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Get your garden out

Not really a garden tree but I wanted to show you this beauty that lives in a local cemetery, anyone want to guess what it is and it’s approximate age?

Long shot? Betula pendula? (Silver birch?) Age? if it is at least a century i guess... :)

If it is, it should have the fruit already ..
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Yes it is a big leaf lime tree, not as common as the small leaf variety.
Its true age is not known but suspected to be around 275 years old .
It is truly spectacular, so complex and dense and seemingly alive with movement and sound.
There are several trees in the cemetery that I don’t know what they are !
I will get more pictures next time we visit.
 
I recognised it might be a Tilia, I grew up on a street lined with Tilia x europaea; a hybrid between the small-leaved and large-leaved lime.

Awesome to look at but don't park your car under them in early summer it'll become covered in sticky sap and it's a favourite of moths, the larvae of which dangle from silk threads ready to fall in to the hair of unsuspecting passersby.

You can spot a resident because they'll meander down the pavement avoiding them, looking like they're drunk. Visitors just walk straight in to them...
 
Few people commented on my pond thread so thought I’d share a few pictures of the garden.

Moved into the property November last year, previous owners left the garden in a similar state to the house, to put it politely, my pigs on the family farm have better accommodation.

But we knew this when we bought it, it’s a project.

Before:


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3 trees felled, mountains of rubble and waste removed, hedges trimmed and fruit trees pruned, 6 trips to the tip with a 4 ton cattle trailer, 3 ton of soil and sand and a 10kg sack of grass seed to top dress the lawn (still not 100% but getting there) 45 litres of fence paint, and a lick of white paint on the pagoda we’re nearly there!


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After:
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Ignore the small frame, it’s to help the recovering grass.

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I’ve never really been a gardener but can honestly say have thoroughly enjoyed the allotment aspect of it! Things have moved on since these pictures were taken with things starting to grow rapidly.

I had to make these hinged netted frames, not for birds, but to stop our two cats using the beds as their toilet.
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Current list of hopeful produce are :
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions (red, yellow and spring)
Tender-stem broccoli
Leeks
Strawberry’s
Beetroot
Salad of all varieties
Radish’s
And dwarf french beans.

My current projects are 4 raised sleeper beds for my wife to have mini cutting gardens, providing flowers for the house.
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The bed below had an awful concrete seating area which I am half way through removing, skip is arriving next week!
The grass in this area is awful, the soil is dry as a result of the trees and hasn’t seen the light of day for the best part of 10 years! So I have yet to top dress it.

And I have agreed with the neighbours to remove the conifers on the condition that I replant some more, which I am happy to do, as it will rid me of the horrific site of them!

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And as previously mentioned a new garden pond at the end of the pagoda. This will also I turn provide the top soil for said raised beds!

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I have 8 days off coming up and I am thoroughly looking forward to a few hard days graft in the sun!

Hope everyone’s doing well!

Some loverly gardens about!


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Hi all,
I'll try and get a photo of the larger Platycerium in the glasshouse. I don't know how old it is, I've looked after it (should really have said "totally neglected it") since 1985, and it was already quite a large plant then. The only pest, or disease, it has suffered from was hosting a wasp's nest about five years ago.
You can water it a bit more freely with it outside, I leave the hose running into the cup of mine until water runs out. It is hanging up in the glasshouse and it is two man job to move it.
Fantastic Darrel! Do you have a picture?
Better late than never, this was this morning and apologies for the state of the glasshouse.

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cheers Darrel
 
Thanks Darrel, looks great! it seems a common practice to drape a banana skin over the main body!
I have not done this as yet.... what do you think ?
I have an Australian friend who told me he feeds his giant with banana skins every two weeks.
Ha said it must of consumed hundreds of them!
 
Hi all,
Thanks Darrel, looks great!
It had a few dead leaves, but overall not too bad considering the glasshouse has only had minimal maintenance since March.
it seems a common practice to drape a banana skin over the main body!I have not done this as yet.... what do you think ?
I think it should work, it would basically be like adding leaves, but with a bit potassium (K) etc.

I'd probably cut them up rather than using them whole, I also think Fruit flies might prove to be a nuisance in the summer.

cheers Darrel
 
I just spoke to my friend via Facebook, I have not actually seen him for 30 years, he lives in Perth and said there are hundreds on staghorns all over the place.
The one he has lives in a tree in his back garden and (jokingly) said it actually eats banana skins in a few days !
Apparently in the summer and just after rain, if he puts a skin on it, it will be covered over by new growth and literally disappears in a day or so!
Waiting for a photo......
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Been hard at it over lockdown, turning what was the 'builders yard' during the house Reno into veg garden and chicken run. 2/3 done and almost all upcycled materials.
Furlough starts again thursday so will be back on it.
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I don't whether you guys have seen this but if you considering a pond, check these out!


We certainly don't have such talent in Australia but maybe in the UK, you guys may have someone who can do water falls like these.

I am impressed how natural some of them look!
 
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