LJN Blog Posts

I posted a blog about this garden 6 weeks ago, and since then the build has continued well. Saying that, I think all builds go through phases when they seem to be taking shape really fast, and others when you wonder if it will ever be finished, and I get the feeling that just now the energy on-site has faded slightly, and they're not yet at that stage when they're so close to finishing that it gets exciting again. Clients get tired of living surrounded by builders and mess, and just want it to be over. At least with this job, we haven't hit any major obstacles*, so it's just steady progress towards an emerging end product.

I went away on holiday and came back to find the rammed earth wall substantially complete. I had been very keen to see it happening and get involved, but they couldn't delay it as that would have messed up the schedule. In fact it sounded as though it was very hard work as the space was too confined to use the mechanical rammer, and all the work had to be done by hand. Some very tired bodies at the end of that... I'm really pleased with the way the different coloured layers have come out, deliberately random rather than straight lines. Due to the force applied against the shuttering, there is a certain amount of undulation in the curve of the wall - we're all quite relaxed about this as it is a hand-made, organic sort of structure, and this should actually look quite interesting in the uplighters. It's now drying out and getting paler. There's lime in the mix to stabilise it, and a lime-rich mortar mix with a gutter in on the top, to shed water, so hopefully it should be weatherproof.

One thing to bear in mind when designing with rammed earth is that the structures are of necessity fairly chunky. If I had been building this wall in other materials, I would have made it slimmer, and the bulk of it is quite imposing, though this will become less dominant as the planting matures.

Some lovely stone work, and we've all been very happy with the effect of the sawn Yorkstone slabs and setts, from Marshalls. Jim has been meticulous in sawing stone on site to ensure the size of joints are minimised. Nearer the house the stone size matches the house bricks to create a link.

Planting is starting to go in, which makes a big difference, though I am of course impatient to see it once it's settled in and started to grow. Planting at this time of year should give the plants a chance to make a bit of root growth before the Winter, so they should grow away well in the Spring. A few borderline hardy plants like Verbena bonariensis won't be planted until the Spring, and we may either fleece others like Phormium and prostrate Rosemary, or even lift and protect in the greenhouse, if the weather looks like getting really severe. I would love the hedging to be more mature, but budgets are not unlimited, and the clients understand that gardens are not instant and are prepared to wait a few years for the effect to emerge.

The water features are to be commissioned shortly, and seeing these filled will make a big difference, even if the aquatic plants won't be available until next year. I've been specifying the aquatic planting and trying hard to keep it simple and bold, rather than being tempted to include all of my favourites. The planting beds in the main pond include gravel beds which will help to clean the water, which will circulate through the gravel, and underneath we have built hiding places for fish as they like to have refuges.

Laying turf and putting down the wearing course on the self-binding gravel paths will suddenly bring everything together, but these are of course final jobs.

*And then of course, there's the small matter of a summerhouse... an on-going legal dispute with neighbours has so far held this up for many months, so that while the rest of the garden moves towards completion, one corner remains untouched apart from the abandoned foundations, like a slumbering elephant in the garden. But that's another story...