Judith's and Joseph's Garden -- a Greenhouse, some Trees, a Pond, and some Frogs and Flowers

At last to see some photos of our garden. And where better to start than with the clutter of the side passage -- in the photograph below, you're looking towards the window which lights the dining area; north is to your right and east is behind you. The kitchen window is visible beyond the black downpipes on the left of the picture, and the back door is beyond that. The rest is potting benches, stacks of pots, window boxes, hanging baskets and God knows what else which, believe me, I try to keep in some sort of order.

The logical stopping place after the side passage is the lean-to greenhouse attached to the east-facing back wall of the house. Here are two views of the drip irrigation system for the greenhouse -- on the left, to water the grow-bags of tomatoes and cucumbers, and on the right to water the trays of flowers and seedlings. (You will note that both photographs reveal a certain amount of background clutter. Look, I try to keep this stuff in order, too, but these Judiths just don't understand the concept of tidiness....)

Greenhouse Irrigation System 1 (29 June)

Greenhouse Irrigation System 2 (29 June)

As remarked, we're growing cucumbers in our greenhouse this year -- an Estonian variety called "izjastnoi". (Precisely how anyone grows cucumbers at Estonian latitudes, except in greenhouses, is left as an exercise for the reader.) Here are a couple of photographs of them -- they're crunchy and slightly dry, quite unlike the bland standardised EU-mandated variety obtainable in supermarkets, and 15-18cm long when ready to be picked:

Out into the garden now, to see what else we're growing this year. The garden is east facing, and crams a lot into its 15 feet wide by 35 feet long compass -- a mini-orchard of minarette apple and pear trees (varieties bred to put out small, vertical branches close to the trunk, and so take up less room), a small lawn on which (we have ascertained) eight people can sit in relative comfort (i.e., provided they don't sprawl, and don't mind sitting very close together), a small pond (inserted as an afterthought, many months after the garden plan had been more or less finalised -- but nevertheless very attractive to the local frogs, who have spawned here every year since it was dug), and as many herbs, vegetables and flowers as we can fit in. Here are two general views, looking east from adjacent to the greehouse (on the left) showing Judith doing something-or-other on the lawn; and west from the lawn back towards the greenhouse (and the slightly wonky birdtable -- but the lean helps it drain, of course).

Since we're looking at the apple trees, here are some close-ups of their produce -- blossoms in the spring and apples in the summer. The first pair of photographs were taken on 23 April and the second on 5 and 26 July.

Retreating slightly westwards, though, let's look at the sunny south-facing fence on the northern side of the garden. We've used this to grow peas, beans and tomatoes, sometimes in rotation and sometimes together; this year we're growing tomatoes (again). Below, on the left, Judith digs out oxalis (a weed so persistent and indestructible that it can't even be composted -- it has to be thrown out with the weekly rubbish collection) and, on the right, plants cherry tomatoes.

Beyond the arch, still on the northern side of the garden, we're growing french beans -- and as a bog plant, they've done really well from the water-diverter and soaker hose irrigation system we installed earlier this year. (We'll see that in more detail later.) Next to the beans is the pear tree, another beneficiary of the soaker hose irrigation system (as, indeed, are the apple trees).

At the end of the garden is the pond -- a bit small, a bit shallow, triangular-shaped to fit around the cherry tree that was there before it, but nevertheless (as we said earlier) very attractive to the local frogs. Some photographs of them follow the picture of the pond. (The round white flowers in the background are called thrift (Armeria maritima).)

The shadier, southern side of the garden is partly given over to flowers. Here are some pictures of some of them -- lilies, aquilegia, phlox, lilies again, geraniums, honesty, shasta daisies and a mixed planting of red opium poppies and blue cornflowers.

More than enough flowers, I think. Let's finish now with some photographs of the water-diverter and soaker hose irrigation system I mentioned earlier -- beginning with a picture of the pullcord-operated diverter inserted into the bathwater outfall pipe and the supply pipe which carries the diverted water around the back of the house above the greenhouse:

Cleanliness is supposed to be next to godliness

Or so say those who believe in supreme beings

The supply pipe comes down to the ground at the fence side of the greenhouse and feeds into the soaker hose via a push-fit connector. The main hose runs around the perimeter of the garden, with spur lines running off to the apple trees and the french beans. The hose is laid on the surface, for easier maintenance, and cut into sections (joined by more push-fit connectors) for the release of air bubbles which tend to accumulate because of its narrow bore. The photographs below show the supply pipe connecting to the soaker hose; the end of the spur line through the apple trees (showing the traditional "June drop" of budding apples -- although that happened in May, because of the drought, and since laying the hose we haven't lost another apple); a general shot of the hose running along the fence line; the spur line to the french beans, incidentally showing the side-effects of this extra water -- viz, extra weeds; the cap on the end of the soaker hose, where it terminates on the other side of the path from the greenhouse; and a BBC cameraman filming our garden irrigation system on 16 July for inclusion in a featurette on viewers' water-saving ideas for Gardeners' World on 27 July. Fame at last! Well, fifteen seconds' worth of it, anyway....

But we couldn't care less what supreme beings say about cleanliness

Recycling 'grey water' which otherwise runs off into the river system

And was featured on television. So there!

Web page created 2-9 August 2003 by Joseph Nicholas.
Text and photographs copyright 2003 by Joseph Nicholas.

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