Category: garden buildings

Three Welsh Gardens – Part One -Tan y Llyn – a little nursery in a woodland garden.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 4, 2014
3 Comments on Three Welsh Gardens – Part One -Tan y Llyn – a little nursery in a woodland garden.

We ventured along narrow winding lanes into the countryside of Powys our neighbouring county across the border into Wales. We were not the only ones out travelling these lanes on a mission on this sunny afternoon. Several members of the Shrewsbury Mini-Group, part of the Shropshire Group of the Hardy Plant Society, were meeting up at a woodland garden and nursery called Tan y Llyn.

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The weather was bright. There is no better day to visit a woodland garden than a sunny one as it enhances the contrast between shade and light so well. Even the most ordinary plants such as this Cotoneaster and Yew look so good.

Any flowers in a woodland garden shine out from the shadows.

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Dotted around Tan y Llyn are interesting objects and well-composed cameos.

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Callum Johnston the garden owner also ran a little nursery specialising in alpines and herbs and he featured many of the plants for sale within a garden around his front door where plants were grown in a selection of pots and containers. They invited close inspection as did the sales benches close by in the shade of deciduous trees.

We were particularly drawn to this dry river bed of pebbles winding through the gravel of the driveway near the cottage’s front door. We immediately began to plan where we could try something similar out at home.

Callum admitted to an obsession – training, twisting and pruning willow into interesting structures. He also obviously loved hedge trimming where on occasion he lets his imagination run riot.

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Callum had even trained willows to become bird feeding stations. The birds certainly liked them as did our Hardy Plant friends. Callum and his partner Brenda served us up with cream teas under the shade of trees alongside these feeders so as we reveled in our luxury teas we were entertained by the birds enjoying theirs.

Nearby herbs grew in a terraced border and added their scent and spice to the conducive atmosphere. As with many garden owners who like to share their garden, Callum and Brenda knew how to make us feel comfortable and relaxed.

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A classic colour combination of yellow and blue attracted us. Closer to we realised that the yellow was provided by this stunning Lily.

One effective design trick used here was the use of enticing paths and it was very well used.

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A final wander around these paths beneath and between the trees was called for after our tea and before we reluctantly left this special place in a wooded Welsh valley.

Callum accompanied us down the drive as he thanked us for visiting and for buying lots of plants. They were very good hosts. At the bottom of the drive we made one final discovery, another surprise conjured up by this truly unique garden. Another of Callum’s tricks with his pruners.

Tags nurseries, Powis, Powys, Welsh gardens, woodland garden

fruit and veg garden buildings garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials kitchen gardens light light quality meadows ornamental trees and shrubs trees walled gardens walled kitchen gardens woodland

A Wonderful Walled Garden – Cerney House

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 1, 2014
4 Comments on A Wonderful Walled Garden – Cerney House

Both Jude and I love walled gardens whether they keep up the tradition of providing the ideal environment for fruit and veg growing or if they house decorative planting within their walls. On an uncharacteristically hot day in May we spent the afternoon in the walled garden at Cerney House on the edge of the Cotswolds between Cheltenham and Cirencester.

The place for parking the cars was on a freshly mown patch of grass within a huge uncut flowery meadow. This meadow provided a wonderful foreground to the mature trees. We were amused to see these two cars which had obviously been parked up for a few days as the grass had been cut around them. Long grass and flowers lapped at their tyres.

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The garden here is on a gentle slope which must have created near perfect conditions for the gardeners to produce fruit and veg. The little gateway into the garden gave a glimpse of what we could look forward to and there were little gems to increase our anticipation.

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Now long mixed decorative borders run along the slope and in the top corner soon after entering through the gateway we discovered a tea shop in the old gardeners’ bothy. A great place to start our exploration and refresh ourselves before setting off.

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There were some lovely old gnarled fruit trees remaining from the old productive garden days, and a lovely old Viburnum still flowering strongly.

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We took a diversion into the edge of the Woodland Garden where the air was scented with Wild Garlic and the ground beneath the trees clothed in a huge variety of Comfreys and Geraniums. The walls here were clothed in Clematis happily rambling along.

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The gardens within the walls were a lovely combination of formal and informal, short smartly cut hedges enclosing frothy perennials.

In the centre of a group of four formal beds we enjoyed looking at four old Quinces in flower.

