Ground Force

So, a few months ago, back when it was summer (ish) I agreed to take part in the Bosch Garden Challenge.

In exchange for some nice shiny new tools, some lovely plants and a lawn treatment I would compete against other bloggers to show how I had transformed my garden. A bit like a gardening version of the XFactor, in fact.

What I hadn’t factored in is how much TIME it takes to revamp a garden. No wonder so many retired people do it.

And of course the garden is used by both the dog and the foxes who live next door as a playground, which makes keeping the lawn decent almost impossible.

Anyway, enough of the excuses, and the fact I couldn’t be further removed from Charlie Dimmock in Ground Force. Here’s what I did.

First I cut back the pear and apple trees and other shrubs. Then I decided to do was create a nicer patio area. I chose plants that are architecturally interesting, including grasses from the Pacific (in homage to Man of the House and No 1 Son’s heritage), and the camellia because it will give some much needed colour in the early spring.

Unfortunately we won’t be having our lawn treatment until then, but I have done my best to make it look a little more presentable, scattering grass seeds, and so on.

So… here it is.

You can see what it looked like before here.

*PS I’m honestly not expecting to win this challenge, but if you do want to vote for me, click here.