Transforming an empty garden

I moved into this house on 1 November 2024. The garden was bare. Literally. A few slabs down for a patio and some clover grass which looked like weeds with lots of patches of earth. And I’m on a new development with quite a few windows looking at me. I actually questioned whether I could cope with that having for the last 30 years lived in houses with fairly private gardens.

I had to get some plants in the garden - and quick!

Gary at Ross Garden Store came and stood in the garden for about an hour, making notes, then I met him at the garden centre a few days later. He’d put the trees and large shrubs he was recommending into position in the car park which really helped me to picture how’d they be in my garden. We moved a couple around and then I ordered. They were delivered and placed, and planted (by Geoff - recommended by Gary):

2 olive trees
1 Ilex koehneana (large leaved holly)
Photinia X fraseri pink marble)
Thuja occidentalis smaragd
Prunus lusitanica angustifolia
Eurnonymous japonicus

None were massive, but some were just higher than the wall and fence, but they made a difference straight away. I was looking at them rather than people’s windows!

I later had another olive tree delivered for outside the kitchen window.

I was desperate for more planting but had been advised to wait because of the cold weather.

On Monday 24 March I popped to Ross Garden Store to get a present and saw Gary. He told it was now a good time for phase 2 of planting! I was delighted. I did a big shop there and then. It was great fun. Gary came with the delivery and placed them! Good job because he spotted something I’d planted, and it was in the wrong place!

Since then I’ve put in solar lights, bought a few little statues, a variety of pretty stakes, and a lot more plants, and in June a beautiful curved patio was built by Ben Williams (https://www.instagram.com/landscapingforestofdean). All the grass has now gone and it’s been replaced with gravel - I plan to plant perennials in an ad hoc way so eventually the gravel will be a narrow windy path. Last week a beautiful wisteria arch arrived.

So there’s still more work to do - a pond would be nice, more planting required, and I need some garden furniture, but I’m absolutely delighted with how it is now. So different to what it was like when I first moved in. I couldn’t have done it without my son - with my bad knees I’m unable to dig the clay ground so his muscles come in handy. What’s nice though is that he’s now interested in what we’re doing, and gets as much enjoyment out of the garden as I do.