Saturday 17 May 2014

Mr TGs style of gardening!

My last post made mention of Mr TGs attempt at making a garden out of an area of our land that is seldom used - in fact we never really go along to this area because, well, we never really venture past the polytunnel, but Mr TG has decided in all his wisdom that he can make this area - that we never go to - at least pretty to look at as we tootle by on the ride on lawnmower.
Today I decided to showcase Mr TGs garden - aren't I nice! This is despite the fact that half the plants he has planted are actually ones he's dug up from my own garden areas - without asking first I may add.
I have offered Mr TG a few words of advice along the way but it has to be said he has heeded none of them and has decided he knows what he is doing and that coastal gardening in an exposed area needs no further planning than deciding what plant he wants and where he wants to shove it - it will either grow or it will die (which, sadly I fear many of them will).
Mr TG has also decided to do away with other gardening fancies such as when is the right time to dig up an established plant/tree/shrub and replant somewhere else - he figures the greener and fuller they look before digging up the better his new garden is going to look. He may well have a theory there however he has also decided that established plants/trees/shrubs do not need to take much of a root ball with them - apparently they can grow more so not to worry! While he may get away with that theory (to an extent) in the dormant season, I suspect that said plants/trees/shrubs may very well have something to say about it now they're well into leaf and growth and will most likely give up!

So onto this garden - which he is suddenly calling an "area" rather than a garden now that he knows I'm blogging about it.........................

Yes, most people would have done some kind of clearance and land levelling before planting but not Mr TG - oh no, no. The gorse bush was removed with a monstrous digger and he had to dig up a load of buried corrugated sheeting but as for the rest.....well, take a look

I did convince him that the tree saplings would grow quicker and better if we polythened around them and they didn't have to compete with weeds or grass and bless him he did follow that advice. However while I imagined lovely circles of cut out poly covered in rocks or bark chippings, this was Mr TGs interpretation


This next plant is an Apple tree grown from pip that Mr TG dug up having decided it was leaning too much where I had it happily growing next to the greenhouse. It did look very lush and healthy a few days ago however a couple of days with no root ball and those leaves are really starting to wilt down.


Next we have my Olearia Macrodonta - again one I grew from seed and was happy in my garden. Mr TG liked it though and so it fell victim to his shovel.


Here's a view looking onto his garden from my polytunnel - nice and exposed to the sea, just how all these plants like it. NOT!!
It doesn't show too well in the picture but it has loads of willow and ash saplings planted (and a few fruit trees of mine he pinched), you can also see a few Rhododendrons and the Gunnera I gave him in return for giving me back the Fatsia he had pinched from my polytunnel.


This is the the side of his garden and there are saplings of this stuff running wild where he has planted. I honestly think he believes that I can produce a miracle plant that will smother all this before it takes hold.


A half dead Rhododendron in the foreground but I did give him a couple that were in bloom too - hopefully they'll survive.



I do take the mick out of Mr TG for this haphazard, devil may care attitude toward gardening and planting but I get the funny feeling that next year each and every one of these plants is growing to be thriving (except the Fig because it died as I expected). I have long suspected that my pandering to plants followed by my impatience is my downfall and prevents me having the garden look that I want. Mr TG may just prove me wrong and show that leaving plants to their own devices and not interfering or prematurely pulling them up may produce an established garden quicker than I've ever managed, and if that happens to be the case then I will never hear the end of it - guess I'll just have to claim it's beginners luck.

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