From lawn to kitchen garden & beyond…..

A Garden Makeover

We moved to a beautiful, friendly village in North Wales seven and a half years ago. It was simply to get a bigger garden to grow as much of our own fresh food as possible. When we came to view the property we walked straight through the house to the back window. In front of us was an ample sized garden with a view of mature trees, including the magnificent walnut.

That was that, we were moving to our new garden! Luckily the house had potential.

The garden is 160ft long, a good width near the house but goes right down to a point. It was simply a lawn with overgrown shrubs and trees. In other words a blank canvas ready for the painting.

The first task was to clear the space. It was August 2013 when we moved, so the light mornings meant we were outside most days before 6am hacking back. Luckily our local recycling centre allows you to take any amount of green waste. We would make 5-6 trips a day with the pick-up filled to the max.

We went through quite a few tubes of muscle rub in those first few weeks and we used to joke that we could do with having a bath in it! There was a lot more aching to come…..

We were determined to start growing some food ASAP. Once we’d uncovered the overgrown boundaries, I had to knuckle down and make a start on the garden plan. We knew we wanted to build a wall down the full 160ft length on the left hand side, as it is a south facing boundary. I could already imagine the fruit trees growing along it. This set the design for an ornamental walled kitchen garden.

The design started with the six raised veg beds, they were going to take centre stage. We wanted them reasonably close to the house and they needed maximum sunshine. The only other priority at this stage was to leave space for the house to be extended and a descent sized patio area. Everything else would follow.

As I write this in March 2021 the garden is not quite finished. I know as a gardener the garden is never finished, but what I mean is the hard landscaping. There’s only a small area close to the house left to do, which has been waiting for the house alterations to be completed. We were hoping this would have been done last year, but for unforeseen circumstances (a worldwide pandemic) it wasn’t possible.

If you’d have told me this time last year the work would not be finished by now, I’d have felt very disappointed, but I think we’ve all had our priorities reset in the last twelve months and it now seems unimportant.

I’ve been able to spend so much more time gardening this last year and I am so grateful to have had a lovely outdoor space to keep me sane. I am more thankful than ever to have a garden and to be a gardener!

So pop the kettle on and join us on our journey of transformation from lawn to kitchen garden and beyond, from the pain free comfort of your armchair.

Part 1 – Let’s get stuck into the garden makeover! Part 2 – New garden, new cat! Part 3 – Building the raised vegetable beds Part 4 – Lady bricklayer? Part 5 Creating a walled garden from scratch – The Shady Wall Part 6 – Creating a walled garden from scratch – The Great Wall Part 7 – Bamboo and Hosta raised beds Part 8 – The Majestic Walnut Tree Part 9 –The Holly and The Ivy Part 10 – Greenhouse – take two Part 11 – The Fruit trees Part 12 – Dreaming of a Pond Part 13 –The White Garden Part 14 – Gardening on an Ice-Age Glacier Part 15 – Creating the Pathways Part 16 – Creating a Woodland border Part 17 – Digging up the lawn Part 18 – Planting the Magnolia border Part 19 – Making a Mediterranean Bed