Stones all around us!

Well, we were told that our house was on a drumlin. We are beginning to appreciate what that means as far as making plans for the garden is concerned. Our garden has a lot of stones, and they come in all shapes and sizes! Having removed some of the small pebbles, we were hoping to plant a yew hedge and some native trees to attract birds and other wildlife.

Yesterday we visited a wonderful nursery in Grange over sands. Inspired by the quality and price of the plants, we came home with raspberry canes, rhubarb crowns, ten yew plants and pansies and daisies for instant colour. The raspberry canes are in a pot and the rhubarb can cope with frost, but the yews are bare rooted and must be planted as soon as possible. The forecast was tolerable, so we agreed to start work in the morning.

Ignoring the drizzle, we donned gloves and garden shoes and paced out the position of the hedge. The book said a trench 30cm deep and 60cm wide was required. Two hours later, the garden looked more of a desert than it had before we started. The whole area was a morass of mud and stones, and everywhere we walked, we carried sods of sticky soil with us. we decided to abandon the trench and bring some colour into the middle level of the garden. More stones - but this time we had the measure of them. They could be used as a decorative feature to complement our potted daisies.....Work done for the day!