Cleanup and transplanting

I'm broken! been digging lots of grass out. It is SO matted, thick and persistent!

Today I worked around the apple trees, removing all grass; placed a row of bricks behind them to stop grass roots (I hope); laid a piece of brick path; planted all the plants in small pots I had from garden centers (from thursday and still some from 16 april, I'll mark those *); mulched a bit. Doesn't sound like a lot but oof! digging out the grass is the hardest.

A "before" I found, just a bunch of old grass:

Some of the plants I got thursday I still haven't "inventorised" here.
Let's see:

Origanum syriacum Za'atar and an unidentified herb*, next to the pallet, beyond hyssop and chives.

From left to right behind the two apple trees, Digitalis grandiflora alba, Angelica archangelica, Alcea rosea nigra (150cm) and Digitalis lutea (70cm). So that's two types of foxgloves that I don't know if they will flower this year or the next, a giant angelica and a black hollyhock.

Angelica

Hollyhock

A bit further in, between the apple and the first foxglove, Lupinus Camelot white*. Further still and between the angelica and the first apple, a few white muscari*. On the other side of the brick path, close to the strawberry patch, three white lavenders*.

Viola odorata (sweet violet!!! :DD) I planted it between the roses on the right and the raspberries so they get some shade.

And the white iris* I planted between the left roses and the hyacinths, where they get a liiittle shadow.

Fig and other stuff

This one's from last weekend, we got hail:

This is a couple of days ago:

It froze at night. I put a fleece over the apple blossoms as a precaution.

And then I found this large bulb in the basket. Oops.
Peruvian daffodil. Been there for nearly two weeks.
Large! I planted it near the hyacinths.

All of these which follow I took today. It was a sunny day and all creatures were lazily sunning themselves.

Well, some were busy with lovemaking! video here.

Eyes!

Redcurrant

Hyacinths

Apple blossoms

Fig leaves

Peony

Wild strawberries

I planted some pole beans around these branches.

We'll see.

We dug out the fig again, the roots were still holding up nicely as they were in the pot. Pim dug a hole (about 60 cm cube, bit wider), we poured rubble (we got plenty) on the bottom, I lined the walls with recycled bricks (also got many), we then planted it back in.

This pallet has been a huge hit with the insects. I've never seen so many ladybugs together.
They are always crawling around it, sunning themselves, sheltering in the crannies.
Many other bugs are also always crawling around, lots of spiders!

Some Lensbaby indulgence, and...

I took out the Lensbaby today! I just love this lens. There's also a few taken with the 50mm and the 100mm macro. Guess which is which ;P

Some cherry tomato seedlings sprouted

And lettuce

I still need to plant these! I have no idea where to put the lavender...
Wheat will be the herb garden is now a mountain of soil.

These guys! We left a large pallet on the grass, and ladybugs seem to have
made a home out of it. At any time there are lots of them around!

At some point the strawberry bed got weeded and bedded with
the chippered branches from the willow tree we coppiced

I just like this overexposed blurry mess

White muscari waiting to be planted, I wanted white ones for a long time!

Some tulips from some bulb mix and roses

Louvre hyacinth

Hawthorn <3

Fern fronds

Fern fronds

More of the tulip-like-whatevers

Ginesta <3

A blue snail! apparently these eat the eggs of other snails (and other things).
Oxychilus alliarius. "Garlic snail", I think. 

We've been out in the garden most of the day (at it has been raining on and off all day also). Pim digging the terrace up, me just... what have I done today really? I don't know where the hours went, only planted the hazelnuts and the Japanese quince, and by the end and Pim had to help me dig and bring in soil and chips.

Been walking up and down a lot for sure, trying to visualise the "landscape", the view from every corner, thinking how to lay down the paths and beds and masses of plants and all that.

Since I wanted to plant the new bushes at the back, in what will be "room" 3 of the garden, I finally stopped wandering around, grabbed the hose and tried to lay down paths for that area before I decided where to plant.

I want to divide the garden in three chunks, since it is narrow and super long (5 to 8 metres wide by about 40 long). The first part will be the terrace (eventually we will build a conservatory over part of this large terrace) and kitchen (herb) garden. Second, orchard and vegetable garden. Third, berry orchard and shady fern corner.

So anyhow, I had a huge pile of old branches just where I wanted to plant the bushes, so I had to untangle the partially rotted mess and move it elsewhere (close to the hedge which will be a long term project anyway). That took me a while. As I worked I also picked out the bucketful of snails that were resting there and placed them elsewhere.

So finally the grass gor removed, the bushes got planted, the soil topped, the chips spread. By then it was pouring so I snapped a quick one with my phone:

Incredibly impressive eh? looking at the big picture is still quite deflating in my garden... these guys have a long way to go though. I posted about it yesterday, but I'll mention again the cultivars:
Corylus avellana 'Webb's prize cob', Chaenomeles × superba 'Jet Trail' (stays 1m high and 1m wide with a ground cover habit).

I have a pretty good idea of what I want and where, but the Japanese quince was a total impulse buy in the garden center. I am so glad though. This guy was totally unknown to me, but white blossoms attractive to bees, perfumed fruits, gnarly branches, cute ground cover habit, limited height and spread: I'm in! It is already pretty it's infancy. When I google I see mostly bright red blossomed varieties, that's a bit too much for me, but I've added "geisha girl" to my Pinterest plant board, those peachy blossoms are very tempting. I don't think I have the space for another, larger one even, though. Perhaps trained against a wall...

New rosebushes

I received these at work earlier than expected, being on vacation right now, so I had to go pick them up. They've been in water overnight+, a few hours completely submerged and then overnight with the branches sticking out of the water, despite the instructions I was apprehensive to leave everything submerged for so long.

Today I dug 3 holes and planted them, adding cow+chicken dried manure (can't find the rose fertiliser, perhaps it was finished)) and "bodemverbeteraar" (I think this is just compost). They're about 60-70 cm apart, but I only used my kneeling pad to measure distances ;P

The rosebushes I ordered from David Austin were a pair of Margaret Merrill and one Lark ascending. I wanted The nun but could not find it this year, boo.

Margaret Merrill, photo from DA
Floribunda. Dainty, high-centred, white buds with a satin-pink sheen. Exceptionally fragrant.
Up to 1x1 m

The Lark Ascending, photo from DA
Shrub Rose. A tall, airy shrub with clusters of fragrant, semi-double blooms.
Bears clusters of light apricot, semi-double, cupped blooms. The fragrance varies from tea to myrrh.
Vigorous and exceptionally healthy with tall, airy growth.
Up to 1.5x1.2 m

I planted them in a triangle layout, the Lark which supposedly grows taller and more leggy at the back. The lilac I planted last year is a bit behind and to the right.

As I dug the holes I dug out a few small bulbs, they look like muscari perhaps, and a couple of slightly bigger and darker ones, I have no idea what they were. I planted them back around the roses.