means easier access, wider borders, more plants, and less messy wheels when I do come in from the garden. Easier on the shoulders and arthritic hands too.
The lovely landscapers from Gardens by Water Gems did a terrific job of the paving around the main garden. I was having a lot of trouble pushing my wheelchair over the thick, usually soggy, grass, which was very uneven with dips and bumps all over the place. The existing paving had only been put on sand and had subsequently sunk over the years. When stretching sideways to weed or dead-head, I was in danger of tipping out of my chair. Many thanks to Michael, Heath and Karolina for their jolly hard work in getting it level, pointed and very neat. They had to work with old slabs and new slabs, partly in the scorching heat along with a few ninja showers, and managed to make it all work out. Come the autumn we will be following Heath’s advice about re-locating the Rhododendron in to the corner, and planting an Enkianthus where the Rhododendron was, and chop the top off the Pieris and see if we can make it bush out a bit. Now that I have wider borders I can move the Irises a little closer to the slabs. They flowered last year in June but so far I don’t see any flowering stems on them this year. I have a few plants that have been sitting waiting in pots on the patio that can fill in a few gaps, but I can’t wait to get to my favourite nurseries to buy some new ones too. The slabs just now make the garden much brighter and somehow more open. Most of the planting in the borders are bulbs and perennials which will die down during the winter but at least we will still have the green ivy up the walls and a few evergreen shrubs and ferns to enjoy. I do need to find something nicer for the milk churn. The pigeons keep landing on the grass and squashing it. Possibly a variegated ivy to tumble down the sides for all year round, or I could plant it up with different plants each season? I will now bore you with lots of photos of slabs!
This area is behind the raised bed and the grass was particularly bad here due to the overhanging trees casting a lot of shade. It only gets a bit of sunshine in the mornings in summer. There was a dip (almost a step) going from the slabs down to the grass. The shrubs are overhanging the single line of paving on the left. The new slabbing is all level and brightens the whole area. The shrubs now have more room to grow and I have access to the back of the raised bed too.
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| Behind raised bed before |
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| Behind raised bed after |
Between the arch is exactly the same distance but with the new paving looks so much wider. The plants at the edge of the raised probably make a difference too.
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| Between arch before |
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| Between arch after |
View from the arch is an uneven lawn with a narrow border on the left. I could only get my left hand wheel on the single path while the right hand ones had to cope with the thick, often soggy grass. There was a lot of moss in the lawn. Harry just could not get his head around a garden with no grass what-so-ever so I had to compromise and keep a tiny bit of grass. (Glorified dog toilet basically). I was hoping for a massive area for new planting. Hey ho.
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| View from arch before |
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| View from arch after |
From where the Rowan is: this was quite uneven although you can’t really see it. The Hebe now has more room to spread a little more, and I am sure I can squeeze in a few more plants.
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| From Rowan before |
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| From Rowan after |
Some of the biggest differences in levels was in this area and up to the left beside the patio. Now it is all level and much easier to get round. I can weed that area more easily, and again a wider area for some of the bigger plants to spread I need to have a good think of what to do with the area under the bird feeder. The pigeons just flatten everything and have made a little path to get to the fallen seeds.
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| In front of pond before |
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| In front of pond after |
It is amazing the difference this path has made to this area. I need to sort out the Heucheras and maybe move the Hellebore more to the front (it is getting too much overhang from the Tree heath. I love how it looks now. There was a huge dip here that always caught me out and gave me a fright.
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| Side of ramp before |
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| Side of ramp after |
This area here was where I had to go from existing big slabs down onto the grassy area and although the picture doesn’t show it that well, it was almost a step down with a dip one side and a bump the other side. Not very easy to negotiate back onto the slabs, with either tools or hose in one hand and maybe plants or a trug on my knees. Now there is a very slight, gentle, easy to negotiate slope. Nice big flat turning area too.
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| Between beds before |
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| Between beds after |
Now I know it looks like a huge expanse of slabs now compared to before, but it will soon be softened by some new planting. I find it hard to imaging just now what it is all going to look like in wither when the perennials die back for their winter sleep. The bright newness of the slabs will mute over time to a softer hue. The evergreens will then be the focal points along with the naked tree of the golf course behind.
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| View from patio before |
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| View from patio after |
