our garden

We bought our bungalow in June 2012 and I was delighted that there was no grass to ever have to cut again. The front was just a paved area with a hydrangea in a square bed in the middle; the west facing rear garden had another two square beds and an overgrown border to the left and back.

Luckily we’d brought a lot of established plants from our old house and after many weekends of toil we had something we were happier with.

Even the driveway looked more cheerful with a few hanging baskets and pots.

Then, once we’d settled, we evolved and stamped our own mark on the place by building a conservatory extension; all to the bemusement of our new puppy, Hollie.

Next addition was a greenhouse of course, which bore fruit the same summer.

Now with my green fingers sprouting I wanted more than just a greenhouse and a border with everything in pots and containers; I wanted a display, I wanted vegetables, I wanted more. I’m not a young man at 68 so I was wary that the future can only become more difficult to enjoy my garden; so raised beds was my plan. Being very aware that my garden knowledge and skills were limited and my building experience nonexistent I researched the internet for ideas and decided I liked the look of something a little European using breeze blocks. In April this year I contacted three local landscape gardeners who had their own ideas and didn’t seem to take kindly to mine; and of course they wanted charge me £1.8k for the privilege of creating “their” garden but none of them could start work until the end of May early June; half of my growing season gone, I thought.

I drew myself up some rough plans, calculated my needs and sourced my blocks from a local building supplies company and my soil from a waste management firm; all freely delivered and plonked firmly at the front of my house; 65 large hollow breeze blocks and six ton of top soil (I calculated that I only needed four tons but it was cheaper to buy loose in bulk).

First things first, prepare the ground for drainage then build my breeze block garden.

Now to add a bit of colour, lay a path, and fill the containers with the top soil and bags and bags of locally sourced free horse manure. As an afterthought, maybe I should have lined the inside of the beds with something to stop seepage, but it was too late.

All that’s left is to plant and nurture. I opted for a quick show this summer from annuals in the yellow bed, with the red bed containing some perennials for a more permanent show. The blue bed is my vegetable garden and all within easy reach to maintain and enjoy.