Recruits hard at work

Beginning of April 2011
It being April Fool's Day and Mother's Day, we invited Mum and Dad L to come and do some more gardening. (Perhaps this is a good point to explain that Husband is plumbing in the toilet and sink, so is far too busy to be pleasing the worms as well.) They arrived bearing numerous offerings from the shady side of their garden, and the gardens of Auntie Margaret, Auntie Marian and Grandma (plus meringues). Mum L spent Friday afternoon digging over the dry border under the north facing wall and planting the offerings.


Mum L modelling the latest in garden fashion

Dad L dug over the sunny border against the south facing fence, removed the turf from Bed D, and re-turfed the border and various bald patches in the grass.


Dad L working on the border edging

Brother Mike, having completed his last exam until summer 2012, came over the next day and was put to work on excavating Bed D. It took him and Dad L all day to dig it out as there was mounds of rubble as well as lengths of electrical wiring dumped by builders.

Bro' Mike and Dad L

Dad L with rubble

Mum L spent about 3 hours mulching the entire garden with chips from the eucalyptus and leylandii that had been quietly rotting in corners since October 2010. 

Newly mulched shady border

Mum and Dad J came round for an inspection (and Mothers Day lunch) after the troops had rested. Dad L insisted upon mowing the grass as the finishing touch, aided by Husband with Dad J inspecting.

Dad J skipping with delight at the lovely garden

The garden has really transformed since being a plain lawn with empty beds around the edges, overshadowed by trees and a giant hedge (by-the-by, apparently the leylandii was 10ft high, not a mere 6ft - either seems very tall to me!). Many thanks to all the family for their hard work and numerous plant donations, without which we'd still be drawing plans and dreaming of carrots. Bean did not show up on Mother's Day so perhaps a few more seeds planted might mean the baby deigns to show itself.

Getting ready for action

Autumn 2010

Eucalyptus, October 2010

After our tutting about the state and situation of the eucalyptus, Dryad Tree Specialists came to remove it at the end of October 2010. They cut useful wood into logs and ground out the stump. They also ground out the stumps of the leylandii hedge which Husband had previously taken great delight in decimating with a chainsaw. The goat willow was pruned, having become a bit overexcited, being in danger of knocking down the large garden wall and impeding lorries on the road. A branch of the silver birch was removed as it was rubbing against the main trunk, causing damage. Husband had removed the dying elder a month previously. Dryad shredded all of the smaller twiggy material and left us with a big sackful to be used as mulch.


Pruning the goat willow, October 2010

As an aside, we have a dream of installing a wood burning stove in the kitchen. This probably won't happen since the person we got in to quote never actually supplied one, having had a good nosey all over the house, thus leading us to believe it is way beyond our budget! A log pile is still good for insects and makes use of what will no doubt be yearly culls of the goat willow.


Naked garden!

With the aid of Uni Julie (who was obviously in dire need of entertainment!), we removed a layer of weed suppressant membrane from the patch between the garage and the ground eucalyptus stump. The garden was now laid bare, ready for plans to be put into action. However, frost, ice and snow meant that the garden was nigh on inoperable from November 2010 until February 2011, which was somewhat vexatious.