Garden Makeover 2012

Jennie and I moved from Kings Heath to Solihull in December 2011. We moved from one small rented, terraced house to an even smaller one in order to be close to my work when our daughter arrived in April the next year. The previous house had a perfectly landscaped garden that we couldn’t make any real changes too (although we grew some amazing veg in containers.) The new house had a largeish garden that was a total mess, but if we put the effort in it could be anything we wanted it to be!

As you can see in the pic below the garden was 80% weeds and 20% cat poo.

Job one was to dig over the whole garden – removing plants, rubble, tree stumps and bucket-fulls of cat poo – and I’m not kidding. The previous tenants must not have had cats so the whole neighbourhood must have been using it as their communal sh*tter.

This was hard work but every spade that got turned over was a step closer to a clean slate.

We made an ambitious plan of how to divide up the slabbed and now bare earth into a veg patch, borders, a new lawn, greenhouse, covered strawberry patch, herb bed, climbing beds (connecting over an arch) and containers.

We got some vital help from my mum and dad in laying the turf which worked a treat. The veg patch was divided into four and we planted garlic, beetroot, broadbeans and onions. I used all the rocks I’d dug out of the soil to make a path that I was very pleased with.

We got a bargain plastic greenhouse for starting of our seedlings, and placed it over earth so we could grow tomatoes in it too.

Next we invested in tonnes of border plants to surround our new lawn and the edges of the patio. We planted a tree we brought from the last house, created a huge herb bed (after visiting the National Herb Centre in Banbury) and planted Jennie’s dad’s strawberries covered with a net strung over knee high metal arches.

By April everything was well settled and the weather was kind – the garden was looking great! We had all the mint, thyme, sage, rosemary, parsley and oregano we could eat too. Soon things were getting out of control – the sweet peas were so big they were pulling down the wire guide I’d put up, the lawn needed cutting every week, the garlic shoots were reaching for the sky and we’d added a wigwam for peas to grow up.

Our strawberry patch burst into life, after two years in pots the plants were raring to go. The tomato plants started a bit late but we still got a few tasty ones.

When our daughter Bella arrived in late April our priorities changed, predictably, and the only thing we did in the garden was sit and enjoy it.

When we got the news in June that our landlord was selling the house and we had two months to find a new home, it came as a horrible shock. Looking back I don’t regret the effort we put in as the end result was very satisfying. Now we live in Warwick the garden is double the size, and has it’s own set of challenges, but as we own the house we’ll pace ourselves and hatch a new plan to make it over.