Discovering the garden

 We've been thinking about the garden for a while. Lots before we moved in,  as there hasn’t really been time since, but now much of the house is done we have had time to get back to sunny thoughts and how we might use the garden. 

It’s north facing, but actually really sunny however, it has a rotten shed and some of the ugliest plants you can imagine. The neighbours tell us the previous owner never went into the garden, and it shows. It’s tidy, but uninspiring. We have lots of ideas, things that mean we can leave and head off in Agy for long periods if we want to, but also somewhere we can spend the summer, have friends round (that will happen again we are convinced!)  and enjoy while we are here.

Before we can begin making it ours, just like the house, we need to strip it back, so the shed is our first target. Much of it is completely rotten, crumbling and unsafe. With a crow bar and hammer in hand, Ian sets to work. There are copious amounts of electrics in there that need disconnecting and despite being rotten it proves to be remarkably stubborn! While Ian battles the strong bits I fill the skip, it’s so cold we can’t do it in one go, so over 2 days it gradually goes and the garden looks so much bigger.

Having borrowed some loppers from a neighbour we then set to removing the buddleia. I know they are great for wildlife by I hate them, I’m not sure why, but mum did too, maybe it’s inherited!

This bush is enormous, we manage to break the loppers (probably as it is so cold the metal just snaps), so the axe comes out. Several hours later, and with fingertips numb from the cold, we have cleared it out, most of the roots included and have a pile of branches that need further chopping. It’s far too cold to carry on and we will need to order more loppers for the neighbours, so that’s it for now, the garden seems so much bigger and we can begin to properly plan what comes next. We’ve watched You Tube tutorials on decking, building a swimming pool, preparing for a jacuzzi, pool and jacuzzi maintenance and pouring your own patio slabs in concrete.  Who knows what we will end up with, but we’ve been entertained and have loads of ideas – none include plants! We may need some help on what will work in that way!