Other people's gardens!
By mustang
8 comments
Hi again,
I thought I would write something about other people’s gardens that I look after. I have attached some photo’s (not vey good I’m afraid – I’m a very poor photographer) I took today of an old well established garden at a friend of mine’s house – I have been looking after this garden for about 2 months now and it has gone from a tangled overgrown mess to a…well slightly less tangled overgrown mess – the best thing is that once it was cleared, flowers began to pop up almost as if they have been suffocated and couldn’t wait to show themselves..unfortunately for the flowers it was a little late in the season – but bless them, they tried :). Next year will be different.
As I used to live in this house as a tenant before I bought my own place I have a real love for this garden as it reminds me of wonderful past good times :)
Once I had cleared the weeds I dug the soil over, manured, put in some lovely spring bulbs (and some new shrubs to fill the gaps) and then mulched. Hopefully there should be a carpet of daffodils, tulips, snowdrops, hyacinths etc etc come Spring (here she crosses her fingers and toes!)
There are some smashing roses that had been allowed to run riot – hopefully (gulp!) I have tamed them and couple of years of training and careful pruning should restore them – I really want them to cover that pergola in years to come. Next year I may add some more climbers to pad out the bare areas a bit.
My main concern is the grass – I have cut it back, killed a lot of the moss off and raked – I then applied and Autumn fertilizer and waited until it had grown and greened up a bit – then cut again. I have put the remaining fertilizer on it now and intend to leave it for winter – however I don’t know that much about lawns as I have never had one! Could anyone let me know if I can re-seed the patchy/bare areas now – or do I have to wait until Spring? It just looks awful close up!!! p.s. it often has 2 young girls and dog playing on it so I guess I need to choose a hard wearing grass!
Righto – now to try and attach the photos!
Cheers all
x Mustang
13 Oct, 2009
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Comments
Ah, i'm not sure how to do that Mustang but someone will help if you can't fathom it :-)
13 Oct, 2009
Hey Mustang, you should have a manipulate setting somewhere which allows you to select resize and save - about 900 x 900 is a good size for the blog pics and questions.
13 Oct, 2009
I think you can look to re seed in the spring as its a bit late now. A local supplier will be able to advise you on the mix to meet any particular need and you can buy quite small amounts, depending on seed its usually 35 to 70g per square metre.
13 Oct, 2009
I missed your query re grass seed - you could have put seed down now, if you hadn't used lawn fertilizer. You'll have to do it in the spring instead, don't use fertilizers on the newly seeded areas, or those that will be seeded. Use a hardwearing grass seed mix, often called Playlawn or something similar - this has a high rye grass content, which is what makes it hardwearing.
13 Oct, 2009
Thanks for the help on the grass seed. I have just picked some up (its the Rye Grass type so it should suit) so I will be ready for Spring. I take your point on the fertilizer - I didn't realise that - I assume this is because it may burn the seeds?
I'll just keep an eye on the grass over winter!!
x
13 Oct, 2009
Yes, that's exactly why, though really its the young grass plants it'll burn.
13 Oct, 2009
Ahh I see. Righto - saves me a job until Spring :)
As you can now see I have learned how to put my photos on...!! (I asked hubby to help me as I'm rubbish with technology!!)
The stick in a bucket is actually a fig tree I'm trying to save. You can't see but there are actually green buds on the end of each branch. I had to take quite a lot of dead and diseased wood off it so I'm really hoping it will pull through the winter!
Note the fact that there is only a long range shot of the grass as its even more appalling close up. This garden needs quite a lot of tlc but it should pull through with some determination!
x
13 Oct, 2009
Ok so its telling me my photos are too big as usual - I will try and remedy this!! :(
13 Oct, 2009