Hello! - I am new

[lottie dolly]

HI welcome to the forum,lots of good advice on here,a few pics would be nice,not just for us nose'y lot,but you will see how things are progressing as time goes on,we will also be able to give even better advice on seeing,

[Alchemilla]

Hello Alchemilla and welcome from another South Walian. Croeso [...]
You'll be able to update your profile when you've made a few more posts!

Aaah that explains it. Was dumbly hitting the "edit profile" button and nothing happened... Diolch yn fawr!

Does everyone in South Wales still say 'Tidy!' all the time, as an all-purpose expression of approval?

Yes! My OH and his friends did have "tidy" burgers the other day. Didn't look very tidy when they were eating them...

In fairness, most of my neighbours are really lovely. Part of my fence blew down in a storm recently. The neighbour on whose patio it bordered bought a new post and, together with his dad, repaired it very thoroughly. He refused to accept any financial contribution and even took care to fit the old fence panels back in because I had already painted them.

Even the neighbours who don't like the look of my front garden are very polite about it. They just enquire as to my "plans" with a slightly concerned look if they see me digging yet another hole in the clay... They probably think I am nuts.

[veggiechicken]

Alchemilla, if you're anywhere near Cardiff, there's a seedswap event next Saturday
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1418928
I go every year - but don't let that put you off

[Bren In Pots]

Hello and welcome to the vine Alchemilla
I also grow in my back garden so the vines my only contact with the gardening world.

[SusieG]

Welcome Alchemilla!
February a desolate month for us gardeners, just itching to get out there and work some gardening magic.
Ignore neighbors, and the 'mess' won't be forever.
Don't throw away decking, use it to make or edge beds for veg or flowers - clay soil is a pain but with a bit of work ie adding loads of lovely compost or if you can wait, grow some green manures and dig it all in for great results.
You'll always have heaps of great info and general friendly banter here.
I have to sort my garden out myself too as no one else is interested ... It's hard graft but enjoyable especially when you can enjoy the 'fruits' of your labour!
Good luck!

[Alchemilla]

Alchemilla, if you're anywhere near Cardiff, there's a seedswap event next Saturday
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1418928
I go every year - but don't let that put you off

That sounds brilliant, veggiechicken! A few people have mentioned Chapter to me, but I haven't been yet.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to go that particular Saturday. (I have booked myself on a weekend course to learn Welsh.) Real shame as my cousin back home gave me veg seeds when I left, which I could swap. Some of the varieties might be rare in the UK.

[Small pumpkin]

Welcome to the vine. As lots of grapes have already said. You're not alone anymore .
Photos,we need photos. It will help but mostly because we're all very nosey

[Lisasbolt]

I will have a read back tomorrow but for now Helcome

[noviceveggrower]

Hello there and welcome to the vine. Sorry I'm a bit late in welcoming you.

[Knight of Albion]

A very warm welcome to the forum, dear Alchemilla.

[Zelenina]

Hi Alchemilla. Welcome from me too I did it the other way round. I'm from the UK and I moved abroad.

[Alchemilla]

Hello again,

I have managed to dig up a picture of how the back garden looked when I moved into the house. The builder hadn't levelled the site and the "garden designer" also did nothing about the slope except for covering it in decking and gravel. (He also left all his rubbish and lunch waste underneath the decking!!! ) Apart from being pure clay, the ground was also incredibly compacted, likely from heavy construction machinery.

The "rockery" near the fence was presumably put there to disguise the fact that whoever built these houses put the inspection hole for the sewers directly on the property boundary, i.e. they had to build the fence over it!

I have no idea what the point of the rickety "arbor and seat abomination" on the decking was... (You can just glimpse the edge of it in the picture.) The arbor was, of course, bare. (Who wants plants in their back garden...?) The site is North/East facing and this used to be it's shadiest and wettest corner. I guess the seat must have been wet for 320 days of the year - there were mushrooms growing on it...

Nobody ever used the area for anything - it was just dead space. But - most importantly- it looked "tidy" and didn't require any "work".

[veggiechicken]

How does it look now? Need ...........more............piccies

[Alchemilla]

This is how the space looked about one year later, when I had laid out what OH refers to as my "Aztec design".

I kept the odd diamond shape of the original decking/gravel area, as we wanted to keep the paving near the house and garage walls as a seating area/space to clean bikes etc. - and I couldn't face the amount of work it would have taken to change it. I also would never have been able to construct edging and paving as neat as the original - I don't even like DIY...

The Aztec design came about as I was trying to lose the minimum of the "diamond" area to paths, while also having one bed running alongside the fence. Looking back, maybe I was just under the influence...



After taking out the decking, gravel and all the rubbish, I discovered that the entire area was full of tree roots. You can see a few branches of the owner of the roots - my neighbour's Swamp Cypress. After a chat with my neighbour, who wanted to keep the tree much smaller than its Sequoia relations give it potential for, I pruned the roots. Took me four months...