Roots Manuva

Before I bore you all with yet another account of clearing the garden (but this time major root surgery with an axe! more on that below) let me share with you my vision of what the garden will be like. One day.

Thanks to a brand new box of colour pencils (quite a forgotten pleasure), I present The Plan.

Ok, I know the perspective gives you a headache (it works best if you turn the page round), but there was a lot to cram in. So, from the bottom, going clockwise we have:
steps coming down from the kitchen (draped in Virginia creeper), under which is cunningly hidden the rainwater collection tank, as well as the entrance to the basement / garden store room,

- the shady wall on the left hand side, with a little space for the BBQ,

- in the corner the hen house – yup, I’ve still not succumbed to the general scepticism about that idea,

- against the back wall, the one surviving elder tree, purely to be able to make Russell’s elder flower fritters,

- and in the sunniest corner of the garden, the vegetable patch and its compost heap. Oh yes. The green scribblings don’t quite convey the variety of wonderful goodies that will grow there,

- Against the wall will be an espalier apple tree,

- and you might just be able to make out the archway of raspberries which makes a divider between veg. patch and the seating area (and the surviving forsythia),

- then the seating area, with bench along the wall,

- at the bottom of the stairs, for easy access, is the herb box, and growing up the wall will be a big scented rambling rose, maybe Paul’s Himalayan Musk

Shouldn’t be too ambitious I don’t think.

In the meantime, back to the here and now, we have almost got rid of the sycamores and elders, but it's been tough…

On & on

(Erykah Badu, 1997)

A few have remarked on how long it has been since the last post. No, I haven’t abandoned this blogging thing altogether… It’s just that it has been overtaken by, well, a combination of summery distractions and generally waiting for something newsworthy to report.

So, for those still checking in, here is a run down of the last month.

Garden clearance is progressing. The last of the trees was hacked down on Saturday, so there are just a dozen stumps to be uprooted - a job for the big strong man when he’s next available. In the meantime the smoggy contents of our window boxes have been set free in the garden, safely fenced in so they will not be trampled on by the said big strong man, along with a few renegades from International Guerrilla Sunflower Day (thanks Jeanette).

Longer term, ideas for the garden are forming. They include hens, hammocks, raised beds, lots of climbers up the walls, benches and stone islands (although I admit C is not entirely convinced about the hens…). My plans to sketch it all out, à la Ground Force, have been slightly thwarted by not finding a brown coloured pencil, but that will come soon, I promise.

Although the official opening party is still t.b.c. we’ve been very pleased to welcome a few intrepid visitors. Not least Joe (aged 4), who informed us that “It’s a bit broken but my Daddy can fix it” (Rich, you’re on the hook now). In the meantime we will try to find some more chairs.

As to the renovation itself, most significantly, we seem to have found an agreement on what we want to do with the empty space at the back. My L-shaped balcony-with-internal-staircase-connecting-to-garden-level idea gave in

to C’s extra-room-with-plenty-of-light-and-space-for-kitchen-with-outside-staircase-down-to-garden idea. He argued that two staircases between ground and lower ground was quite enough, and that a third was excessive, to which I had no answer. The next stage is at the end of August when the architect gives us the detailed plans of how it is currently, and then a few weeks later, after discussions, the plans of how it will be. With sketches. Quite excited about that.

And I bet you are too - so stay tuned!