Helen's Garden Renovation Project

Today I decided it was time to do something about the hideous algae in my pond.

Horrible slimy algae all over my pond

In case that was not sufficiently disgusting for you, here is a close-up version:

Close-up of algae in pond

At least two people have told me to chuck watercress in it, and one was my mum, so I went to Sainsbury’s and bought some. I was thinking of just throwing it in as it was, but I thought it would be tidier to put it in pots full of gravel, so that is what I did. And then I chucked the rest of the bag into the shallow pond, loose. The algae in the shallow pond is just as bad as the algae in the raised pond. People say that the watercress roots very quickly and easily. If it is invasive, it will be easy to empty out the shallow pond and start again. The raised pond would be harder to deal with.

Bag of watercress from Sainsbury’s. Do not eat it after growing it in the pond.

Despite working extra hours at the day job, I am keeping up with the garden as well as I ever do. I am spending most of the time available cutting things back and weeding, but I am also digging up the turf in preparation for Phase 3, while I am thinking about where to put things like the pond and the blackberry frame.

This is a picture of the diagonal view of the garden.

The view across one diagonal of the garden.

I really do think that the illusion that Yvonne intended does work – the garden looks longer. And the hibiscus (the one at the back with lots of pink-purple flowers that you can’t really see at this resolution) has put on a lot of weight in its new, more open position. The apple trees are positively groaning with fruit. Up until now, when looking at my garden, I have had to use a lot of imagination to see how it will look when it’s completed. This summer, for the first time, I would say that there is more fact than imagination in the view. Illusion aside, the new garden is becoming real.