have my morning coffee above the rooftops with a view of the distant green hills.

Evergreens are also needed as once the ivy has gone completely I will miss all that green when nothing else is in bloom, and the bare stone areas can look rather hard and barren.

So I want to try growing all of the following evergreens in various places:

8)  Dwarf Japanese Garden Juniper (Juniperus procumbens‘Nana’) 

An evergreen shrub with a mounding, creeping growth habit reaching 4-6 inches tall with a 3-5-foot spread. Attractive bluish-green foliage turns purplish-green in fall. Best in full sun/part shade in average, well-drained soil.

One of the finest groundcover junipers. A dwarf, wide-spreading, evergreen variety with beautiful, needle-like, silvery blue-green foliage and stiff, ascending branches. The foliage has a coarse texture with bluish undersides and develops a lovely purplish cast over the winter. It will lay flat if given enough space to spread, or attractively mound up on top of itself if the surroundings are crowded. Adaptable to most situations and tolerant of hot, dry conditions, it is perfect for groundcover, rock gardens, mass plantings or cascading over retaining walls.

9)  White Creeping Phlox

White Creeping Phlox Phlox subulata is ideal for rock gardens, topping retaining walls, edging pathways, banks, and slopes - a spectacular evergreen ground cover. Great for high traffic areas and stepping stones. A favorite flowering ground cover.

This phlox blooms in mid spring and is available in several vibrant shades including white, pink, purple, blue and rose.

Foliage: The foliage of the moss phlox is fine cut, needlelike foliage on wiry stems that hug the ground.

Growth Habit: The plants tend to grow in a dense mat that looks great as a natural edging around beds and borders.

and

9b) Candy Stripe Creeping Phlox (or other colours)

- grows vigorously forming dense spreading, evergreen mounds covered in beautiful white flowers with a pink mid stripe. Masses of two toned pink and white flowers cover the top of this mat forming creeping phlox for a long period. Phlox is 4 to 6" high, 12 to 18" wide. Plant phlox in full sun, blooms in Spring.

10) 'Stachys byzantina ‘Silver Carpet'

Growth: 30cm High x 45cm Spread

Non-flowering form, 'Silver Carpet' is a vigorous evergreen carpeting perennial.

Rosettes of silver, greyish white leaves provide an attractive, weed suppressing carpet for much of the year. This variety of 'Lamb's Ears' rarely flowers and is an excellent, drought-tolerant groundcover or edging plant for a well-drained site in full sun. The foliage is a more intense shade of silver than flowering varieties of the plant.


11)  Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) - A low-growing, dense, upright perennial with a height of 12 inches and spread of 3-4 feet. Shiny dark green leaves accent the white flower clusters in early spring.

A useful plant for rock gardens and well-drained borders, forming dense evergreen mats which make a good background for the round heads of white candytuft flowers in late spring and early summer. When not in flower, the mats make a good background for other flowers that enjoy similar growing conditions, especially rock plants like thrift, alpine pinks and early dwarf spring bulbs. They also provide structure to a rock garden in winter when there is little else to see. Plant strategically along paths or to outline steps etc to make the most of this valuable feature. 

Perennial evergreen candytuft is considered one of the best plants for beginners. Candytuft prefers full sun for best flowering but tolerates partial shade. It endures a wide range of soils provided the site is well drained.

Ideally, candytuft prefers a pH range from 6.6-7.8 so acidic soils will need a dose of lime.

Spring flowering companions include bulbs, creeping phlox, alyssum, alpine wallflower.

Stone walls

Red Valerian

Having planted my few hawthorn plants the other day to start a country hedge on a section of the boundary where the short dry stone wall has collapsed, I've since had a dry stone waller come over to give me an estimate for rebuilding the tall retaining stone wall that is holding up much soil on level two in my terraced garden. 

He is due to start working on it in a few days, which is good because once they 
start collapsing they deteriorate very fast.  He is only taking down about the top third or two as the base of the wall is fine, and he will be able to remove the roots of the brambles and ivy when it is dismantled.  As this was the part of the garden that was bothering me a lot, I'm feeling pleased that this work will start very soon.

I want to have some idea also of what plants to grow between the cracks, as this helps to knit the whole thing together and prevent other plants from colonizing the spaces between the stone.  Since I removed a lot of the ivy from another much taller mortared wall outside my back door, the red valerian has colonized it and now that is growing everywhere, as it does in many of the stone walls in the local area.  I laugh when I recall that red valerian was the first plant I bought at the very first plant fair I attended when I moved to this area - I needn't have bothered because they grow like weeds everywhere.  As do the forget-me-nots, a plant I love but still have to dispose of some as it spreads everywhere.

So I'm going to compile a list of possible plants, especially local ones but also alpines, at the bottom of this post sometime, adding to it when I think of another one i could try.  Stone walls are wonderful as they are constantly changing throughout the year, those that have plants growing in them that is, so it is good to have something in flower each season.  The waller guy suggested primula, campion and allysum for starters.  

