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…