Mary Mary...... how does your garden grow?

As many of you know from the SC forum, we are struggling to 'make 'a garden from the building site that remains from building our house. It has become something of a battle as we have discovered that under the superficial building site surface lurked an old crewyard, complete with grain drier foundations, otherwise known as enormous chunks of concrete, and fastidiously made roads for the heavy vehicles to pass over. Now this was not obvious when we bought the plot, indeed it had an orchard of apple trees boasting the biggest apples I've ever come across and a pleasant stream along the bottom boundary. Idyllic. Even when the foundations for the house were dug it was not obvious 'what lies beneath'.



Well last Autumn, the time had arrived to tackle the job and we reluctantly decided that the orchard would have to go since it lay right at the front of the plot.Always thrifty, we set to, picking all the apples first and cooking/freezing/chutneying/giving away the harvest. Then Mr Second Wind got to play with his new toy, a chainsaw, while I reduced the branches to manageable size with loppers and secateurs before barrowing and stacking the smaller bits for a mammoth bonfire and storing the larger pieces to season ready for our yet-to-be-installed woodburning stove.

After that and a thorough weedkill, we got a jcb to clear the site, or so we thought.......






About 20 Lorry loads of rock were taken away, and similar lorryloads of topsoil brought in so that by the end of last year the area was looking so much better and we were hopeful that it could be seeded in the Spring.
The best laid plans though.... DH was ill for some months and we missed the spring deadline, though most people said "It's much better to wait till Autumn, grass will germinate better" So during this summer we have dug over the area only to find yet more rocks and stones which DH, quite rightly insisted on taking out...... then he discovered the lurking ROAD!!


This pile is about 5 feet high!


Meanwhile the weeds have taken on a life of their own and flourished like Topsy, so my job has been to clear them at frequent intervals. No sooner have I cleared one area the next goes rampant and so on like the Forth Bridge. We did use weedkiller but it's effect was short-lived and too expensive. My efforts were also short-lived but I come really cheap!!

The weather has conspired against us too this summer. No sooner did the sky spot us wielding our spades and forks than the heavens would open. All very depressing.However this weekend the sun has shone on us and we are at last getting there. We have a deadline to sow the grass seed(yes it's ready and raring to be scattered) by the first week in October, so let's hope that Indian summer will last a couple of weeks longer.Please!

DH very sensibly took time to plant the borders back in the Spring and the tiny shrubs are already repaying us with their efforts to grow and flower.



The butterflies are enjoying them too.

I long to have a garden where I can do normal gardening!!