Stage 1 of 34 complete

I spent a couple of hours today in the garden, outlining vegetable and flower beds in the top half. Progress was quite good but I don't want to wear myself out doing everything in one go (I am learning from past mistakes finally). Also, the spring bulbs are going to flower soon and I would like to enjoy the blooms, instead of moving everything around right now. The dwarf pear tree and the greengage are budding. Spring is definitely in the air.

I narrowed the graveled area to a path that winds itself to the compost bin, hidden behind a large cordyline. This gives me larger beds either side, which means that on the left I can grow vegetables (that side doesn't need as much watering as the right and the soil is slightly better) while I can transplant the irises to the right (they won't mind that it is drier there).


As I was clearing out the vegetable patch, I discovered chives popping through and some oregano. I also saw plenty of mint in the garden. Lots of self-seeded crocuses and cyclamen around; I tried to save as many of them as possible. I also moved a shrub of unknown identity over to the right to fill in some gap at the back of the border. After a quick digging over, I found that the soil is ok where I grew vegetables previously but is awful elsewhere - there is gravel in the soil and some sharp sand. I see a lot of sifting and compost in my future. Or maybe I can recruit toxicfingers...

Maybe next weekend I have some more time to tackle the rest of the garden, at least edging the new path. I cut in a groove where I roughly want it to be to judge the effect. I already cut back the overgrown shrubs and I can see where things would fit in nicely. I'll almost have a completely new garden when I have finished with this.