Review - Restoration of structures
The Plan
One year on, I thought it would be good to take stock and see where I am with the goals set in the previous year. A kind of appraisal if you will, where I give myself a rating for each header. Looking back, there were seven main aims for the year:
Restoration of structures.
Increase diversity of plants.
Reduce Rhododendron coverage.
Create a multi-tiered forest structure.
Expand wildflower coverage.
Using mixed hedges, delineate areas around the grounds.
Encourage more wildlife back into the grounds.
Restoration of structures.
Rating : 5 out of 10
Positives
The wall after being dismantled
In some instances, this has gone quite well. I have managed to completely dismantle the two collapsed walls at the rear of the house. Once completely dismantled, I then had the super long process of putting the walls back together (I hadn’t quite understood how hard dry-stone walling was) and then packing them with soil (again I did not realise how much soil would be needed, it used up all my reserves around the grounds). I thought I would let the plants that were in the wall grow freely and only do weeding when plants were being smothering. This worked out ok, the wildlife loved it, however visually, it was a little……busy. Going forward, I think I will try and get a balance of controlling what is there, but also, letting nature do it’s thing. Let’s see how it turns out.
Completely collapsed wall
After being painstakingly rebuilt
The Curling rink has now been completely cleared back and will have the curling slabs revealed to the light of day again once spring comes (I need to wait until spring so that I can cut through some of the thick roots that have grown across it). Once the slabs are clear, my attention will turn to the walkway down to the rink. This again needs to have the Rhododendrons cut back, however it also needs planting to denote what a beautiful feature it is. I have in my head four Fuchsia standards at either side of the entrances to the circle and then maybe roses around the sides and archways of something (depending on light levels) leading down to the rink. Although it could end up not looking anything like that, haha.
Before and after of the curling rink. I’m very excited to remove the moss.
Negatives
The driveway, paving around the swimming pool and stones around the herb garden have started to become ‘mossy’ again. From the perspective of the driveway, I just wasn’t sure how to stop the moss without using chemicals. However, my horticulture course has come in handy and with the help of a trusty flame thrower and rake, this should be back looking good again come the spring.
The Pool has been left, really because of COVID. We need a new pump and filter for it and as COVID hot we were not able to get them. As we couldn’t use the pool., maintaining that paving slabs around it went to the back of the long list of things to do.
The herb garden is just something that I should have maintained better, which I have plans for this coming year. The stones around it are going to be taken up and I am going to lay down some weed supressing membrane following the footprint of where the stones have been taken from. The stones will then go back on top and no one will be any the wiser (although the weeds will be kept at bay). The planting in the herb garden also needs to be changed. When we first moved up here, I had this thought in my head, that I could plant one of this plant and one of this plant and then they would be nice and spaced. In reality, the beds look super empty and the herbs growing aren’t really ones that I use all the time. I’m going to reorganise and replant this spring, so let’s see how it turns out.
There is also another, large, collapsed stone wall that will need either rebuilding, which I am dreading or taking down completely and replacing. We did find some very nice Iron fence pieces at an antiques place near here, which might work, or I could grow a hedge (in place of the wall) as the area is in full sun for most of the day. Not sure, although I’m really not looking forward to rebuilding another stone wall.
Last collapsed wall, which is waiting on a decision what we’re doing with it.
