Having decided to take the bull by the horns and load photos of what each part of the garden looks like before I start work on it I'm hoping people will make allowances for the stae it is in. Working loads of hours every week and trying to run a home and look after a family on top didn't leave much time for anything else and slowly but surely what was my pride and joy began to go to rack and ruin. It has taken me 15 months of working night and day on the big border to get it to the state it is in now, and I am well aware that if I turn my back on it for one minute that it will revert to what it was by the end of the year. Which is the reason everything has to be done piecemeal. It has also taken 15 months and many doses of lethal concoctions of various weedkillers to get the drive to the state where it can be weeded with a crevice tool. Hard work, but 10minutes a day ( weather permitting) keeps it weed free and pristine looking.

     The border in the photos entitled "next subject" used to full of Honesty, Sweet Rocket, Foxgloves, Meadowsweet, Hostas ans Ferns. It was a sight to see when the male Orange Tipped  butterflies used to make it there favourite feeding ground in May and of course various bees in Summer. I am hoping to restore it to it's former glory with a more diverse selection of plants that will in turn support a greater range of wildlife. At the moment all it is supporting is the local population of slugs and Comfrey, which is the green plant that can be seen in the photos. Now Comfrey, as all Organic gardeners know, is a very useful plant to have access to. It speeds up decomposition in the compost making process, adds fertility to the soil, can be made into a foliar feed for sick plants and if you can extact the oils it's a great anti-inflammatory. Of course it can give you cancer in the process of using it on your skin, but when you are in agony from tennis elbow through too much gardening, that's a moot point. What the books don't tell you, is that it speads, anywhere it feels like. Don't ask me how it speads, I've never been able to dig far enough down to find the roots. I've even tried the new Bocking 14 variety, gaurenteed not to spread. Well, who ever wrote that gem of wisdom needs to come and view my new fruit garden. I set off with one tiny, tiny, plant of Bocking 14, I've now got 6 dirty great nuisanses that sprawl all over if left to their own devices making everything look a total mess. I've come to the conclusion that you CAN have too much of a good thing