What we did and how it worked
bankssimplyread
Posts: 17
Hi Everybody I am new to this forum and this is my first post
We have a Holiday let in my Garden, so we try to make it a good experience for holiday makers including children. I am not a great gardener I leave the technical side to my wife.
When we first came to Scotland , 12 years ago ,"we are three hours drive north from Edinburgh" , we were told by the locals nothing will grow , you are wasting your time trying. There is sand below the grass , the result of a glacier which receded thousands of years ago taking the top soil with it . The previous owner kept Turkeys and Huskey dogs on it
The plot was just grass with a few trees , mainly conifers + Rowan * plus a giant Lime tree , , The plot borders on to the Cairngorm forest , which on occasion appears to be part of the garden. We brought a van load of plants from our previous home in East Sussex . As one of the coldest winters of 09/10 started we thought all our plants would die. The temperature got as low as minus 7 for much as the winter, Snow was thick on the ground until the following May . We took advice from the main Gardening centre in Inverness. The manager , told us what to buy and how to plant it. His idea was to use the bigger plants to shelter the smaller ones , within a couple of years the garden started to take shape. Within a few years the garden the garden was mentioned in the local magazine and visited by people from the local area . This all stopped during Covid
One of our first visitors for the holiday let was amazed she said she was part of the design team for Chelsea , and she took some of our ideas away with her. My idea for a garden is to provide another room for the house. In the house you provide places for the children to play we have two young Grand children who live with us , you have an eating area and recreational facilities, So our garden has areas for children to enjoy themselves, we have swings and a tree house, a picnic area , and a table tennis table , badminton and tennis, and a tree house
My wife has planted an herbaceous border , raised beds for herbs all sorts , we has a pond and water feature, lupins grow like there is no tomorrow, Turks head plants abound. We have hardly any slugs or snails, they do not like the cold in winter, no aphids at all .
Our front garden is basted on designs of the famous designer , Charles Rennie Macintosh , It is a bit of a disappointment and is a work in progress. We hope to get it sorted this year.
I would love to post pictures but there doesn't seem to be a facility for that , on my daughter's Facebook page under the name Laura Catherine I am sure you will if interested find pictures there
Hope you are not to board with my ramblings . Take care
Posts
To post photos click on the postcard symbol just above the typing box. However a quirk in the system means you have to crop the photos a little before you upload them or they’ll be posted sideways (don’t ask, I think it is connected to witchcraft). Only posting about four photos in a batch helps those with slow internet speeds and if your photos refuse to upload you’ll have to compress them. If that is gobbledygook to you, ask a passing child to assist.
Putting a 3 line gap between the photos makes them easier to view.
My friend's dad bought land in the 60s for a nursery, right high up on the west coast of Wales; everyone told him he'd never grow anything, but he had a thriving nursery there for decades, because he had vision.
Tried a picture of a Laburnum tree in my Front Garden to see if I can do it The Front Garden is to the front of the house and being to the north is a problem.
A better view now
Whilst fixing those green tiles , not sensible for a 77 year old