These pieces of plywood of various sizes work well as temporary stepping stones while working in the beds. Their advantages include

• Less compaction of the soil. My weight is spread over a greater area.
• Protection of plants and bulbs. The stepping stones can be carefully placed between them.
• Less mud transferred to the paths. The shoes remain clean.

Previous garden

I had five 2′ x 2′ x 2′ bins, a total of 40 cu ft = 1,130 litres. They worked well, and didn’t really take up any space because I could put pots on them. They were made of treated sawn softwood, and lasted about 15 years. Getting rotted compost out was  slightly inconvenient, but made easier because they were on concrete. This is not recommended by the experts, but it never gave me any trouble. I never bothered to turn the compost, just returning anything that hadn’t rotted to the newest bin as I was extracting compost.

New garden

I started with one large and one smaller Dalek-style plastic compost bins in this 1 meter wide gap between the N wall of the house and the boundary fence. They were difficult to use, and not really of sufficient volume. They were both full when I transferred their contents to bags before taking this picture.

I lined the end of the gap with treated boards and added battens so loose boards can be inserted to enclose the open side. Four boards at the front allow compost to be removed from the bottom of the heap without disturbing the boards behind which allow fresh green waste to be added to a height of about 2 meters. There’s a stop to keep the rear stack at the height shown. After returning all the compost from the bags the bin is slightly less than half full, so I’ve more than doubled capacity in less space, and the bin should be much easier to use. Dimensions are .8 x .87 x 1.73 m, so capacity is 1.2 cu m = 1,200 litres. Also the compost should stay warmer and rot better because it’s all in one volume.

There’s nearly 2 meters of paving which will allow compost to be got out without making a mess on the gravel. There will also be much more space for resting pots etc.

Chelsea was last week. I cut two thirds of the thalictrum in B2 and the lysimachia in B1 to about half height. We’ll see what happens.

See also May 18, May 17

Some santolinas, salvias, agastaches and erysimums look as though they might have been caught by the frost this last winter. I’ll give them another three weeks to show signs of life before replanting.

The thalictrum in B1 and B2 grew to about 8′ last year, which was too tall for B2. In about three weeks time I’ll give them a Chelsea Chop and see what happens.

See also May 17

This path is really rather too wide. The pots help, and I’ll try to plant some more overlapping edging this summer. If that fails I’ll enlarge the beds by making a new border, probably with rows of bricks. The metal edging would be hard to move, even though I’ve got some spare pieces, but it shouldn’t be difficult to get out.

Both my clematis montana plants are looking good. I’ll put up a few more wires on the front wall, and some ropes at the back so the plant can climb onto the back wall. The back clematis seems to have survived the heavy pruning last autumn.

This has a reputation as a bit of a thug. but I find it easy enough to control.

Watering facilities are essential. This arrangement is ugly and a waste of plant space.

Spring 2017

Hose and watering can moved round the side of the house to the S alleyway, and pots put in the vacant space under the tap. Ultimately quite a big plant, perhaps a bamboo, can go here. The tap is not very conspicuous and doesn’t seem worth moving.