Pondering...

Today has been a day for it, pondering that is. It's been none too good weather wise with on and off drizzle so no real work done in my garden, but lots of thinking and planning and pondering. It's the weekend so my husband has been mulling things over in the garden too, measuring things up and thinking about his next move.

To put things garden-wise into context we started off with this

and after a lot of hard work and a couple of thousand £'s we have so far ended up with this

So far, so good eh? It's my keep me occupied project at the moment and it certainly is keeping me very occupied because if I'm not physically doing something in the garden I'm planning what to do next. Nothing on paper, it's all in my mind, but I'm aiming for a beachy feel with zoned areas.

So far we have had new fencing and two decks erected (the main spend of cash really as there's no way we could have done that ourselves!). After that it was down to me to start painting the fences, and there's a lot of fence, what seems like acres in fact, oh and two coats of paint too, so twice the acreage! So the back fence was to be forget-me-not blue to compliment the sage green of the shed and make it look like an outdoor room. The main tall fence running along the side broke me, it was never ending but the sense of acheivement when I got to the end was immense. Anyway, thats in Heritage stone colour, the garden zone. The small fences in the foreground that are older and weathered will eventually be painted the same green as the shed, as will the new wall topper fence out of sight on the lower right. This will mark out the patio zone where the table and seating is, another outdoor room.

Last week we edged the lower deck with heather screening and laid weed suppressant fabric under the deck. Previously to that we moved the shed sideways by about 6 inches and back by about 18inches to be able to lay paving slabs around it to tidy the area up and provide space for our plastic storage unit. My husband had fitted a new BBQ unit to the brick built BBQ on the top deck and screwed a stainless steel splashback to the fence to prevent us burining it down whilst cooking! He also applied two coats of deck oil to both decks.

So thats the background, here's the pondering.....How to cover up the unsightly brickwork between the two decks and above the steps?! Idea....Frame it up and cover it with more heather screening to make it match the lower deck. So measuring up is in order.

Next is sorting out the flower bed I want to put in, in front of the lower deck. It will be triangular in shape and filled with evergreen plants of different colours so there will be all round colour. Planting will be mulched with gravel and edged with short painted picket fence. Have to mull over what needs doing there really as the soil is clay and will need manure, sand and compost dug in first.

My biggest pondering is the dip that contains the old stepping stone path to the left of the photos, it winds from top centre around to the left and back to bottom centre, it is also in a trench. What the previous owners of the house were thinking of at the time I have no idea, its a total pain to mow due to the incline and serves no purpose. I initially thought it would make a great basis for a rill with lovely trickling water, but then the practicalities sunk in, how would I ever manage to trim the hedge on the left? So that idea went out of the window as soon as it came in. I think, but it's still open to other suggestions, that it will need to be filled in with topsoil and either seeded or the whole lawn comes up and we lay a new one so it all matches. That pondering will go on for a while yet I reckon.

The plan for a new path is already in my mind and it will lead from the bottom right of the lawn along the side of the new flower bed and up to the deck steps. Easy and just where you actually want a path!

So lots of thinking, and even more actual physical work to do. Tomorrow is another day, and I think tomorrow will bring me yet more fence painting!