So this week we've had the gardeners in to clear our garden. It's a 3-phase plan, phase 1 being to tear down the broken fence, clear all the unwanted plant matter and convulvulus, move the roses to the side beds and turf over the old rose beds, the vegetable garden and underneath the fruit trees. Once the turf has grown in, they are removing the old concrete paths and shaping the lawn into two long ovals (a figure of 8), with stepping stones as in our old place. We are also going to get a tree surgeon to reduce the ash tree at the end by a third as it's casting a big shadow.
I forgot to take pictures of the piles of rubble after day 2 but anyway, here's the before and after of the clearance.
Obviously the before looks a lot more appealing than the after, as it's all in flower in midsummer, but it will actually be great to be able to walk from the patio onto the lawn without having to squeeze between the rosebeds and the holly tree (which has gone). And the garden feels much bigger now you can imagine actually using the back half of it.
Here's the back half of the garden, which was once covered by convulvulus.
In the ultimate dream world phase 3 the garden studio and spa pool would be where the shed and back patio are just visible at the top.
Sofia is very pleased that the heavily pruned bay tree is now climbable and Willy has been having a whale of a time, running about with sticks and 'helping' the gardeners.
