The Big Clearout

Before:
garden before

After:

It’s started – the big clearout I mean. As you can see a while ago this was a jungle of matted climbers, trellis and fallen fruit. Now it looks like a garden in a suburb of a war-torn city. It’s not pretty I know but it’s what’s going on in my back yard right now in the name of garden design. I have the final plans and well basically everything is going except the Yew tree (don’t ask me why). We’re trying to clear as much of the greenery as possible before the landscapers arrive to give us their quote. Apparently, it will be cheaper the fewer times they tut and shake their head – so we’re trying to do as much as we can ourselves. Clearly, I’m rubbish at the moment. Tying my shoe laces is a daily challenge and so my part in the clearing is done in little fits and starts, followed by a nice cup of tea and a sit down. Ryan has done the bulk of the clearing – as Chief Neighbour Liaison Officer his job was also to inform next door when we had a bonfire to burn it all. They were very understanding. So this is where we’re up to. No pretty winter scenes for me, just mud and dirt and piles of rotting vegetation. I haven’t seen the frog for months – he’s in his pond thinking, ‘I don’t know what the Hell happened out there but my sorry little ass is staying put’ – he’s a smart doobie.

Category: Garden Redesign, Planning     Tagged:

8 Comments on “The Big Clearout”

  1. Great view! I love before and after shots. Looking forward to what you’re going to do with the area.

    Katie at GardenPunks

  2. I love your blog. It’s so inspiring. I can’t wait for winter break. I’m going to plant. I’ll post some pics of my micro area.

  3. I discovered your blog a while back and have been enjoying your posts, seeing your new garden plan was fascinating especially as we are halfway through redesigning and doing the hard work on our garden. Could you tell me how big your garden is? It would help put the plan a bit more into perspective.

    I also tried allotmenting with 2 young children.. but it didn’t work and my garden is now my kitchen garden. Congrats on the baby! :-)

  4. I’ve seen worse views than that in ‘mature’ gardens. Hopefully the view will get better from now on! I can recommend the guy who landscaped our garden 7 years ago(based in Chippenham) if you’re needing other quotes. He’s called Philip Poole and tends to get most of his business by word of mouth.

  5. Great blog, inspirational to small garden gardeners like myself. I will definitely return to look at this blog again for ideas.

  6. Looking forward to watching this space develop. I have plans for re-forming part of our garden next year. I have visions of a row of silver birch and a couple of homemade seats, daffs and blue bells…

  7. Looks cool, i think the thing with backyard growing is to keep it simple and not grow things like potatoes in the beds, but in pots instead. I bet you’ll end up spending more time out there than ever at the allotment, i’m always out in mine.

  8. It looks really great. A new project is always exciting. Could you post the final plans so we can see it before it happens??