One Garden at a Time

 Fast forward to 2023 (ie now). It's been rather wet and cool so far this year, apart from a couple of weeks when it was the exact opposite and everything got far too dry. But that hasn't stopped the work. In March, we had some work done on our roof and chimney and I used that time to clear the terrace (a paved area at the bottom of the steps in front of the front door). And I decided to start on the side garden. Why there? Because that's the first place people see when they come in from the driveway and first impressions count. After Dad passed away, I dug up all the plants from his garden and put them in a bed in the side garden as a kind of memorial garden for him.

The arch between Dad's memorial bed and the next one finally collapsed. It had been in for about 15-20 years and had rotted through on the legs. Then the bed the other side of the arch was overgrown with monbretia/crocosmia. I dug it all out, but kept the rose bushes, even though they are far too leggy. Hopefully that can be rectified in time with proper pruning. I also kept the London Pride. Everything else was dug out and replaced. I'm pretty hopeless at remembering to take photos, so none of the progress there, but I'm resolved to do better for the next project.

The side garden is divided into several sections - post box to lilac, lilac corner, lilac to tree, tree to shrubbery, and the two beds along the footpath. Then the - erm, what should I call it? Well, the conservatory. It's also in the side garden and was in a sorry state of disrepair. It had become a dumping ground for all sorts of JUNK! So what to tackle first?

I decided to start with lilac corner. Cleared the weeds, rediscovered some plants I hadn't seen for a while (some of them were none too happy and if I haven't done so already, will probably be moved elsewhere). I decided to turn the corner into a rock garden. The corner is a mound, with the lilac bush on top and surrounded by trees. I had a supply of free rocks, which I placed in a zig-zag pattern. I will need to collect some more to finish the job, but at the moment, they are buried under the growth where they are, so will need to wait until the grass dies down a bit. I also collected some larger rocks to place around randomly. New plants - low growing spreading rock plants, placed between the zigs and zags

Okay, that's enough for now - next project tomorrow