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Old 21-04-2020, 04:40 PM   #1
emma_mcraf
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I haven't posted photos in ages and I've been enjoying the ones that have come up recently, so thought I ought to put some up. For some reason a few photos just come up huge everytime I use the forum code for them so I've done a link instead for them. Hope the links work okay!

We are lucky to have a large house and a garden that wraps around all one side and a lovely private area behind the garage, so different little garden areas. It was a huge consideration when we moved that there had to be space for the animal enclosures and it meant a fair bit of digging out to be done. It seemed an awful thing to be digging up really well-established shrubs and acers but the torts came first and so we decided to dig up one side and half of the back to put in the enclosures and weed patch. Eldest son, now in his mid-twenties, but still in his teens and living at home at the time, being put to work!



It all looked so stark at first and when the old owner popped by to say hi unexpectedly, I think she was horrified at what we'd done.

https://imgur.com/kW4MX95

The fence is a sore point! It is our neighbour's boundary and not shared and he's not exactly into DIY. Every winter a panel blows down because the posts wobble about so much. He turned down hubby's offer to build a nice strong featherboard fence.
We will have new neighbours in there once the property market gets moving again and hope they'll like the idea of a stronger fence.

I'd dug up all the hebes, lavender, rosemary, carex and everything from the tort enclosures to come with us plus ferns, other plants and the soft fruits! In fact we had so much garden stuff to come we made an agreement with the previous owner so we could bring it up on a flatbed truck a fortnight before the actual move.



Gradually I got around to planting everything and I was glad I'd done the hard work in potting up everything and lugging it all to our new house! It was everywhere; all down the sides of the house, the decking and behind the garage.

https://imgur.com/ajhMTUu

A few years on and nature has done its thing.





The torts have their hot spots and the plants we moved all took and have grown a lot, providing a lot of cover and shade.





This is where the chicken coop is down the side of the house. It can extend to 5m but is currently shorter as the flock has shrunk. Emilia is 8 years old and as a fit as a fiddle so she's old for a chook but try telling her that!

https://imgur.com/UAty8SU

You can spot the bamboo in the background. What a horror story that was. I told hubby I had plans for the area and the bamboo had to go. It was a nightmare to get out and so much back-breaking work, but we've been bamboo free for two years now and it looks so much better!

https://imgur.com/hgcU7J1







What a difference!



They even made me an arbour last year. You can see the end of its roof on the right.

So this is a lovely private area, perfect for eating and sunbathing and relaxing in the hammock and as I've taken so much of the garden with tort enclosures, I'd feel guilty to take any of this bit too, plus I can't see this part of the garden quite so easily from indoors.
I would love more land and more enclosures but it would mean digging up this part of the garden and it's full of edibles as well as being so pretty, so I'm not going to.



It's finding a balance I suppose and I know I am really fortunate to have this.
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Testudo Hermanni 5.12.2:Theo, Tamara, Tabitha, Harriet, Isabelle, Clara, Oscar, Hugo, Oliver, Florence, Arabella, Esmé, Aurelia, Felicia, Claudia, Atticus, Celestia, Amaris, Tristan and Clementine
Budgies: Jasper, Ivo, Otis, Henry, Louie and Luca
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Old 21-04-2020, 05:46 PM   #2
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Looks really nice. I like your comment about the chicken! We have one last hen left, and she’s 11! And as you say she still looks as fit as a fiddle getting under your feet when she’s out in the garden. We lost our cockerel about 18 months ago and he was the same age the hen.
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Old 21-04-2020, 06:01 PM   #3
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Looks really nice. I like your comment about the chicken! We have one last hen left, and she’s 11! And as you say she still looks as fit as a fiddle getting under your feet when she’s out in the garden. We lost our cockerel about 18 months ago and he was the same age the hen.
They say they’re flock animals and can’t survive on their own...well, Emilia has thrived! She loves being on her own and each winter I wonder if she’ll come out of it and she bounces back every spring, laying again and full of chatter and demanding her treats when she hears me coming.
She could go a lot longer then if your hen is 11 and I really wouldn’t be surprised. We’re letting her enjoy her ‘retirement’ with lots of warm porridge mash in the winter and her regular veggies.
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Testudo Hermanni 5.12.2:Theo, Tamara, Tabitha, Harriet, Isabelle, Clara, Oscar, Hugo, Oliver, Florence, Arabella, Esmé, Aurelia, Felicia, Claudia, Atticus, Celestia, Amaris, Tristan and Clementine
Budgies: Jasper, Ivo, Otis, Henry, Louie and Luca
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Old 21-04-2020, 07:54 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by emma_mcraf View Post
They say they’re flock animals and can’t survive on their own...well, Emilia has thrived! She loves being on her own and each winter I wonder if she’ll come out of it and she bounces back every spring, laying again and full of chatter and demanding her treats when she hears me coming.
She could go a lot longer then if your hen is 11 and I really wouldn’t be surprised. We’re letting her enjoy her ‘retirement’ with lots of warm porridge mash in the winter and her regular veggies.
Do you still get eggs from her? We haven’t had eggs off ours for years!!
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Old 21-04-2020, 08:08 PM   #5
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Now I know it's not my garden but all those flowers and shrubs would be out and a nice long greenhouse/lean to would be built along that lovely wall. Just think of what you could get in there along with some grape vines and peach trees mmmmmmmmmmm

