Fork'n'Spade

One year ago this piece of ground was occupied by a builder's digger, scaffolding, tossed debris from inside the house, remnants of a bonfire and hard paths compressed by building workerds going about their business. We moved in at Xmas.

I started to dig over the ground in spring. The fork never got 2 inches into the ground before hitting something which had to be removed. The obstacle was either a rock or building detritus. It had to be removed. In fact the original fork didn't survive. It seemed to take forever and summer bedding was put down to provide some colour and cover while we thought of a more permanent design.

It is now time to build to the design. The rocks pulled out are forming borders to the paths which will snake through the borders.

But the really satisfying thing today was putting fork and spade to the ground and, with only a little pressure, each slid effortlessly through the earth. I would never have imagined it six months ago. It was a delight. It is a small part of the garden but it is progress.