I have various photos of stone walls in this local area, both with and without plants.  I thought I'd dig some of them out to post here.  I'd previously considered taking a course myself in stone walling as I'd like to see this tradition preserved, but my own retaining wall is a bit beyond my skills as it means going around corners and it is holding up a huge volume of earth.  I laughed when I looked on a website which described stone walling as a bit like doing a 3 dimensional jigsaw without the picture.  I did manage to rebuild the top part of a raised bed which was a mess and it still looks good a year later, except that the very end/corner wasn't really sound enough.  

This a favourite stone wall which I often walk past, on a main road on the way to the supermarket. Next 3 pics are same wall.

The following is a stone wall with primula in the local park.

And one topped with heather (I think) in someones garden







And here is a dry stone structure along a bicycle route, and I have no idea what its purpose is for.

The following are not dry stone but mortared stone walls, showing what can be done with shrubs.  I'm going to plant shrubs at the top of mine if I can find somewhere sunny enough to move the roses to once they are dormant.

And this wall I liked for the wall alone, while out walking.

And finally, this one gave me an idea as to what I can do with the concrete pillar by my front gate.  Decorate it with stones.

PLANT IDEAS FOR GROWING IN CRACKS IN DRY STONE WALLS


1.  Allysum  - white.  Likes lime
2.  Arabis caucasica /Rock Cress (perennial) - white flowers in April  
2.  Aubretia (evergreen trailing perennial)  - mauve
3.  Campanula carpatica (perennial)  - mauve, blue or white
4.  Irish Moss

And from the bbc website:

Planting such walls is great fun but there are some conditions. The selected plants should be small, non-vigorous specimens that won’t cover the wall spoiling the natural look of the stones. They need to be tolerant of drought conditions and a restricted rooting area.

Trailing plants work well but need to be well spaced otherwise they smother the lower plants. Avoid ivy varieties that will become invasive.

Small alpines are ideal and some such as Lewesia cotyledon with rosettes of leaves are best planted on their side as this prevents rain lying on and rotting the foliage.

Snails may be a serious pest as they love to hide in such walls and constant attention and baiting will be needed to deter them.

If the wall is being built then that is the time to insert the small plants along with as much soil as the crack or gap will hold. If the stone above the plant is sloped backwards then rain will trickle down to the roots of the plant.

For existing walls it is essential that the plants are simply rooted cuttings or seedlings that will establish and grow to fill the root zone available. Larger plants will sulk and probably die.

Don’t be tempted to use any of the multi-purpose composts. They will be prone to drying out without much chance of a good soaking. Use a sterilized soil without any fertilizer.

----------------------------------------------

While your wall plants are getting established, they will need regular watering using a fairly fine mist. Heavy sprays of water may dislodge the plants or even wash away the soil completely. Have some extra sheet sphagnum moss handy to stuff cracks if you notice the soil is washing out. After planting, a wall may need to be misted about three times a week for a month or so – less often if you get regular rain, more often during the heat of summer. Watch for signs of wilting plants and let that be your guide.

Back To Eden film

I'd been doing a bit of armchair gardening today as it has been too rainy over the past few days to continue where I left off.  Tomorrow I'll have to go out there come rain or shine as I've left my poor hawthorn whips in a bucket of water in the summerhouse.  Meanwhile my utility room has been filling up with plants I've bought which really need to be planted out asap.

Still, it has not been time wasted as I came across a video that really inspired me today.  You wouldn't think that a film about wood chip mulch would be particularly inspiring, but I am now researching online for the ideal wood chipper/shredder and am looking for someone locally who can supply me with enough wood chip that has rotted a bit already so I have something to use before my own is ready.  With a few trees to fell soon and plenty of branches and twigs in the log pile that were here when I moved in, I can be self-sufficent as far as mulch is concerned - forever - with a small investment in a shredding machine.  I'm always picking up fallen branches in my garden, and if I ever should run out then I can pick up fallen branches along the canal walk.

This is the link to the film "Back To Eden", where the full version can be watched online.

You can also buy a copy of your own on DVD.

Don't be put off by all the Biblical references if you are not a Christian, as it is still worth watching.  I understand what he is getting at though as I have often tuned in to 'Mother Nature' (aka Gaia), and so have experienced a consciousness and telepathic type of communication with a 'force' (for want of a better word) that in my case was perceived as feminine rather than a male god.  Basically it is about working in co-operation with Nature, rather than struggling to control it, and as he said in the film, if it is hard work then you are not doing it right.  

This film is about the use of wood chippings rather than bark chippings or sawdust.

It also needs to be of different sizes rather than all one size, and not dug in at all but left as a covering.  It is better if it has been left to rot a bit first rather than applied fresh, but you can still use it fresh if you use an organic nitrogen fertilizer as otherwise the wood chips would rob the soil of nitrogen in the process of rotting down.

When I get my shredder I'll be using a compost bin to store the wood mulch and use it to store only wood chips and mown grass (the latter to provide some nitrogen with the mulch).

One would think that this would all make the soil very acidic over time, but his soil testing turned out ok even when he wasn't bothered about pH readings.  It is always good to get a soil test done in a lab, and even though I know I have a ph7 neutral reading from various parts of the garden, I want to test the soil properly for any mineral deficiencies or the presence of any metals in the soil.

