terracing

It was another stunning day, perfect for gardening and amazingly everyone agreed. Nell got kitted up in her snow suit and played on the rug with a trolley and trike and Mattie and Ross collected and chopped firewood.

It's the point in winter, just before things start growing, when everything is at it's most bare and for the first time we can really see the shape of the old garden. It would have been a beauty. There are 3 layers of terracing, banked with stone walls and they are completely overgrown with young trees in odd places; but the chance to get back to the traditional south facing terraced vegetable plot is definitely there.

So this photo shows the first lot of herbs and bulbs going in and the weeds being cleared from around the pear tree- and Mattie's rockery at this end. I really got stuck in but it looks a lot less impressive in the photo than it felt at the end of the day. Out came couch grass and brambles and in went narcissi, lily of the valley, oregano, parsley, melissa, thyme wild strawberries and lavendar. That's about 3 metres done and 22 to go. Lovely day.