My garden

 

My garden_edited-1
Bath

This is my new garden. It’s 100 feet long, faces south east and – major life change ahoy! – is on the edge of Bath.

It’s taken me a very long time to get here. For ages I was looking for a flat in London, which was not at all easy on my small budget, especially as I wanted a garden. I saw dozens of dingy, overpriced flats at the furthest reaches of the Tube… and all the while I was slowly realising that I didn’t want to live in London any more. London is a great place, and I’m glad it was my home for many years. It’s surprisingly leafy, too, as I hope this blog shows. But as this blog also probably shows, I am hopelessly drawn to greenery, preferably in large quantities. I’m also drawn to growing as much of my own food as I can, slowing down a bit, and staring at fields of cows. None of which is really possible in London.

And so, to cut a long and (as my loved ones will undoubtedly confirm) boring story short, here I am. I can’t quite believe that I have a house, let alone a garden – finally. I’m trying to figure out how to deal with the slope from left to right and the rather large tree in my neighbour’s garden. And also how to make the most of the beautiful view (cows included). I will probably lose most of the lawn (which is a total bugger to mow anyway) and replace it with plants. A great many of them will be edible. I may have a shed. I’ll definitely have a greenhouse. I’ll try to incorporate many of the ideas that I’ve documented on this blog. If you have any ideas as to what I can do with it, do let me know – it’s a real blank canvas.

In the meantime, I can’t imagine walking past a lovely window box or visiting a garden and not taking a picture of it, so I’ll definitely carry on writing this blog. I might occasionally document my own garden’s progress too, if you’re interested. There are just two small hindrances: 1) I’ve become terribly addicted to Pinterest (for house and garden inspiration) and 2) I can’t stop staring at cows. But I’m sure the novelty will wear off soon.

 

 

12 thoughts on “My garden”

  1. How exciting! I was hoping you would get your own garden for a long time. Please keep us posted with pictures and plans. It will be fantastic to see you turn it from a canvas into a beautiful space. Enjoy your greener, healthier and happier lifestyle. X

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  2. What great blank canvas. We had a similar sized and shaped garden when we lived in Cookham. I’d say divide it into rooms to make is seem even bigger. Definitely lose the lawn. Leave a bit at the end for compost heap plus nettles and scruffy bit for wildlife. Poison the neighbour’s Leylandii somehow. OK they might have lifted the crown, but they are big buggers. We will be doing lots of dividing of geraniums, heleniums, and shedloads of Alchemilla, soon which you are welcome to have, as we wont have the space to put them back in again. We are only a short hop over the bridge.

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    • Ah, that’s really kind of you. Yes, I think it definitely needs some rooms. But the bit at the back – not sure. The logical thing is definitely the working area. But the views are great from there. Decisions, decisions : )

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  3. So glad you finally made it, Veronica! Sounds like life is changing for you. I’m sure you’ll make it look great and I look forward to seeing the results.

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  4. Fantastic. May I suggest you consider dividing it into rooms (with walk through hedges) to keep some mystery as you view from the house. I did that here in a 70ft garden and I love the opportunity it gives for different planting schemes. One ‘room’ is shady because of neighbouring trees, another is in full sun and a third is covered in a leafy arbour for sitting under for dining outside. I am in Bristol and you are welcome to visit and do keep blogging so that we can see the progress.

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    • You have a 70ft garden in Bristol?! I was looking there initially and couldn’t find any decent-sized gardens! I would definitely love to pop in sometime. Yes, I think I will definitely be dividing the garden into rooms. As you say, a great opportunity for different types of plants, and different ‘feels’ too.

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