I am starting a brand new garden from scratch

first obelisk is in today. I had to clear a 1/2 m hole because there were rocks as always. What greeted me today was builders compressed mank again, I cringe when I bang my gorilla bar in and it hits stone. 5 large buckets out of that small diameter hole and 1 bag of horse compost in plus some removed soil. I keep hitting rock and mank, every time I need a hole that drains

That obelisk is for fragrant sweet peas, soaked, chipped and sown in rootrainers today

no apologies for spending so much, my new garden is my hobby and I would rather do this than go on holiday

I ordered 2 x aluminium vegtrugs and they were reduced by £100 each. I figured that I would only need to replace the lining every 5 years and the aluminium will never rot. I got black and they are in the garage, I`ll assemble them in a few weeks, each will hold 3.5 bags of compost. I think I will lay sticks on the patio, to find the best positions. Part is east facing and half is south facing, I think I will look for somewhere that gets shade around 1-2 pm in summer

The vegtrug poppy planters also arrived today, I got 3 x bright red and again will assemble in a few weeks. They are going to be a very nice splash of colour. They were the cheapest from thompson morgan, cheaper by £10 each and they fold so I can store in the garage during winter. Naturally TM sends me lots of e mails and I impulse bought today, 24 lavender plugs, munstead and hidcote for £3.99 plus postage. So I will grow them on, I wnted bee friendly plants anyway. They sent 15 free packs of seeds with the poppy planters, a very decent selection

I completely love hellebores, I have about 15 and they blossom so well after cutting off the old leaves. Tulips too, they are in 4 troughs almost budding. I haven`t planted any daffodils yet. Still working on the structure and bee friendly aspects. For that I may well increase the comfrey because it is very beautiful and is always full of bumble bees

I spent more money this morning I have a huge patio and it all started with me thinking I would like to re-home some herbs. I started by looking at nice self-watering pots and one thing led to another. Vegtrug called me, 1 metre vegtrug isnow on order plus a few vegtrug poppy planters and all as cheap as I will ever find them anywhere and yes I looked around

Its the weather and I finished my indoor work so went into plotting and planning mode again. Had an e mail saying that my cast iron obelisk will be with me next week. I shall have to get my hefty digging bar out so I can get the legs deep enough. I`ll also clear all around as I can see me growing sweet peas this year and other things year on year

It's lovely to start a garden from scratch.
I would add - are there any plants which make you smile? That is to say, on a cold winter's day it's so cheering to see the first snowdrops or daffodils so I couldn't imagine a garden without them.

so I was uneasy about some placements and I slept on it, I want the obelisk to be very accessible and in a prominent clear position as I think it will be the centrepiece. I had to move one ergo bed (unfilled) and 4 roses and 5 sedum matrona. All done and the ergos are now filled with 10 assorted bags of compost and covered. I have a superb source for composts, the best I ever used and 40 litres so easy to handle. 27 bags bought and moved over 3 days. They cost me on average £2 a bag

Sedum matrona worries me a bit, sedums are very attractive to vine weavils and I had an outbreak elsewhere, causing massive damage. One sedum seemed to have lost some roots so I am going to hit it with the chemical to kill vine weavil, just the sedums. I have used nematodes in the past but very expensive. They devastated 4 gro bags of strawberry plants and got into many pots so I am very wary

I need to continue with the structure and I want scented sweet peas, which I have ordered. I need an obelisk and have had 2 cheap ones in the past, which soon start to fall apart, so I have treated myself. This time it is made from iron and will end up rusty on purpose, it is very solid and will last my lifetime and more. I am sure it will look lovely and interesting and unusual and I want sweet peas in plain sight

oh sorry I don`t want to tire anybody, I am only doing what I love and my mind takes over for the day, then my body complains loudly at bedtime. It very much easier with a garden plan

I put my 4 bed rotations under a separate heading, in case anyone wants or needs info. I did enjoy yesterday, have started a lovely posh tactile notebook with a ribbon and pristine pages. Drawn the garden side section and back and labelled all the beds to make it easier, Fortunately I had scribbled plant names down so have a list of everything currently planted. It helps when weeding

