Work in progress

The week before I left town for London + Cornwall, I undertook a new gardening project. My friend Valerie came over to consult on whether I should buy a pair of urns and a bench at Ross Auctions for the back of the garden. While she was there, I commented on how much I dislike the pavers that make up my back patio. Over the years I've pulled up almost half of them, replacing them with more lawn. I told her I couldn't pull up any more b/c I had to leave room for the patio table and chairs. She suggested making the patio longer at one side and moving the table to that side, then making the patio shallower. Prob is, last time I pulled up rows of pavers, I laid a decorative row of blocks with an ajuga border. Moving that was not appealing. But I realised I could create a garden within the paved area, which is what I did. In the photo below, I've taped off the area where I will remove a dozen pavers to create a garden. I've already pulled up six pavers here, with six more to be lifted.

This is the project, by the way, that sunk my chances against Edenmore. Before I added the new garden, my first step was to extend the side of the patio for the table and chairs. Back when I made the patio shallower, I lifted three pavers at either end of the back of the patio to create a D shape. In the 3-paver cut out, I planted ajuga with hostas, all of which had to be transplanted so I could put the 3 pavers back in place, and extend them with four additional pavers. Here I've replaced the 3 pavers, added two at the back, and I'm in the process of scraping turf to inset the last two pavers. Giving the table a new space so I can create a new garden within the paver patio.

So once the side of the patio was extended, I lifted the 12 pavers and planted 9 rockery plants that, supposedly, won't mind the scrappy soil/sand/gravel underneath.

And then I added gravel. The idea is the plants will spread and increase the green plant-to-paver ratio.

I also bought outdoor rugs at Sainsbury's to, again, reduce the paver surface area. I'm not crazy about these rugs but they do brighten things up a bit for summer. This view is looking from my kitchen door to the back garden. Notice the two cement spheres in the middle of the garden. I didn't get either the urns or the bench at Ross's, as the prices got bid away up. But Valerie sent me photos of a bench at Wilson's Yard, which I bought, and of these orbs, which I also bought.

The idea is to change the border garden from a very uniform U shape to a more curvy hourglass shape. The orbs denote the narrow bit. Ultimately the bench will be at the very back, visible through the opening.

Getting the bench from Wilson's Yard to Rust Proofers, where it will be spray painted, consumed the final days before my trip. I had to visit Rust Proofers to select a colour for the bench, and I became paralysed by choices. Chinese red? Saffron? Baby blue? I got so agitated that I picked some kind of beige. I think it was the green beige--not the taupe or gray beige. But who knows. I was terribly frustrated at my indecision.

One final note from the week before I left for London. A large group of goldfinches alighted in the tree at the back of my garden, chattering up a storm. I loved the flashes of yellow and their little red faces. I am delighted by birds. They are one of the graces--the unearned gifts that stop me in my tracks sometimes.

mid June