Gardening
When we first moved into our house, the garden was a jungle of fallen trees, overgrown hedges and no grass whatever to speak of. The first year was a case of clearing the debris, taking out the dead hedges, seeding a lawn and laying out the borders.
I laid the path using the bricks that formed the wall that we took down in the kitchen and used the beams also reclaimed from the kitchen to border a couple of beds on the barked area that lies directly in front of the deck.
Neil dug a pond that we surrounded with boulders that we re-used from a Well that his mum had dismantled.
Now seven years on and the garden is maturing nicely, I've planted approximately 200 different plants (mainly perennials, because I like to see things come back each year and they're so interesting) and shrubs, a magnolia tree (always wanted one) and a Eucalyptus tree which I bought from the Eden Project in Cornwall and is now about about 40ft tall. Instead of planting a privet hedge between Our garden and our neighbors I chose scented shrubs and trees like Rosa Rugosa, Phyladelphus, Oliaria (New Zealand Holly) Viburnam (not a great smell but beautiful leaves) in the height of summer when these are flowering along with the honeysuckle, the smell in the garden in the early evening is intoxicating.
The most recent addition to the garden are the stained glass windows in the potting shed, we erected the shed a couple of years ago but this year I just thought how nice it would look with some coloured glass in it. I set about making the five panels taking the seasons and the garden as my inspiration, I like the result because you can still see the whole garden stretching out in front of you when you sit inside it.
Gardening has turned into quite a passion for me and I never get bored of getting out there and tending to my own personal Eden. It's a work in progress with some plants flourishing and others not so much, but there is so much to learn and observe and that keeps me interested.