I have a super book called fruit by Harry Baker and have used that to make a feeding plan from january through spring. I feel so sad that so many of my gardening bits have vanished during my move, ph kit, clips of all types and much more expensive than that. I am starting again and have growmore, nitro-chalk and phosphate ordered because I want the fertilisers to remain in tubs, rather than packets. Today I am getting sulphates of ammonia and magnesium and a new ph kit because if the soil is acid then I will use nitro-chalk rather than suphate of ammonia. If I get the soil right then the plants will grow and later I can do most of it with comfrey and compost but not yet

I needed a couple more seed packets, ordered dwarf mangtout for the round container with no bottom and nantes 2 carrot. I honestly think I will be able to keep myself in veg for almost the whole year and the plot isn`t big, It will be intensively productive

Something I learnt yesterday: not to leave bags of compost out for months, the rain gets in and they become ultra heavy to handle

Crikey! I’ll have to garden vicariously through you, I think my farming families genes skipped me and went straight to DD who grows her own veg, barters with neighbours with the excess and has woodland that provides her wood for heating, she’s also having solar panels fitted soon. Along with the chickens she has 2 children and various pets.
Like you she makes me feel tired!
My excuse is a back op, which after 15 minutes weeding leaves me flat on my back recovering.
But, keep it up, your are inspiring me to get DH in the garden when he retires.....

oh yes oopsadaisy, I do love being in touch with mother earth. Must be in the genes, my family history goes back along one line to 1350 (Dutch) and everyone was a farmer to start with and then it changed to horticulturists and lastly baker was added, my other interest, strangely, is baking bread

I slept on it and have decided to treat these 3 new beds as a separate entity, they are all 10" high right now and I decided to keep them high because they are close to fruit trees, fruit bushes and roses, that will help the other roots to explore without interference

Tomatoes in one bed, 3 plants and I must get 3 ring culture pots, I gave them all away months ago, boo hoo. They always give good results and I am growing outdoors so will sow ferline again

Chard, gigantic which is nice and compact and small and bug-free and does not bolt. Also boltardy beetroot in the same bed and spinach

Third bed will be marketmore cucumbers and they can trail over the sides. I need to write this down in my new tactile book and my rotations in those 3 beds will be the same every year. I may well add some little gem here and there. I can move stepping stones near those beds to give me easy pickings.

It becomes easy when rotation is sorted, I just go turn it every year eg 123, 231, 312 etc

Thinking cap on today, I have 4 x 1m square beds plus a large tub with the bottom cut out. I might have to treat the 4 beds as one unit and the tall tub as an entity on its own. It will be ideal for carrots but I can only have carrots there one year in 3

I did order 3 x potato pots and a gravel tray to stand them on, from two wests, more expensive than a sack but more convenient for me. I got more seed potatoes from the nursery swift, lady christl and anya which I have never grown before. 4 to a pot. I also had to buy fleece, another boohoo

Planning is such fun, sn`t it? Now I need to think about getting all those bags on number 3 in, aghh maybe 20 if I am lucky. I use the roll and barrow technique, roll out the car and into my 2 wheeled barrow

I have 2 of the small hotbins and am already loading bin 2. Bin 1 will be perfect for the legumes and roses. Must start fetching bags next week, and need to prep the legume bed first, then I will cover with weedfabric again

Anyone else starting a new garden or perhaps making a potager from a patch of lawn?

I’m full of admiration! You have worked so hard, I’m sure it all looks lovely, I bet you can’t wait for sunny days and light evenings so that you can sit and enjoy the view.

It was spring-like today so I spent the whole day working in the garden, soil was cold and sticky but I had some necessary jobs to do. I moved 4 roses closer together and each new hole was full of those horrible stones, was a job to get them out and I now have an aching shoulder

Reason for moving the roses and also hellebores, was me wanting to assemble 3 ergo beds onto the soil, the last of the potager infrastructure. Was quite some work as I needed to embed the raised beds and of course encountered lots of stones. At least they are in place and I can leave the deep prising in the beds for a couple of months. I think each bed will take 3 JI number 3 bags and each of the other square beds will take another 2 each. Lots more to be humped and lifted

I am glad it is done, took me a lot longer than I thought and was very muddy work. I now have a total of 8 good raised beds to work with for my veggies. I also made a small retainer to finish a border, used recycled rubber edging, looks good considering it was not a lot of work

