In The Beginning

To be honest, in the beginning there was nothing, no garden, no even a fence!  We bought the house in 2003, brand new from a developer.  Before we signed the deeds, the garden boundary hadn't even been sorted out, so we didn't actually know how big our plot would even be.

When we moved in, the fence had been put up and turf had been thrown down.  Literally.  When I lifted an edge, I found a brick and a large tree branch underneath!  The turf was so badly laid we had the developer take it all up, rake the ground and lay it again.  The second time around was better but not brilliant.  There was also a paving slab path running to the back gate.

In short, it was a blank canvas.

I planted some daffodil bulbs and put up a few hanging baskets.  Not being much of a gardener though, we called in a landscaper after the first year, to lay a patio and make the garden a bit more interesting.  The work took a few weeks and I have to say, we were really pleased with the results.  I have never seen anyone take so much time and care pointing a patio.

I didn't want straight lines and as you can see, the patio was given a curved edge with a winding path to the back gate.  With a small garden, I think the wavy path makes the garden seem longer as it takes you eye longer to travel along it. I love the red bricks which edge the light patio stone.

As the end of the garden sloped, the area was dug out, with railway sleepers used as a retaining wall.  A small concrete base was laid as the foundations for a garden shed.

Now, five years later, shrubs have grown, the garden is maturing and I am definitely still learning to be a gardener.  I have decided to write this blog really as a diary of my garden for myself.  I have a tendancy to plant shrubs and then have no idea what they are!  Hopefully, by blogging my activities, I will have a permanent record.

That's the theory anyway!