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The last view of the garden from the car park as we arrived back after our walk was of groups of mature trees, many of which were Horse Chestnut. I was doubly glad to see them. Firstly because they are my favourite late spring tree with their huge spires of white or pink flowers and secondly because I had just started a post about them.

I shall finish with this Aquilegia leaf shadow sharply painted by the sun onto a boulder.

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Tags clematis, foliage, foliage plants, fruit and vegetable growing, garden photography, gardening, ornamental trees, trees, walled garden, walled gardens

community gardening garden buildings garden design garden ponds garden pools garden seating garden wildlife gardening gardens gardens open to the public Land Art log piles logs National Trust nature reserves outdoor sculpture The National Trust trees water in the garden wildlife woodland

An Interest Trail for Children – Dunham Massey

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 25, 2014
2 Comments on An Interest Trail for Children – Dunham Massey

We have created an “Interest Trail” around our allotment community garden, and we see it performing two roles, firstly it guides all our visitors around the site taking in as big a variety of features as possible and secondly it performs as an activity trail for children. It has proved very popular. Whenever we come across a similar trail in large gardens or parks we always have a look to see how the idea has been executed. We visited the National Trust garden, Dunham Abbey, primarily to enjoy the Winter Garden but we discovered that since our last visit a few years ago a couple of the gardeners have created a children’s trail so we could not resist trying it out.

It was wonderful! Come with us and enjoy! We found the sign and below it one of the decorated bikes and then enjoyed a woodland wander before discovering the first of many fun and educational features designed for children.

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Any child who is brought here is very lucky indeed! At our allotment we also have features and arrange activities for the children and grandchildren of our members and their friends so we left with many new ideas.

Tags Cambridge, children and gardens, gardening for children, log piles, nature trails, woodland

colours flowering bulbs fruit and veg garden buildings garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardening gardens grow your own irises light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire shrubs succulents water garden water in the garden

Aiming for a year round garden – early summer.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 4, 2014
4 Comments on Aiming for a year round garden – early summer.

Number four in this series of posts concerning our aim at ensuring that our garden all year round sees me and my trusty Nikon wandering the paths of our garden in the last week of May. so come with me and see what you think. Are we still on track?

As usual we shall begin our wanderings in the front where right by the front door we find our personalised trug and our climbers growing in the old galvanised container. Opposite the front door the Freda Border is looking full of interest.

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Round the front of the house the Chatto Garden seems full of chartreuse highlighted with brightly coloured Irises.

Our mixed borders are full of many different textures, shapes and colours provided by the herbaceous plants and the shrubs.

As we move into the back we find our lush colourful planting in the Secret Garden and the Chicken Bed. On a sunny day you need sunglasses to appreciate these areas.

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Down by the pool the Japanese Garden is dominated by the Acers but in the Bog Garden the big leaves of the Rheum and Hostas pick up any shaft of sunlight.

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How about this for a self-seeder, an Anthirinum in the deepest pink possible with tiny splashes of yellow and orange growing alongside a red leaved Acer.

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Looking from the Summerhouse the garden looks full of, so is now a lovely place to sit with a coffee and enjoy our hard work.

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Moving back towards the greenhouse we can take a look at the Crescent Bed and around the Rill Garden. Just look at this little flower hovering above the leaves of the Aeonium.

From the Rill Garden we can see the Seaside Garden which we recently revamped.

We often miss out the mini-gardens on our wandering blog posts so we shall have a look now at the Fern Border, Shed Slate Garden, the Salad Beds and the Slate Scree Garden.

So there we have it, our garden in early Summer. We hope it is still looking good. The next post in this series will be in mid-Summer when we shall be fast approaching our first ever opening under the National Garden Scheme. Seeing our own garden in the famous Yellow Book certainly makes you look closely at our garden.

Tags foliage, fruit and vegetable growing, garden photography, gardening, grasses, grown your own, National Garden Scheme, NGS, ornamental trees, Shropshire, shrubs, Yellow Book

colours flowering bulbs garden buildings garden design garden photography garden seating gardening hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture recycling sculpture spring bulbs spring gardening town gardens trees water in the garden

An Artist’s Back Garden

I often write and share my photos of gardens open to the public, often large and under the auspices of the National Trust or affiliated to the Royal Horticultural Society or smaller and open under the Yellow Book (NGS) scheme. Recently I wrote about a small garden owned by our friend and fellow Hardy Plant Society member Anne, in a post simply called “Anne’s Garden”. I shall be writing more about such gardens in this occasional series of posts of which this is the second.

