Smallholding Garden Makeover. "Time For A Change".

We have been busy changing the look of our herbaceous cottage garden.  It's the third garden design in the last twelve years.  First I made the gardens whilst the house was being built.   The builders weren't impressed that they couldn't empty their cement mixer any where they wanted.  I sowed a lawn here at the back of the house.  But it is North facing and it wasn't long before the Moss decided to make my lawn its home.  So then I (we) made a traditional Cottage garden and filled it with lots of herbaceous perennials ("pretty flowers") and lots of wheelbarrows of well rotted farm yard manure.  Farm yard manure is a cold manure and this means it's full of weed seeds and lovely nettles and "Twitch" (Couch grass)...?

Any road.  We live in between silage fields and when they grow they they deposit every weed seed and grass into our garden.  So I have got tired of weeding it and decided to give it another make over.  This involved a day (full one) digging out the old weeds and saving what plants we could.  Then we opted for Mypex landscape fabric.  It turned out a lot cheaper than my Astro Turf/ plastic grass idea.  So we cut holes in the fabric and planted some plants through it.  Then we wheel barrowed and raked 2 tons of red pea gravel and placed some second hand stepping stones on it complete with some stepping stones.  

Finished garden.  Complete with Greek lady statue.  Spot the white plastic sheep?  

Is your garden due a make over?  What's your plans for this year?  Have you got your potatoes chitted yet?  Must get those paving stones power washed.  Is that what God sends the rain for?  Well he gives us puddles to wash our shoes in!  May be not!