None of the projects in my last post were actually completed. My Dad's health started to deteriorate and I eventually became his full-time carer, which didn't leave any time for projects in the garden. Dad passed away, on June 13th 2019, which meant I had plenty of time on my hands. After returning to work for a short time, I finally retired in September 2022, so starting the garden makeover seemed like a good idea.
Six years of neglect does leave its mark - all the nettles I had pulled out in 2017 had returned and brought all their friends with them, plus a whole load of brambles and what seems like several million wild raspberries - you know, the sort that grow about 5 feet tall, but have barely any fruit on. Anyway, it all has to come out. And it wasn't just the vegetable garden that suffered. The whole garden was pretty weedy! So when the weather improved in the spring of 2023, I set to and began to create the garden I always wanted.
The garden is divided into several areas. There's the driveway, then when you come in from there, you are in what was call the 'side garden' (due to it being on the side of the house lol). Walking round the front of the house from the side garden you come into the main garden - that's had something of a facelift too. From there, round the other side of the house there is a the square garden - you guessed it, it's pretty much square! There is a gate from that garden, opposite the house, into the 'long garden', which runs the length of the whole garden, from the road to the end of the vegetable plot. Then we have the area behind the garages, the vegetable garden and the orchard - all of which are in serious need of attention.
To be fair, I actually started last May (2022), when I made the circular bed in the side garden properly circular and added suitable flowers. I bought some small box hedging plants and created four sections. The plan at that time was to divide each section into three triangles, then grow some tall plants in the middle section, with heuchera filling in the smaller triangles. Then my neighbour said she no longer wanted that urn, seen in the photo, so asked if I'd like it. Looks great in the middle of the circular bed.
Then, in October/November, when I raked and scarified the front lawn, cut back an overhanging branch of the beech tree, and sowed meadow grasses and flowers. I also mowed paths through the lawn so it looks like leaving the grass to grow 2 feet tall is deliberate. That same month, I cleared the bed from the laurel bush in one corner to the silver birch that's next to the beech tree. I planted hundreds of bulbs, pulled out all the brambles, dug it over, rescued some shrubs that had become swamped and planted a few other things too. The plan is that it will be a bed full of flowers for bees and butterflies. We had an old water tank from the bathroom too, that we decided to use as a planter. Still haven't quite decided what to put in it!
Didn't gpo a bundle on photos, so what you see is what you get lol
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