I will need a capsicum rub on my shoulders tonight

My pottager garden, fruit and flowers are planted. I see a few spaces for veg and want to do the rotations, my idea for area definitions is rounded slightly raised beds but they can only really be up to 70cm diameter. I don`t want a metal edging and have been racking my brain

Another area to the side of the house contains four 1x1 m raised beds plus a large plant pot bed ie re-purposed as I had nowhere to put the pot. It is 62cm diamter. I had cut the bottom out. Brainwave here, buy 4 more similar half barrel pots, they have to be plastic and around 60cm diameter at the top. Cut off the bottoms with my jigsaw and bed them in. I think they will look quite nice tbh. It does mean that I will have to dig 4 more deep holes to remove the large stones and mank which were left when building but that is ok, I have missed the physical work,I went from full on to digging out the patio to zero.

Any other ideas before I commit? I did look into recycled rubber edging and had to put a maths hat on. The most they bend is 60 degrees, I would need 6 lengths to make a circle and the diameter would be over 200cm, no can do

I have a scrap of side soil and as usual it was full of stones. I took out the hellebores that I bunged in there, very unsuitable place. The area is on the side of my drive between that and a wooden fence and is north facing. 2/3 of that narrow strip is concrete sloping down and it is a difficult spot. The saving grace is that there is access to deepness right along the length, only narrow but it is there so it will drain, It was covered in the usual builders soil

I put preservative on the strip of wood at the fence bottom, did that a month ago and pulled the soil back. I had some spare rubber path edging and put that against the fence yesterday. I hand sorted the soil, removing stones and crumbling lumps of soil. Added humus, as much as possible to try and attract worms, the soil mix at this stage is capable of holding moisture and I have made the top higher and horizontal and it looks better. I put a thin layer of composted bark on top yesterday. That patch is now ready for the plants I have ordered, lily of the valley. I can get 10 plants in there and it is now as near to woodland as I can make it. I did put bonemeal into the mix too.

The hellebores are now in my east facing soil at the back, they will be in shade for part of the day and will eventually benefit from shade from the fruit bushes. I have 12 hellebores in total now and all are doing well

All plants are thriving, I have remembered to give the apple trees and roses copious water every few days, the other small plants when they look a bit wilty. The acanthus is looking lovely, starting to flower

All that is left is to plant some ordered fleabane in chunky pots and to plant tulip bulbs into small troughs when they arrive. I was tempted to get a sack of mixed daffs and narcissi and to plant out the pots of chives but I need to wait, am still determining where to put my rubber stepping stones. I have decided on at least half of them and have ordered more. They are brown and look nice. I will embed them when I finally decide, only after the new fruit is planted and I can rake properly first. Only then, will I place small plants around those areas, ones that don`t interfere with the apple roots

The roses are absolutely stunning, the best scent seems to be from boscobel, it is a very beautiful rose

I am in the transitioning stage now, the garden is finished apart from the 5 fruit bushes but the holes are prepared. I keep raking and hoeing and there are edless stones, I doubt they will ever stop rising

The hotbin is hot and producing good compost very quickly, the phacelia is not budding yet but I may cut it down soon, so the green goodness has a chance to feed the soil, then I will cover for winter. It grew quickly

I have just made yet another order for rubber stepping stones, I find I can hoe quite a long way using a long hoe, I need to preserve the soil structure as much as possible by not walking on it. They look nice, one longish winding path so far, each one footstep apart

One waterbutt is done and ready, the other will arrive tomorrow and I will link them. I wait for tulip bulbs and will buy compost and soon be filling colourful small troughs. I think my garden is done and looking back, I really don`t know how I managed that very hard work. I have started to have some relaxing days, even reading or eating in my garden. I did it in just under 4 months and haven`t a clue where the evolving came from but it did

I took the difficult decision to not transplant my roses from my allotment. They have been happy there for 5 years and I think I would do too much damage below the union and suckers would be thrown up, besides which I think I could leave them for others to enjoy, my gift to them

