garden rethink

Our garden is very overlooked, and today the neighbours probably wondered what I was doing, as I spent a fair bit of time just standing in the middle.. looking.

We are rethinking the garden layout. See, when we first came here, we had the idea that the garden would have the flowers, and the fields would be the growing bit.  I don’t know why really, as in all my previous gardens, we have mixed it all up, and I was always a fan of Geoff Hamilton’s ‘Ornamental Kitchen Garden‘ , but perhaps just for once we had enough space , and well.. the garden was so nice, kind of felt almost pressured to not mess it up.

The interesting thing is that gardens don’t get planned so much, not for us mere mortals, but they evolve. For us it seems with each change, the next change was so obvious. We erected the greenhouse, and a bed next to it would just neaten off the area… then a bed opposite makes sense and so on. At first I was going to move the Jerusalem artichokes and rhubarb we inherited, into the field and out of the flower garden.. but then thought.. why.. all that effort and then there will be weeds where the space was….  plans change

We expected to make mistakes here, and did try to think things through first. We only seem to have made one and that’s the fruit garden. Having spent one Sunday at Riverford (the veg box people) who are local to us, gleaning the left over berries (they invite people to come and have the last picking for charity.. not a bad scheme)  we had thought that is what we would like.: neat lines of gooseberries, blackcurrants, loganberries etc.

We planned the area and made a start. But its not up and running yet, just a few plants lost in high grass, whilst on the other side of the fence the sheep pick at the short grass and eye up  the greener grass hopefully.

That combined with me bemoaning the imbalance between too much lawn and not enough field, and we started talking solutions. Well, obvious really, dig up more lawn, move the fruit bushes we have bought so far, move the fence back - not such a bad job - we have got fairly used to fencing now! and tada! more field, less lawn.

Probably a job for Autumn now, as that is the better time to move the fruit, the grass is starting to grow so less pressure to sort it, and besides we are up to our eyes with sowing and digging for the veg growing season.

Perhaps, the neighbours who enjoyed the previous view of a large lawn and ornamental beds will like the new view of veg beds and fruit bushes. We certainly will.

Himself came home from work and we went out into the sunshine, and the neighbours got to look at the two of us standing and looking. Then mentally digging up unwanted shrubs, moving swings, and walking the lines of the imaginary new beds for the other to see.. then more looking.

It’s nice to stand and stare. Even better to stand and plan.