We spent a few days down in Surrey in April staying in the lovely town of Farnham where my brother, Graham and his wife Vicky live. We re-visited that great garden, Nymans and it was good to see it at a different at a different time of year. We enjoyed a walk on “The Downs” for the first time ever and a walk around the old town of Farnham for the first time in decades.

But breakfast outside on an unusually warm spring morning in Graham and Vicky’s garden made me collect my camera as the light was so good. The sun was low in the sky so lit up the tiniest detail and the gentlest textures. Come with me and look through the lens of my trusty Nikon as we look around this artist’s garden.

One step out of the side door and immediately we have a clue as to what to expect.

The first view of the back garden shows how long and thin it is and how beautifully planted, and a look down the garden also finds Jude the Undergardener and my brother Graham enjoying breakfast in the sun.

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Sculptural pieces are found within the borders and look natural alongside the plants snuggling up to them.

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Effective plant combinations are a strength of this garden, where foliage plays a key role.

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But specimen plants stand out and make you stop for a second closer look.

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Containers of all shapes and sizes and made from all sorts of materials add more interest.

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Early morning is definitely the time for shadows.

Close to the house the shady border is full of promise with new growth breaking through the soil with the ferns looking particularly dramatic.

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An artist’s garden has to be full of interesting objects and happenings.

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An artist must have a studio and what better place for it but at the bottom of the garden! Close by is a closely planted group of Mountain Ash, sown by birds – a great feature which I have never seen before. Well done the birds!

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But one thing that no gardener wants in the garden is snails and this garden is full of them! On the plants, climbing the fences, the house walls and even climbing up the window panes. They are everywhere!

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So we shall finish off this look at Graham and Vicky’s garden with a few shots of the front garden, the last shot showing Graham kindly digging up a plant for us to take home for our own garden.

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The next post in this occasional series about our friends’ gardens will feature a woodland garden of friends Pauline and Derek.

Tags Farnham, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, outdoor sculpture, spring bulbs, town gardens, trees

allotments community gardening garden buildings Winter Gardening

A day of destruction as a funnel hits our allotments

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 6, 2014
9 Comments on A day of destruction as a funnel hits our allotments

Last week a wild wind phenomenon hit our allotments and left a trail of destruction in its wake. A “funnel” tore its way across the plots and it flattened sheds in its path. It moved sheds from their bases. It took the roofs off others. Anything light was scattered about, compost bins, water butts and cold-frames.

In the first pair of pictures half of the felt from the shed roofs had been torn off typical of the minor damage to many sheds. Others like the one in the third photo had been blown from off its base and it collapsed in a heap, with the contents crushed inside. See if you can see which bit is which.

Others fell off their bases and landed on their sides remaining almost intact while others lost their roofs which took off like kites.

On our own plot there was little damage. We had an allotment years ago on another very windy site so we were prepared like all good scouts and guides. We had sunk heavy fence posts at each corner of our shed and fixed the shed by screwing it firmly from the inside. (see photo below). Our tripods had crashed, our wooden planks awaiting transformation into a raised bed for strawberries were blown across the plot, our central metal gazebo was well bent and our flying scarecrow, Biggles, was blown from the top of it and we found his plane crash landed nearby but sadly Biggles and his head had parted company.

This devastation came in the middle of an ongoing problem with water-logging and floods, so it really felt as if the weather had got it in for us.

At home we did not get the funnel passing through but we had days of gale force winds roaring through the garden. It managed to lift our lovely Ceanothus right out of the ground roots and all! The tree ties had been broken and the tree stake had snapped a few inches from the ground. The last of our rose arches finally collapsed hurrying up our replacing them with wooden arches.

When Jude and I next went up the lotties a week after the great storm we were amazed to find everything had been put back to how things were before, most of the sheds were back on their bases, roofs repaired and those that had toppled over were upright again. The biggest surprise of all was to see the shed that had barrel-rolled down the path back on its base and looking pretty good considering. Without saying a word to Paul, the owner of the shed, some fellow allotmenteers had got together and moved it back for him. Just look how good it looks in the photo below. In the second photo if you look in the background to the right you can see Henry’s shed also back in place and roof repaired. This is why we call our site Bowbrook Allotment Community with the emphasis on community.

