Putting The Garden to Bed

We have had such a glorious Autumn (reported 28 degree temperatures whist we were in Manchester) that we have been able to finish tidying the garden for winter. We usually run out of time because the weather beats us, but not this year. A number of beds had been virtually abandoned and looked awful, in particular the rose beds and the Iris walk.  However in a couple of days we have transformed them.

Originally we planned to have a line of cherry trees in the front garden, referred to as the cherry walk and John excavated a wide path to boarder the trees. However this was one of the failures; no trees would grow in this area as they were planted virtually on bed rock. So last year we decided to regrass this path and as there was no soil we have turned it into a compost heap for the last eighteen months. Recently John suggested that we could turn it into a bank. Great idea, so I had endless fun working out which plants would thrive there and what we could afford. So, I have decide to plant narcissus bulbs next autumn and transplant a relative of the evening primrose, which is a thug in the serpentine bed but I hope will be perfect on the bank. So in preparation, we made three trips to the recycling centre this afternoon to collect some compost to make a start. 

We will need a lot more trips before next Spring - everything in our garden is big!! But whose fault is that??