Then and now

When we were tidying in the garden at the weekend and building yet another bed for the kitchen garden, it came to me that we started this gardening journey – and blog – just over three years ago now. I began to think back to where we started and realised just how far we had come. So this week, I wanted to share some “before” and “after” photos. For two people who knew very little about gardening when we arrived, and who had never really had any interest in gardening, we seem to have achieved a lot! So, here we go – this is our garden, both as it was when we arrived and today.

The Flower Garden

The Frog Patch

This is the curved raised bed in the flower garden up behind the bench. It was made (long before our time) using a drystone wall which, along with the defunct water feature just visible in the top picture above, attracted the frogs in the Spring. The Calamity Cat loved them but, since we developed the planting in there and replaced the water feature with the rose bed, we have seen fewer of them. It’s a shame, as they were fun to watch and ate the slugs, but at least we no longer have to rescue them from Calamity who thought they had come to play with her!

The Kemnay Bed

When we moved in, we had what I called the Kemnay bed – the plants that we had brought in pots from Scotland and planted out. Sadly, we lost a hebe in our second year and we also moved the spirea Autumn Blaze into the Frog Patch to give it more space. I can’t believe how much the photinia has grown!

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The Kitchen Garden

It is no surprise that the greatest changes have been on the other side of the white gate, up in the kitchen garden. Again, the basic structure was there which we left in place but we have developed nearly every inch of the space.

The Veg Patch

Our predecessor had raised beds in a patch separated from the rest of the garden by a low fence covered in chicken wire to keep out her hens and her guinea fowl. We still use the same area but we have replaced the beds to make them larger and gravelled the paths.

The Sitooterie

Or, for my non-Scottish readers, the summer house. If you’re not sure what it means, try saying it aloud and it will all become clear! Or you can now look it up in the the dictionary – apparently it was added to the OED last year.

Anyway, sadly, I realised I didn’t have any “before” photos. Take it from me, it was incredibly dark inside making it unusable. This is what it looks like now, complete with sign and overflow plants from the greenhouse:

Looking back, I am incredibly proud of everything we have achieved and if you ever thought of trying a bit of gardening, just look at what you can do with love, enthusiasm and a little blind faith!