Moving on

So, with the cleaning up inside done, we move on to the garden. It's actually in reasonably good shape thanks to the work we put in before the party, but there is one area that has been totally neglected. Once a flourishing rose garden it was let go when we were no longer allowed to water it and Don got too sick to help out in the garden.

Now with all the time in the world, I decided to 'reclaim' the rose garden. I wish I had taken a photo of it before I started, but this will give you an idea. It was totally taken over by weeds and tall grasses; there were blackberries everywhere; the old climbing rose had run rampant and many of the others had reverted to root stock and had to be removed entirely.

The soil was dry and hard and removing weeds took some effort, especially as the kikuyu lawn had invaded a large part of the garden. We laid newspapers on the bare soil, then spread bark mulch to hopefully slow down regrowth and help retain moisture.

A couple of weeks later and the transformation is complete. We will have to do some replanting, but overall we are happy with our labours.

What next? I'll have to go for a wander and see what else needs to be done. After all a garden is never finished.

Liz Needle