Gardening with cardboard

This is our front garden which was nothing but grass when we bought the house in summer 2019. We planted it over the winter of 2019-2020 and this is the result.  I've been up in North Kessock for a few weeks so I was astonished at how it has burst into bloom since I saw it last. The new beech hedge is taller than I am, there are four sturdy young trees, roses, shrubs, lots of perennials, annuals self seeded from last year and thankfully not too many weeds.

 I was looking back at my photos of the progress since we started with the new hedge in November 2019. We covered a lot of the grass with cardboard and a layer of compost and started planting. My husband gallantly added wooden edges to keep it all in and terraced the steepest bits. 

As we were in lockdown the trees, roses, some shrubs and herbs were mail order, other plants came from my lovely neighbour. I grew some from seed and haunted a local nursery for bargains when it was allowed to open.

I've added some extras with collages of the various stages in the process. I'm eternally grateful to my friend who has an allotment and who introduced me to the concept of gardening with cardboard. The compost arrived on pallets from a well known DIY store in the depths of lockdown. A bonus has been a sturdy compost heaps and several log stores..

Altogether a huge source of pride and pleasure.