Chop, Skip, Dump…

…as opposed to ‘Hop, Skip, Jump’.  Yes…the garden project continues and the garden looks remarkably bare and remarkably larger.  It wasn’t a hot summer when we started!
 
So far:
We have, dug out hundreds of assorted bulbs, cleared a great many woody and neglected shrubs, small trees, weeds and choked and leggy plants.  Re-planted into pots any perennials which were worth keeping.
Dug over and de-stoned large areas of the garden (some areas of soil are very compacted so hard work), including a great deal of buried hardcore
Removed tons of flint which was laid in areas for walking over (which was unstable, a trip hazard and very sharp which would have caused injury if one fell on it). Then had to load it by the bucket-load into the skip.
Dug up seven buried metal, spiked bases for rotary lines, discovered in various locations around the garden.
Laid new paths around the garden which are more suited to our needs.
Re-laid some gravel areas for pots.
Dug up two lawns and carried the turf around to the skip.
Demolished the garden shed which appeared to have been laid on bare soil and had rotted.
Built a surround for our fountain, still work in progress.
 
Still to do:
Get a stone-breaker as we have found the foundations of a wall buried just a few inches below the soil where we want a flower border to be
Prepare the soil and lay new turf.
Prepare the soil in the flower beds.
Purchase or have built a new garden shed and renovate the other shed and summer house.
 
Good news – We have sandy soil so once the compacted soil is dug over the next time is easy.
Bad news – Water and any nutrients added drain through so quickly plants struggle to benefit, so we need to treat the soil to improve its texture and water retention.
 
Then…comes the exciting part, designing the planted areas.  Hopefully by next year we might be able to sit and enjoy the fruits of our labours!
 
I’m not complaining though, I have actually enjoyed the hard, physical work involved and have loved being out in the fresh air enjoying the birds and sunshine.   I’ve gained a free suntan and hopefully, a bit more muscle!  It’s made keeping up with blip a bit more difficult though. So, apologies for lack of comments.  I have put a before and current photo (the one that looks like a sea of soil) in extras.  I guess it's bound to look worse before it looks better!  Also, we've had to do this on a tight budget so have re-used as much material as possible, including old bricks.