The start of phase 1 part 1.Despite the atrocious weather conditions (even more snow - will it ever end!), clearing work started in earnest. The area of the garden in front of the west facing wall was, until now, akin to the enchanted forest! Above head height in bramble and self-set tree seedlings, it looked an unenviable task! After a day with a machete, brush cutter and a bow saw, some of the original outlines of the garden have begun to appear.
In the foreground is the stump of the (originally) 10' high Buddleia seedling. We left it in last year for the wonderful assortment of butterflies that visited it. In hindsight, these probably originated from the same caterpillars that ate all of the brassicas..........sometimes the thought of going back to all those nasty chemicals gets very tempting.
The next big part of the clear-up, is removing a row of Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Ellwoodii'. They are some of the conifers planted by my late father over 35 years ago, part of the many varieties that he grew to sell. A friend is coming to chainsaw them down to a manageable height, then all we've got to do (!) is get the roots out. Once they have gone, it should let in an awful lot more light.
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