Cosmos and ammi visnaga from the cutting patch
So, it’s all about patience, doing big jobs first, and the long game with this house and garden. Until, that is, I saw two matching hip-height terracotta pots for half price in our local garden centre (£44 each!). So they are now sitting empty on the crumbling block paved death trap of a patio. The compost alone will bankrupt me, never mind the dahlias and spring bulbs I’m hoping to stuff them with. But I’m in love.
Exhibit A, a naughty frivolous pot purchase
As you can see we’ve also moved the play house/sand pit to one of the shadier borders, and the slide now takes a route behind the cardoons, making it a bit junglesque for the small people (can you spot the two year old in the undergrowth?). Not very classy, but at £200 from Argos, and a huge hit with the kids, it’s a goodun (and arguably offers some structure/height to the garden, drawing the eye away from neighbours’ houses). Unfortunately, apart from my raised bed cutting patch it’s mostly tiny perennials,bare earth, dandelions and bindweed this July, but I have high hopes for next year…
19th century modern squared 