I have been working at uncovering an Italian Water Garden (constructed c.1840) for some months now. It is situated in the SW of England, on a NE-facing slope, and is damp and shady. It was a thicket of woody stems and trailing vines when I started - and I almost needed a machete to cut my way into it - but, discerned amid the gloom, I could see the following plants: a Chusan Palm (hardy, from the Himalayas); two species of bamboo, Box, two Italian cypresses, Sweet Bay, Hollies, a Garrya elliptica (male probably - the tassels are longer), Cordylines, Phormiums, and the remains of what appears to be a Yucca. And, of course, at ground level I could see hundreds of ferns - principally Hart's Tongue Fern.
At the bottom of the slope is a 5m-diameter sunken pond and, at its centre is a plinth with a statue at its top. This statue will contain the fountain nozzle for, in an Italian Garden, the verticals of the conifers are taken up by the verticals of the tall conifers. I have suggested that the Italian motif, carved on to the statue, might be: 'Si non qui, dove' (if not here, then where) for the whole environment embodies a mood of passion, secrecy, and silence.
At the outset, the sunken pond was full of brambles and ivy and moss. No water. And no pump. There had been a pump, sending water up to a header pool and from there it tumbled down a series of stone basins into the sunken pond. It took me a number of mornings of toil in the empty pond, to cut through the brambles, heave bricks, stones, and planting baskets, over the side in order to have the pond's interior empty of plant life, wild life (slow worms and toads) and anything else that shouldn't be there.
The principal 'weeds' are Ash seedlings, Holly seedlings, brambles, ivy and, at the top of the slope, day lilies. Never plant day lilies if you feel you may want to eradicate or move them: the roots form fused, fleshy - concrete-like - solid masses which penetrate the soil for at least 30cm. Every time you, with difficulty, excavate a spade load, it feels like it weighs the same as an average-size boulder: and then you have to lug it to the bottom of the slope to the area assigned to the bonfire and compost pile. I have felt prostrated by my endeavours in this arena. As for the Ash seedlings (amounting to thousands) my plan is to apply some SBK brushkiller, in the growing season, to freshly-cut stump ends. This will be quite a long job!
Having spent quite some hours digging yesterday morning, I have realized that the topsoil comprises a heavy, sticky, viscous clay loam. A few weeks ago, I used a soil meter to try to determine the pH of the soil and, to my astonishment, it ranged from 3.0-5.0 (3.0 is ultra acid) at the top of the slope. I found the 3.0 virtually unbelievable as the pH of concentrated hydrochloric acid is 1.0; however the meter is giving more normal readings (6.5-7.5) in different soils. The subject of pH is quite interesting. A pH of 7.0 is neutral - neither acid nor alkaline - but, if you drop down to a pH of 6.0, then that pH x10 more acid than the neutral pH. pH drops, or rises, exponentially with every unit up or down the scale. The nutrient content of the soil also of course varies with the acidity/alkalinity of the soil, with macro/micro plant nutrients becoming less available to plant roots in extreme conditions.
Cheeringly, however, the possibility of an acid pH at the top of the slope (which has three flights of stone steps running down it) means that we can consider planting plants which positively require an acid soil. So (given I can lever out some day lilies) I am thinking of adding a double red Camellia and an Erica arborea (Tree Heath) to the plants at the top of the slope. We will see!
At the bottom of the slope is a 5m-diameter sunken pond and, at its centre is a plinth with a statue at its top. This statue will contain the fountain nozzle for, in an Italian Garden, the verticals of the conifers are taken up by the verticals of the tall conifers. I have suggested that the Italian motif, carved on to the statue, might be: 'Si non qui, dove' (if not here, then where) for the whole environment embodies a mood of passion, secrecy, and silence.
At the outset, the sunken pond was full of brambles and ivy and moss. No water. And no pump. There had been a pump, sending water up to a header pool and from there it tumbled down a series of stone basins into the sunken pond. It took me a number of mornings of toil in the empty pond, to cut through the brambles, heave bricks, stones, and planting baskets, over the side in order to have the pond's interior empty of plant life, wild life (slow worms and toads) and anything else that shouldn't be there.
The principal 'weeds' are Ash seedlings, Holly seedlings, brambles, ivy and, at the top of the slope, day lilies. Never plant day lilies if you feel you may want to eradicate or move them: the roots form fused, fleshy - concrete-like - solid masses which penetrate the soil for at least 30cm. Every time you, with difficulty, excavate a spade load, it feels like it weighs the same as an average-size boulder: and then you have to lug it to the bottom of the slope to the area assigned to the bonfire and compost pile. I have felt prostrated by my endeavours in this arena. As for the Ash seedlings (amounting to thousands) my plan is to apply some SBK brushkiller, in the growing season, to freshly-cut stump ends. This will be quite a long job!
Having spent quite some hours digging yesterday morning, I have realized that the topsoil comprises a heavy, sticky, viscous clay loam. A few weeks ago, I used a soil meter to try to determine the pH of the soil and, to my astonishment, it ranged from 3.0-5.0 (3.0 is ultra acid) at the top of the slope. I found the 3.0 virtually unbelievable as the pH of concentrated hydrochloric acid is 1.0; however the meter is giving more normal readings (6.5-7.5) in different soils. The subject of pH is quite interesting. A pH of 7.0 is neutral - neither acid nor alkaline - but, if you drop down to a pH of 6.0, then that pH x10 more acid than the neutral pH. pH drops, or rises, exponentially with every unit up or down the scale. The nutrient content of the soil also of course varies with the acidity/alkalinity of the soil, with macro/micro plant nutrients becoming less available to plant roots in extreme conditions.
Cheeringly, however, the possibility of an acid pH at the top of the slope (which has three flights of stone steps running down it) means that we can consider planting plants which positively require an acid soil. So (given I can lever out some day lilies) I am thinking of adding a double red Camellia and an Erica arborea (Tree Heath) to the plants at the top of the slope. We will see!