Border Patrol

Not my garden, but it felt just about this daunting last year!

Last year I began to de-jungle the garden at my new house. I'm afraid that vanity dictated that the front - publicly visible - garden should be the one favoured with the most time and effort, and that the back would have to get by with a good tidy up. What with a new baby, and a certain feeling of being overwhelmed by the mammoth task at hand, I managed only one long straight, dull border, a giant landscaping/rock clearing job to level out an area for a shed and vegetable patch, and some serious lawn renovation.



Too formal for me these days....

 This year I will be buckling down, probably, and completing the border war. Straight lines and regimented planting is out, wavy lines and cottage garden planting will be in, although the willpower required in the planning stage may exhaust me all by itself. The problem I have is whether to plan and mark out the borders prior to digging - the obvious choice - or to whether to go with the flow and allow each area to evolve.

Convention suggests that the former course of action should be taken, but I have in the past used the latter to great effect. That is, I have allowed certain zones within a garden to grow and take on their own shape over a period of time, altering things on impulse and changing my mind often. In this fashion I have avoided regimentation and tradition, and finished up with something that tends to suit it's position and area.



... but this is just the kind of thing I'm looking for.

 For example, some years ago I ended up laying and re-laying a brick path through a pebbled area; I started off with a very unnatural straight line, and after much effort obtained a wavy, organic path which followed a natural route from a to b. This process was accidental, resulting from a dissatisfaction with the first attempt. If anybody has an opinion on this style of 'design' please leave your comments below.

Anyway, I will make a tentative start this weekend, I think, and perhaps add a post when I've made a bit of a dent in the job! Don't forget, suggestions on design, planting and gardening in general are most welcome.

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