| The Back and side Gardens |
 The back and side gardens run into each other. They are surrounded by a hawthorn hedge, which is allowed, on my side of the boundary, to grow wild. Neighbours spend much time manicuring the other side. | |
| A narrow lawn starts near the fence hidden in shrubs, ivy and honeysuckle that cuts off the front garden. The lawn meanders to a tall golden cypress about three quarters of the way down, passing a pond on the way. |
| The back garden is full of connecting paths which delight young children. My elder grandchildren and I are trying to pebble these paths. Every now and then I order another ton of pebbles.
I grow vegetables at the back and on one side of the garden, using a three year rotation. I am planning to put more fruit trees into the vegetable area. Along the side hedges I have shrub borders (including shrub roses) full of bulbs from late winter to late spring but one of the borders is full of ground elder and I don't know how to tackle it without killing the bulbs. Two central beds are devoted to dahlias in late summer and autumn after the spring bulbs, forget-me-nots and poached egg plant have finished. Another bed is devoted to the HT rose Elena. The beds bordering the lawn used to be rose beds but gradually I am filling them with herbaceous perennials and an assortment of young conifers. |
In the summer of 1998 my eldest son and all four grandchildren built me this wild life pond at the edge of the lawn. Soon after it sprung a mysterious leak. In the winter it stays full for several weeks at a time, but in the spring and summer it can sink by six inches overnight. (To return to the Garden Diary press INTRO again) | |