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The Garden House (Devon, England)

The destinations are beginning to blur but looking at the tour guide booklet, I see that we are now in Plymouth. Today, we visited two gardens designed by Keith Wiley.  The first is The Garden House , where Wiley worked as Head Gardener for 25 years (from 1978-2003). The 10-acre estate was purchased in the 1940s by former Eton schoolmaster Lionel Fortescue and his wife Katherine. It was formerly home to the  vicars of Buckland Monachronum. The Fortescue's renovated the gardens and ran a market garden business and raised cattle.  The remains of some of the original buildings in the vicarage still stand in the garden and serve as a romantic backdrop in the Walled Garden - I loved the way they had massed ferns together. Just stunning! Surrounding the walled garden and venturing out away from the house are more naturalistic plantings  - Today, the head gardener is Nick Haworth, who was previously head gardener at Greenway , which we visited earlier.  Keith Wiley lef...
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Gardening: Not for the Faint of Heart

My friend Rebecca posted this on her blog (a private blog) and she gave me permission to repost it here. I didn't know she was taking photos. It does look a bit scary doesn't it?!!


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My friend Phillip and I went to the land fill the other day to get mulch/dirt for our gardens.  Usually we have to load our trucks ourselves, which is a bit of work.  This time, a very helpful city employee was there and loaded our trucks for us.  It was great to have the help.  It saved us lots of time and effort.  At the same time, it was a little unnerving to have that giant machine so close to our vehicles, especially while we were in the vehicles!





Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. BeckyMay 7, 2012 at 9:50 AM

    It's such a satisfying thump when the mulch hits the bed of the truck. As long a only the view out the rear window disappears all is well. It's great to get all that mulch so fast. Actually I think it's less stress to be in the truck than to see the action from a distance.

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  2. Lisa at GreenbowMay 7, 2012 at 11:18 AM

    We get our mulch this way all the time. I can't imagine having to shovel it all INTO the truck and then having to unload it too. UGH.
    Do you have to pay for your mulch?? It would be worth it if it was free.

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  3. Phillip OliverMay 7, 2012 at 11:23 AM

    Lisa, it is free but it is rare to have someone load it for you. You usually have to load yourself. A lot of work!

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  4. Rob (ourfrenchgarden)May 7, 2012 at 12:01 PM

    Excellent. A truck of the good stuff loaded for free. I know how much work a JCB or similar saves!

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  5. Gardener on Sherlock StreetMay 7, 2012 at 6:49 PM

    Our city provided equipment to load trucks once when the compost site was new to encourage people to take some home. Now, it's shovel, shovel, shovel. It is nerve racking but they know better than you how close they are to your truck. Hope it makes your garden grow!!!

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  6. UnknownMay 8, 2012 at 7:24 AM

    The only way we get it loaded for us is to hand the man some cash!

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  7. Rosedale GardenMay 9, 2012 at 3:57 AM

    Phillip, you need to ride with me out to the landfill to show me where to get a load. My big Ram1500 will take a while to fill up and unloaded. Our landfill in Tuscumbia doesn't offer it. Sheffield utilities offered it at one time & I heard they would load. I need call them. Have fun using it. Mary

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  8. PatriciaMay 10, 2012 at 7:22 AM

    Oh if only I had a truck! Had some delivered a years ago, I'm just now getting through all of it.

    Very cool that the city worker helped you out; that would never happen in my neck of the woods.
    I miss the south!

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