About our garden

We bought this house in December 2010 for many reasons, not least of which was the size of garden. Big by many standards but not so huge that we would need staff to maintain it (its a little under 1/3 acre).

From top to bottom

At the moment it is almost entirely grass, with several 'beds' that are left following the removal of random leylandi hedges (now known as the 'scar beds'), a short beech hedge, a large apple tree, a couple of hydrangeas and some uneven paving slabs. There is also a twisted, shrubby tree that looks like it should be interesting.

Did I mention the ground elder and bind weed?

There is a lot of ground elder and bind weed.

Building-wise we have a large detached brick garage (single width, double length), reasonable sized wooden shed, small summer house and a 12x8 foot greenhouse. Well, a 12x8 foot wreck that was once a greenhouse.

Greenhouse wreck

What do we want to do with the garden?

Grow our own salad and vegetables, have places to sit and enjoy the garden, places to entertain and cook, and not have much grass to mow. Well, maybe just that perfect patch of turf I have always dreamed of. Chickens would be nice too.

And have plants, thousands of 'em.

For the more technical minded, the garden is oriented North-South, with the house in the North-East corner (so yes, that means we have a south facing garden!). The plot from road to back hedge is about 45 metres long and about 25 metres wide. Soil is loose, free draining loam, with a fairly sandy content although I haven't done any proper tests yet. The garden is very exposed to southerly winds, otherwise sheltered by adjacent trees and buildings.

All-in-all a fantastic, multi-year project and the perfect antidote to 10 years of rented houses and pot-based gardening!