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Old 21-04-2020, 08:44 PM   #6
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Love your walled garden and am very impressed with all your different areas it must have been such a lot of work but so worth it.
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Old 21-04-2020, 09:19 PM   #7
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Do you still get eggs from her? We haven’t had eggs off ours for years!!
Yes, she obviously feels she still has to but she makes a token offer in the spring now and then gives up. She’s a leghorn and her eggs have always been smaller than the others but lovely white shells and the delicious orange yolk inside is worth her effort.
She was the only non-hybrid and the last out of the flock to lay, so was called ‘too posh to push’ for months before she got started.
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Testudo Hermanni 5.12.2:Theo, Tamara, Tabitha, Harriet, Isabelle, Clara, Oscar, Hugo, Oliver, Florence, Arabella, Esmé, Aurelia, Felicia, Claudia, Atticus, Celestia, Amaris, Tristan and Clementine
Budgies: Jasper, Ivo, Otis, Henry, Louie and Luca
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Old 21-04-2020, 09:25 PM   #8
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Now I know it's not my garden but all those flowers and shrubs would be out and a nice long greenhouse/lean to would be built along that lovely wall. Just think of what you could get in there along with some grape vines and peach trees mmmmmmmmmmm
I mooted an easier garden to care for last year and hubby said we could take it all out if I wanted, as I’m the gardener. He doesn’t know a crocus from a chrysanthemum! But it is full of edibles in there and I dry the lavender every year and make things with it and the autumn colours are just fantastic, so I can’t bring myself to rip it all out. Also, I don’t like to advertise the torts and that’s why we built the enclosures along the fence than the wall - so the neighbour can’t see exactly what I’ve got in these strange enclosures. In the winter we cover them and so a visitor assumed it was vegetables growing, and I didn’t contradict her!
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Testudo Hermanni 5.12.2:Theo, Tamara, Tabitha, Harriet, Isabelle, Clara, Oscar, Hugo, Oliver, Florence, Arabella, Esmé, Aurelia, Felicia, Claudia, Atticus, Celestia, Amaris, Tristan and Clementine
Budgies: Jasper, Ivo, Otis, Henry, Louie and Luca
Doggies: 1.1.0 Chester and Lottie

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Old 21-04-2020, 09:32 PM   #9
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Love your walled garden and am very impressed with all your different areas it must have been such a lot of work but so worth it.
It is lovely having the walled garden, Mary. I can’t take credit for anything other than the gardening. My husband and sons have done all the hard work when it comes to digging anything out and building things. I am good at envisioning what would look nice and work well and then tell hubby and he designs and builds it for me. He never questions it and the end result is always excellent. I have vines, honeysuckle and creepers growing up the pergola in the decked area and so hope in time they will really take off and I’ll have more edibles for the torts, plus soften the area a little.
There’s a coastal themed front garden too and we have a ‘boardwalk’ all the way around from the front of the house, down the side and to the decking at the back, plus two little bridges. Hubby and my youngest have been replacing a lot of the decking boards with non-slip ones this year. Decking looks so nice but is lethal when icy or wet. That is pretty low-maintenance and I just trim the coastal-style grasses and do the hanging baskets out there. The previous owners must have spent a small fortune on chippings and coastal pebbles, but it looks nice.
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Testudo Hermanni 5.12.2:Theo, Tamara, Tabitha, Harriet, Isabelle, Clara, Oscar, Hugo, Oliver, Florence, Arabella, Esmé, Aurelia, Felicia, Claudia, Atticus, Celestia, Amaris, Tristan and Clementine
Budgies: Jasper, Ivo, Otis, Henry, Louie and Luca
Doggies: 1.1.0 Chester and Lottie

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Old 22-04-2020, 10:20 AM   #10
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how gorgeous Emma ! and you too ! you give them such a fantastic life - they have really grown up haven't they ! My largest puts him self to bed every night but Beau just plonks herself where she wants and I have to go on the hunt each night to track her down - she is about the only one and you couldn't believe you can lose such a big tortoise in a garden environment when it comes to later in the evening...
The planting is fantastic. I like the sort of wild look mix also though I am with Gordon on the grapes - I don't like actual grapes but there is nothing like looking at an extended vine in full glory and my fallback on sparse food is grape leafs as their is enough of them to feed the nation. Brilliant photos - I will have to come back to them and look in detail for some tips again, CB
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