I have splashed out and ordered 5 new DA roses, all different, pinks yellows and red and mostly with good scent. They will be in a circle close to where I have been sitting lately or rather lying back, listening to the nearby solar water feature, now on the patio. That area of patio is evolving and is very sunny, I have a lovely comfy bistro set there, can take my lafuma out there and have ordered a bench with a back that curves so the spine is supported. I am also waiting for a norfolk hideaway low shed. Keter is straightforward to assemble and my bits will all fit in, including my lounger

The 3 new apple trees look as though they are settling, the crab apple is 5` easily and was full of apples, which I cut off to avoid tree stress. Loads of leaves, somehow surviving in the drying warm winds. One apple had a natural leaning main stem so I cut off a branch on that side and the other branches will grow and create a straighter tree

I chanced it today, easily lifted a hinnonmaki gooseberry, so that is in and I lifted a rhubarb but left enough in the ground just in case. Everything has been planted with rootgrow and bonemeal, I got big tubs of both online from amazon. It feels a pretty good time for transplanting tbh, warm ground and rain to come. I also moved all the hellibores to my garden. The accidental verbenas are good, growing nice and straight against a wall

What to do with a very big plastic barrel look-alike? I already have 6 containing blueberries. I drilled more holes in the bottom to get started, got a junior hacksaw and cut the bottom off completely and bedded the tub near my square raised beds. It will be an ideal raised bed for carrots, potatoes, leeks, beans etc. I will start filling it and quickly get some phacelia or mustard green manure seeds in there

I am looking forward to sorting some good planters for the remaining area against the garage s facing wall but need to wait. I have 2 good water butts to fix together plus a diverter plus a bench. I had the same but tall water butts at the other house and they were still pristine, 9 years later, no fading or becoming brittle. Expensive but will last my lifetime, in sand beige. In view of my window and patio and need to look nice, not like the tatty one on my allotment
www.waterbuttsdirect.co.uk/style/column-water-butts/330l-column-water-tank.html

Roses are coming on tuesday and the holes are already done

Hi beechnut. I planted the 3 pot grown apple trees, well grown and full of leaf but honestly I wish I had bought bare root, they are so much easier to plant and not as worrying with leaves being dehydrated in the drying wind. 6 miscanthus are planted, 3 in pots and 6 verbena. It is certainly taking shape now and looks better with some height. The 16 different heleantheums are bedded nicely, looking settled.

I think the round rubber stepping stones will be very useful, I laid the first 10 out and am naturally taking a curved path, so that is where they will go. I have ordered 6 more. I won`t bed them until the winter planting is done. I need to do a lot of levelling and raking first. Bocking 14 are all growing nicely, 18 plants

I added a few more bits to my wolf garten handles, including a cultivator, it is surprisingly easy to use, then I follow with the rake and transfer hundreds of stones to buckets for removal

I feel almost at the point of being done, stone removal will be forever ongoing and I have ordered a mini low shed because potting materials are building up and I have no room left. I have worked very very hard, back breaking at times, my hands and arms have throbbed through endless long nights but I feel very strong and the aches are now much less, my body is better for it. It was worth being intense because really all I have to do yet is transfer some plants from my allotment and bed in the bareroot fruit, all will be done by november and my garden will be finished

Please carry on craftyone I’m following you. ?

I am wondering whether I should stop putting my thoughts on here but then again maybe something small will help someone else with what can be a mamouth task

I bit the bullet, heart in mouth and have ordered two good quality water butts today. We had these in a bigger model for over 9 years and they remained as good as new throughout, despite being in intensive sun. So today I ordered 2 shorter ones as my garden is smaller.

Heart in mouth because I will be cutting new pristine rainwater pipe and making holes in render and in each butt. I can do it, just involves measuring carefully, using a spirit level and sawing straight. Drill? I am old hat at that, can use a drill

I spotted some lovely variegated hebes on the way into sainsbury yesterday, big healthyplants, very well grown, an amazing £2 each, I snapped up 6 and now have a lovely hedge at the front. Give away prices and the 15cm pots were full of roots

All holes for any plant rose sized and upwards are now dug, there were no worms in the compacted soil for roses yesterday, so I layered some humus in and am sure they will appear. The soil needs all the help it can get. All these visitors of mine `the soil looks very good` doh, its the humus, the digging and de-stoning.

