The excitement of sitting down and planning a brand new garden is pretty special and I was very much in my element! All our dreams, ideas and inspiration have gone down on this paper and I can only hope that in a couple of years time we’ll be looking at these plans coming to life in reality. It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed at this point, there’s so much that needs to be done before we can even start digging our dream garden and right now we’re waiting on a few professionals to remove the hedges and level off the ground before we can really start…
The previous owners used to have an allotment in the garden so therefore we thought it only right to continue on growing in the same area tucked around the corner of our plot. However, we’re going to make the plot bigger to reach the grand old size of 32 metres by 21 metres. There’s already a tatty hedge running around the old plot so we’re going to replant a new hedge around the new plot with wooden gated entrances (one to keep the dog out and two because it will look pretty and neat!) There’s a closed down bakery running along one boundary of the plot so the idea is to let the hedge grow a little taller here for a bit of privacy, whereas the rest of the hedging will no doubt grow to around 1.2m in height.
The whole idea was to try and create a rather traditional kitchen garden, so we’ll be having 4 large rotational vegetable beds which measure 9 metres by 6 metres. They’ll be gravel paths surrounding all 4 beds with a rose pergola in the centre to create a beautiful focal point. Amongst the rows of vegetables we’ll also be dotting in some rows of flowers, inspired by RHS Wisley a few years ago now it worked really well back on the allotment back in 2021 and I loved seeing them all mix together in perfect harmony. Along some of the edges of these large beds we’ll be planting some perennial flowers and vegetables such as a lavender hedge, rhubarb, artichokes and asparagus.
They’ll also be a cut flower bed right next to the potting shed which measures roughly 5 metres by 2 metres, this will be filled purely with perennial flowers. Now the idea was to have one bed of Dahlias, but that meant over 50 dahlias would fit in this bed and believe me it was tempting! Instead I’ve opted for some rows of Gladioli, 25 dahlias (for now!) and possibly some peonies although no doubt I’ll find more perennial flowers to fill this bed with over the next year.
A compost bin and storage area will be situated near the old pig sty on the over side of the plot away from the main seating area and structures. For some reason we just can’t find it in our hearts to destroy the pig sty so we’ll be using this small building to store things like pots, bags of compost and other larger sundries. 3 large compost bins will also be erected here and hidden by some fence panels and a hedge.
We’ve been told that in the past this used to be an orchard farm but unfortunately only around 4 apple trees remain. Not for long though as we’ll be re-instating a new little orchard down in this corner with hopefully 8 trees in total consisting of apples, plums and pears. Below them will be a wild flower meadow with a pathway mown into it and some chickens roaming freely around. I’ve always wanted to keep chickens so this is a life long dream of mine and I’m also hoping to add a few Indian Runner ducks to the mix too. Along with chicken keeping we’ll also be trying our hand at bee keeping and I’ve recently joined the local society with plans to go on a bee keeping course next year. The two hives (empty until we’re ready!) will live in the orchard and no doubt they’ll be yet another table and chairs here so we can relax amongst apples and chickens.
I’ve also gone and ordered over 150 bare rooted edible hedging to run along the far left boundary of our plot which won’t be delivered until November but I can’t wait. We have a field of sheep next door which is lovely but the dogs are obsessed, so what better way to screen them off with a hedge you can harvest from? They’ll be elderflowers, crabapples, sloe berries, cherry plums, hawthorns, dog roses, damsons and juneberries galore!
My Dad is pretty keen on having a polytunnel so we’ve created a little separate area leading off from the kitchen garden especially for the tunnel and a fruit cage. Yet again this will be edged by a low hedge and the main plan is to extend the growing season inside the polytunnel so we can try and be as self sufficient as possible. The fruit cage will house lots of blackcurrants, raspberries and gooseberries which I’m rather excited about, we never seemed to have a big enough harvest from the old allotment to make much with!
In front of the polytunnel area will be a big rose bed and I’m hoping to head to David Austin’s gardens next Summer to stock up on more varieties. Both me and my mum love roses so we’ll be working on this area together, adding our favourite shrubs and hopefully using the petals for medicinal and edible goodies.
For all those wondering if the little purple potting shed will be making an appearance… I’m afraid it won’t. However, as we have a much bigger plot the plan is to have a bigger potting shed and I for one can’t wait (you all know how much I love a good shed!) The new shed will be roughly 16ft by 8ft (4.8m by 2.4m) with a high roof so there’s room to hang dried flowers up without knocking your head on them. It will be clad in wood with a small brick wall around the base to prevent rot, a tiled or galvanised roof and 3 windows to let in as much sunlight as possible. Inside they’ll be a large potting bench, a wall to hang all the tools, shelving for terracotta pots and an apple crate rack to store the harvests. Of course not forgetting my little oven for the most important job, tea making! They’ll also be an armchair by a window to sit down with a cuppa and enjoy the view on those rainy days… I’m quite excited about this part. Then it comes down to the colour and we haven’t decided that far ahead yet, I’d quite like either a Lavender shed in ode to it’s predecessor or I’m also rather fond of black sheds. However, my Dad likes neither and we’re at a bit of a stalemate!
Along with the shed the other main building will be a brand new greenhouse and we have big plans for this as well although it might be awhile until it turns into reality. We’re currently looking at sizes around 7 metres by 4 metres so that we can turn one end of it into a little seating area/summer house whilst the other end would be used solely for growing. No doubt in the future we’ll add some cold frames to either side of the porch area and I’ve always dreamed of having a indoor grapevine running along the top ridge. In front of the greenhouse will be two raised beds each measuring 2m by 2m, full of strawberries and maybe even a sweet pea archway joining the two.
Originally we had planned to have the greenhouse and potting shed at separate ends of the plot but decided quite quickly that it would be nice to have them altogether. This way we could create a little paved courtyard area where we could sit and enjoy the view and also run between the shed and greenhouse if it was raining!
I’m pretty sure the plan will no doubt change over the next 8 months before the next growing season kicks off but you get the general idea. It was a lot harder sitting down and drawing this very first plan of the new garden then I thought it would be and like I’ve already mentioned there’s a lot of work to do before it will start looking remotely like this… But the dream is there and it’s re-ignited my passion for gardening. I honestly can’t wait to get stuck in and to take you all on the journey with me!
Comments (2)