Living in an area that used to be mined in the 19th century for copper, tin, silver, lead and arsenic, I really should know what is in my soil.  I stumbled upon a blog today written by someone who lives only a few street away from me, who discovered a high amount of arsenic in her soil when she received the lab results back.  Which means growing vegetables in containers only.  I'd like to start growing my own food once the holly tree has been felled to let in more light, so I'm going to find out about soil testing labs.  There is even a bricked up archway in my garden, a huge stone wall that reaches above the rooftops and has been filled in with bricks in one section, which a couple of people have commented on it, wondering what is on the other side of it.   I'm hoping it isn't a mine (unless it is a silver mine of course!) and as the mines were of the shallow horizontal variety in this area, it is not such a far fetched idea.  One of these days I'll be curious enough to remove a couple of the bricks to take a look.  I have enough concern though about the radon gas, which is above the recommended "safe" levels in my house.  It is a natural type of radiation from the geology of the area, granite, but I still don't want to be breathing in any radioactive gases.  Parts of Wales and the Cotswolds also have it, and I'd never heard of it before I moved to this area.  The mining must have brought much of it to the surface, but then again my house is also made of local stone which is probably granite.  Even granite kitchen counters give off small amounts of radon gas.  Today I put my mind at ease after researching the average mortality age by county, and there was no suggestion in the statistics that people were dying off any faster in west Devon.  Which is just as well because I moved here from the city for a healthier lifestyle with better access to the countryside.

This weekends local Plant Fair

The twice yearly local plant fair is always worth going to, as I choose a few new plants I may not have considered growing in my garden.  Our local garden centre closed down some time ago, although they mainly stocked the usual limited range of plants found at most garden centres.  Most of my plant purchases are made over the internet when I have something particular in mind, but I much prefer looking around and seeing what catches my eye.  A lot of the sellers at the Fair are small or specialist local nurseries, and the quality is usually very good for the price.  The plants are also likely to be those that grow well in this part of the country, unlike some of those sold by big name garden centre chains.  I'm aways surprised when I hear someone say that if it is sold in a garden centre that means it will grow well in the gardens here.  I don't believe that to be the case at all, but that topic is for another blog post.

KING FERN 

I always love the first stall I encounter from the front entrance that is full of ferns and shade loving plants, especially as much of my garden is in partial or light shade a lot of the time.  I came away with two huge ferns, one was a King Fern (Dryopteris affinis 'Cristata'), which is semi-evergreen and doesn't mind dry shade.  The other fern was a Polystichum setiferum, which seemed more graceful so I put that one in a large container on the deck under the semi shade of the tree canopy.

POLYSTYCHUM SETIFERUM

I'll take my own photos of them once they have settled down a bit in their new home, and they look really good planted with Orchid Flower Primrose (Primula vialii) which I hope will grow well in soil that is not really moist enough.  I have to hand water everything too at the moment, as no hose can easily reach from my kitchen (no outside tap) and over a really high wall and up a hillside to that part of the garden.  My next job therefore will be fixing guttering on the small summerhouse so I can have a water butt there to collect rain water, and that's after I have replaced the roofing felt which blew away in strong winds. 

Another plant I bought was Saxifraga fortunei ‘Crystal Pink’ as I love saxifrages and their delicate looking flowers.  This one has interesting foliage, a mix of green, cream and pink. It flowers late from September to October with dense clusters of white flowers, held on short stems above the foliage.  Another shade loving plant, a native of Japan, and one that I will have to make sure doesn't dry out either.  I may move it to my 'winter interest' container in the front garden and swap it with the mossy saxifrages which are not doing very well there.

I noticed when I was planting out the ferns today that a similar type of saxifrage (whose name I forget) that I planted last year is now in flower.  So I will take a photo of that one for the next 'what's in bloom in my garden now' blog post.

The other plant I bought at the Plant Fair was a Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’

Flowers May to Sept.  Prefers full sun to partial shade in free draining soil or compost.

Plant can withstand temperatures down to -5°C (23°F), but need to be brought inside for the winter.

Heat and drought-tolerant plants; clouds of airy white flowers all season; low maintenance.

Prefers full sun (at least 6 hours of sun a day), but will perform admirably in part shade and shade conditions also.  Height:  12-18 inches.

I love researching info about any plant I've bought once I've got my plant home, and I was surprised that this delicate looking plant is supposed to be quite tough in terms of where it will grow, despite needing winter protection.  It can continue blooming as a house plant indoors in the winter, and has a very long flowering season, needing no maintenance once established.  It has also won various awards.  I wish I'd bought more of them now, and the only reason I buy so few of anything initially is because I'm never sure whether anything new I buy will survive in my garden or not.  Once I know what succeeds and what just keels over never to revive, I can always buy more of the same later as I prefer planting in bigger clumps or drifts.  

There is another Plant Fair here in the autumn, so hopefully that will give me enough time to know whether it is worth buying more of anything I bought today.