I have the final position for my 2m x 40cm worth of corten containers, drilled many drainage holes first and stuck rubber pads below. Right in front of the back of the plastic trellis which is hidden in willow screening. Looks fab and the colour matches. I am waiting for bonsai mesh today, for a cover over the holes and have bought 6 x westland ericacious compost but may need 2 more. Have ordered 2 beautiful pieris prelude and will cover the compost with grit. Pure and simple planting, pieris on the slightly shadier side and dwarf honeysuckle on the sunnier side. Will be done and dusted soon and good for many years

Meantime a present to me of a small fleabane has grown into a beautiful plant, now divided into 3 and placed in 3 of these pots. Looks very nice
www.erringtonreay.co.uk/shop/product/shallow-plain-pot-sp-2/

My rubber stepping stones came, 18" diameter, no idea where to place them, I will wait and see where I walk over the next few months

Today, tall rudbeckia, sedum and nepeta arrive and 3 apple trees next week. The jelly king will be 5` tall on arrival and make 13 x 13`, with useful and attractive fruits. The crowning glory next week, height will be happening

Just doing a bit this morning and have decided to remove all the thyme plants, I cannot be doing with hands and knees weeding in the future, it has to be a stand up session with a hoe. I want a nice space for my rose transplants, will not dig holes yet as my hands are still throbby, just sticks in for now and probably in the ex thyme patch. My hoe will take a battering because the ground is so badly stoney, I will have to keep sharpening

I think I am in the nice stage but my arms and hands have been aching with the sheer physicality of digging and getting rid of thousands of embedded stones, while crumbling compacted soil with my fingers.

I tweaked a bit this morning, made sure that the metal rods for the standard gooseberries were in the right places. The last 3 days I have made a path, wide enough for a wheelbarrow, nice wide edging from recycled tyres, called roman stone, embedded those on a level with the patio, raked and covered the soil in between with fabric. Went back and forth buying gravel, 33 heavy bags in total, never again, it was a one-off landscaping job

Last night I dug, crumbled and de-stoned the soil next to the path, was a boring job and went on endlessly. My hands, arms and knees ached all night after that. I was glad this morning that it was done and I planted out 8 hellebores from temporary pots, all with rootgrow and some manure compost. A friend gave me a fleabane plant a few months ago, it looked lovely in a chunky rounded salt glazed pot so I divided it last night and now have 3 identical pots of fleabane

Tomorrow I am going to use a special drill bit and make drainage holes under 3 large corten steel planters. I have finally decided that they will go next to the cream garge wall, south facing. Will need john innes 3 and potfeet, I will never be moving them, impossible so I need good sturdy plants and am getting buddleia tricolour for a bit of height

My rotary line is up, firm and straight in a concrete base. I used much support and many stakes as well as 2 spirit levels and everything was crossed when I poured the post crete, it took 1+ 2/3 bags. Today I have defined the area below with rubber recycled edging, heavy and thick and pricey but will last forever. Gravel is in over a weed fabric base and it looks very nice. Some plants in last night, 16 helianthemums ordered and I can see the end

I have one path left to fill with gravel, at least 10 round rubber rings that look like logs as stepping stones, raking, holes to prep for roses and that is IT. Finished apart from getting the plants in

Hands are wrecked as in un-smart

Trees are lovely Alexa, enjoy them

I am cream crackered today, did too much again yesterday and am having a bit of time off. Must find myself a tai chi class, different exercise. I did plant all the comfrey today, while the soil is moist and warm. I cannot believe how quick they are to grow. 18 plants in the soil, forever

My patio is currently being laid, one more evening and it will be finished. The builder is doing a darn good job for me. Once the mortar is hard then I can get stuck in again, will be glad when the 3 pot apple trees are in, will see some height. No birds coming to bathe in my bird bath, I believe the garden is still too exposed. I am struggling this evening

Craftyone, my gardening son refused my offer as he consoders his present veg garden is enough for him. I am slightly relieved as now I can keep my trees and long grass with a clear conscience. Son number one cut all the grass and white clover today at my request. It will soon green up.

We had to find the spare key hidden under a flower pot at the foot of the garden for many years since last disturbed and there was a large frog under it too.

I'll leave the grass now for the remainder of the season to form a thatch which will protect the root structure from the dog running about during the winter months.