The storm hit mostly during the night and then had abated by mid-morning. In the afternoon two members emailed me with photos and details of the plots that had received damage. This meant that I could contact the individuals concerned and let them know the sad news. One couple went round the sight with a smart phone and as they found a plot that had sustained some damage they sent me a photo with details and plot number.They even made some damaged sheds safe and did temporary repairs. This sort of helping each other is what makes life easy for me as Chairman. I felt proud to be involved!

Most of the photos in this post are from members of Bowbrook Allotment Community.

Tags allotments, Bowbrook Allotments, community gardening, community spirit, gales, garden buildings, sheds, storms, weather, windy weather, winter

allotments autumn community gardening diy garden buildings garden wildlife gardening gardens Land Art natural pest control recycling Shrewsbury wildlife

Pumpkins, a BBQ and Homes for Wildlife

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 5, 2013
5 Comments on Pumpkins, a BBQ and Homes for Wildlife

At the end of October we held our first ever family oriented working party social day at our allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community. It was a great success even though the whole day was spent in wellies and waterproofs. The ground beneath our feet was saturated and occasional showers got us from above, but neither distracted us from our aims of the day.

We started just after one o’clock when a photographer from the local newspaper came to take some shots of families working together on our “Homes for Wildlife” projects and one of our most recent award, the RHS Britain in Bloom “National Award of Distinction” which we were awarded for our community involvement.

First task was to make some birdboxes and Wren Pouches. All the materials were collected together by one of our picnic benches and tools readied. It was heartening to see children, their parents and grandparents working together creating these nest boxes. Three generations together!

We made some hanging bug shelters too, created from broken flower pots, driftwood and bits of bark.

We wished also to make a couple of bug hotels, a small one along the fenceline and our most ambitious yet a 6 ft high creepy crawly cottage both based on recycled wooden pallets. We began with a stack of pallets and a collection of natural objects collected by allotment holders, sticks, old garden canes, stones, fir cones etc.

The “cottage” soon began to take shape as pallets were stacked and fixed together to give the basic structure.

All we have to do now is choose a name for our new insect home. We have challenged the youngsters from the allotments, our Roots and Shoots group, to choose a suitable one. So far we have a few ideas – “Minibeast Manor”, “Bugtique Hotel” and “Minibeast Metropolis”. The difficulty will be how to decide!

The smaller insect hotel was made from five pallets and again filled with objects that would provide shelter for wildlife. We finished it off with a stone pile, the perfect home for beetles.

The final jobs before our BBQ was to plant lots of acorns, sweet chestnuts and hazel nuts to grow on and plant in our hedgerows and to plant up a whole sack of daffodil bulbs alongside the paths in our meadows.

The BBQ brought us all back together and once darkness fell we lit our pumpkin lanterns. And we even found time for Jude to do some face painting.

As we enjoyed the BBQ the light disappeared and we prepared ourselves for the Twilight Walk, when we wandered around the site with lit pumpkins to light our way in search of sheds decorated as Spooky Sheds.

And as the night fell we disappeared into the gloom with our pumpkins to guide our way.

Tags allotments, bird boxes, Bowbrook Allotments, community gardening, garden wildlife, Halloween, insect homes, insects, organic gardening, outdoor sculpture, pumpkins, wildlife, wildlife shelters

garden buildings

Building a new log store

Why do piles of logs neatly stacked always look so good in a garden? They are somehow welcoming indicating perhaps that inside there awaits the comfort of an open log fire or roaring log burner. We have always stored our logs under the overhang alongside our front door, which smells lovely as you approach or as you open the door in the morning. That lovely smell of cut wood.

However this summer we have had a wood burner fitted in our conservatory so we need more wood storage. We had logs piled in any vacant space we could find around the house and garden. In the picture below these logs are piled up leaning against my fishing storage shed on the edge of the path between the shed and our garage. It was all getting a bit annoying.

The answer was another wood shed and in a rash moment I decided I could make one! I decided I would design and construct one that would store a whole load of logs and at the same time hide the refuse wheelie bins.

Well I did manage but will admit it did take a few weeks to achieve.

But I have to say I am rather pleased with the end result. Now I must telephone Ben the woodsman for a trailer load of logs. I feel sure the logs will be well-seasoned as I have allowed for plenty of air movement and it should get plenty of sun.