Helen's Garden Renovation Project

I can hardly believe it, but today I have finished Phase 2 of the Garden Renovation Project. Phase 2 consists of installing the hard landscaping and plants in the left hand side of the garden and along the back fence up to the greenhouse. I have installed 10 large stepping stones (60 cm square) and 10 smaller stepping stones. I have also installed too many plants to count. It was a lot. Although I will probably add more plants to the area in due course, I have finished the hard landscaping and therefore I am going to call it complete. It is about time something got finished.

Large square stepping stones leading past the pond to the back of the garden

I decided in the end to lay all the stepping stones myself, mainly because I didn’t find anyone who was willing to do the job properly. I didn’t want to pay someone to just put four or five blobs of mortar down. I started off being very bad at laying stepping stones, but I think I improved. Either that, or my standards got lower. Last Sunday, I made the screed for the penultimate slab, and when I laid the slab on top, it was at the right height and perfectly level the first time. I could hardly believe it. Today I got it right the second time. I think that when I have surrounded the slabs with plants to hide the edges, they will look absolutely fine. Here is the view of the stepping stone route from the back of the garden.

Stepping stones viewed from the back of the garden

And now it is time to start planning Phase 3, which involves the right hand side of the garden. I was going to get someone to lay a path parallel to the fence because that’s the route I take to empty my kitchen compost bin, but now I have decided that I am not all that bad at laying stepping stones, maybe I will do it myself with stepping stones after all. I also need to concrete in some posts to make a trellis for my four blackberry plants, and make a small pond to look at while I am doing the washing up.

Meanwhile, the Willowherb Elimination Stakes have got underway again, and I am preparing for my usual comprehensive defeat.

On Friday I said goodbye to the cherry tree in my front garden. Although it improved a lot after I dug out the rubble under its roots some years ago, it never looked as attractive in the spring or autumn as other cherry trees in the vicinity. It had also been planted too high up, so that there was a slope down to the edging and the roots stuck up out of the lawn. I had been thinking of removing it, but had thought that my neighbour would not like the loss of the amenity. But then my neighbour said that she didn’t like the branches overhanging her drive because the birds sat on them and made a mess on her car, so I asked her if she would mind me getting rid of it, and she said no, so I called in Cedardale, who dispatched it efficiently and humanely.

Cherry tree being felled

On the other hand, the Morello cherry tree kindly given to me last summer by a student’s parents, has set fruit, and I have netted it in its pot by sticking four bamboo canes at the corners and tying the netting to them.

Morello cherry laden with fruit

It would be nice if I could plant it in the ground next year, but I don’t have a lot of hope I will have progressed that far by then. Still, today I mortared in another stepping stone, which only leaves four, and then I will have finished the left hand side of the garden.