I’ve been waiting all week to get to work on the garden at home and today was the day!

Most of this will be pictures to show you the before and after. I’m not finished yet as I have to get some more woodchip but you’ll certainly get the idea of what I’m trying to achieve.

I started on the corner beside the front gate. It was looking very sad and was indeed needing a major tidy.

I kept working my way round, removing a lot of weeds, dead growth and the like. I had some pots lying on the grass for months as I’m thinking about expanding the area. I know it doesn’t look like much just now but when these plants start to grow, the area quickly fills up. I was pleased to see the new leaves on the lemon balm today – Spring is on the way.

This is the side of the garden where I put in a little pond and fairy garden. I couldn’t clean out the pond because it was frozen and one of the bird feeding tubs is stuck inside it, but I did manage to tidy my fairy garden, which is small but I love it.

This is me working my way round to the pond…

And then, the pond area itself:

I’ve also tidied up the other side but I didn’t take pictures – I’ll show you once it’s finished. On this side, amongst other things, I have: rhubarb, strawberries, chives, redcurrants, rosemary, lemon balm ladys mantle, philadelphus, snowdrops, daffodils, bleeding heart, raspberries, tulips, chamomile and a few other things dotted around! I’m planning to put more annual flowers there this year – do NOT tell me you don’t have room to grow anything! As you can see, our garden is not big at all and I manage to get a lot in. I will of course, show you it later in the year when everything is growing.

On the other side however, I take a slightly different approach. It is about the same size but I use it more as a wild garden – for me and everything else. I have another philadelphus (the 2 are either side of the gate and smell gorgeous when their flowers come out), red hot poker, thyme, chamomile, mullein, garlic mustard (jack by the hedge), buddleia x 4 (was trying to block out the old neighbours), dandelions, cleavers and a few other useful weeds! I love going out to my garden in Spring and Summer and being able to forage for a few useful edibles.

So, there you have it – that’s what I’ve been doing today! I’ll tackle the back garden at some point. It’s not big but is a bit more work as there is a border, fruit trees, polytunnel and lots of pots! I’ll show you when the time comes.

Oh and in case you were thinking I did this because it had warmed up, you would be mistaken. I was freezing but I REALLY enjoyed myself. Birds started showing up, now that the bugs are easier to get to and I am very happy with the progress I made in a pretty short space of time. I’ll get some more woodchip this week too so I will be able to proclaim ‘The front garden is ready for Spring’!