78 holes, 78 English Box...now wait 4 years!

[DeborahJane]

ATTACH=full]16540[/ATTACH]I've added a border to my partere (?spelling). It's summer here so i watered each of the 78 holes, waited for the water to absorb and sprinkled in water crystals before planting. I'm watering religiously so please keep your fingers crossef for me that they will survive. I know i could have waited for autumn but once I've made up my mind there's no stopping me. It's 3.30 am here and i can hear the rain so tomorrow i can relax. .
The reason behind thiis addition is mowing. The mower man, my husband, found it difficult to get around the angles and in fact has done some damage on some corners. Image.... Benny Hill skit of man on bike being chased by young woman in high heels shaking her fist ( i have a stand in for that bit). Now he can mow easily so we are both happy. I just have to be prepared now to wait for it to hedge...about 4 years judging by this one. I fancy shaping the new hedge into an elongated u, if that makes sense. I'm demonstrating with my hand but i don't think you can see.

 

[zigs]

Yep, I saw that hand gesture

Put some mulch down around them to keep the water in and keep Benny Hill away

Do you get Box Blight out there?

 

[Beth_B]

Wow that's a lot of hedge!

 

[Beverly]

I saw it too! who dug all those holes?

 

[DeborahJane]

Yep, I saw that hand gesture

Put some mulch down around them to keep the water in and keep Benny Hill away

Yep, I saw that hand gesture

Put some mulch down around them to keep the water in and keep Benny Hill away
Already did the mulch bit Zigs after layers of newspaper which I watered first. It's really raining at present so I am feeling very content re the safety of my new baby hedglings but in fact we do get Box Blight here so I'll keep an eye out for the culprit Not sure what to look for though.

Do you get Box Blight out there? View attachment 16545

Do you get Box Blight out there? View attachment 16545

 

[DeborahJane]

I saw it too! who dug all those holes?

I'm the hole digger Beverly. I'm afraid i just can't wait for anyone to do it in a reasonable time span so once I've made up my mind I'm off and running. Well, hobbling after all that digging and I'm so glad my gesticulating is coming across.

 

[DeborahJane]

Yep, I saw that hand gesture

Put some mulch down around them to keep the water in and keep Benny Hill away

Do you get Box Blight out there? View attachment 16545

I layered newspaper, watered it and then mulched, plus with the water crystals in the holes so i hope I've got it covered. Ofcourse lots of watering is essential. And yes zigs we do get Box Blight here so I'll have to keep a watch out for that although i don't know what to look for. I have one yellow branch on my original outer hedge but I'm sure that's due to the Benny Hill style of mowing

 

[Beverly]

Well, kudos for the 78 hole digger! A definite A+ for determination

 

[Becky]

My back aches just looking at that - good work!

It's beautiful. I imagine it will keep expanding until your whole garden looks like something out of a Jane Austen novel

 

[DeborahJane]

I just wanted to share my latest plans for my partere. I've decided that I really like the star shape and it will get lost once the outer hedge grows. My sister came up with what I think is the perfect solution. I'm going to leave the box on the corners, about a metre or a yard (7 box plants per corner) and remove the rest, leaving the mulch to define the outer edge between the 4 corner right angles. That way the mowing is still manageable and I get to keep the star shape..... win win! I'm still deciding where to transplant the 50 I remove to. I have my thinking cap on .

 

[alp]

It's lovely. You can take box cuttings very easily. If I can do it, you surely can do it. I mean taking cuttings. Such a lovely and unique feature in your garden. I bet your lawn man cries having to negotiate the corner, but hey, it is such a special feature.

 

[Robert Cummings]

Box blight can be treated quite easily with a bug killer ( pesticide ) available from local garden centre or hardware store.

 

[DeborahJane]

Thought I'd share my latest variation on a theme. I've now dug up my 78 plants, would you believe. I decided that I would loose my star once the square around my partere

was established. But the problem was the mowing around corners. So I decided the solution was to put crescents on the corners!! Lets hope I'll be happy with this one. I've used some of the "left overs" around my sundial and intend using the others to do a "Gaudi" box fence, like the one in Barcelona.......curved and undulating top. Wish me luck with that one.

 

[alp]

So nice to see this labour of love. We just don't have the land here. Well, not me!

 

[DeborahJane]

Thanks alp. It is a labour of love., really exhausting at times but oh so satisfying