The Garden...

To start with, let me give you an overview of our garden.

It's smallish. About 26.5 x 16.5 ft.

10 x 16.5 ft of that is decking.

There's a two-flagstone-wide path down the side to the gate.

The entire garden beyond the decking has been covered with a sheet of black plastic and then covered with bark/wood-chip.

Here is a picture of the garden from the original house advert:
(advertised as 'lovely low-maintenance garden' as you might expect)

As you can see, it's very plain and in need of some colour and life.

Here is a picture of the garden on the week that we moved in (mid-July):

Looking a bit more sunny and green - but somewhat weedy.

... And then here it is today (early October):

After some heavy pruning and weeding (I've not done the path yet).

Good stuff about our garden:

• It's completely in the sun from about 10am - 8pm in the summer.
• It came with lots of 'loot' already.
• Decking.
• Some lovely plants.
• Black plastic sheeting.
• Massive wooden sleepers.
• Volcanic rocks and little boulders.
• ... and other small bits and bobs we can probably make use of.
• It's not overlooked except by our upstairs neighbour - who is lovely.

Bad stuff about our garden:

• It's quite small.
• It's ram-packed with giant spiders.
• An oak tree has very much taken root and is growing in one of the borders.
• Our neighbour's honeysuckle is growing over the fence and whilst I love the plant and it looks very pretty, I'm concerned that it will bring the fence down eventually.

So there it is an overview of the garden as it stands!