Garden timeline / history
We started gardening here in May 1999. The garden then was mostly laid to lawn with a small foot wide border running down each side. There were some rampant climbers on the fences and a large Mallow by the bottom fence. There was also a small triangular raised bed by the garage and a very large Christmas Tree in the far left corner just over the fence that dominated and shaded that part of the garden. And that was it. So pretty much a blank canvas.
For the first year or so we stripped off some turf and grew vegetables amongst flowers while we planned out our strategy.
In 2000 we stripped off all the turf and installed out wildlife pond. We also built a circular deck in the shade of the Christmas tree at the bottom of the garden with a walkway over the pond.
In 2001 the garden started to take shape. The pond had really settled in and we had some key plants although not all in their final positions!
2002 and everything kept growing!
In 2006 we finally got round to building the top deck with handrails and pergola. We bought the handrails from a garden centre bargain bin; they were designed as vertical climber supports and we cut them down and fitted them horizontally.
In 2007 we had to replace the fence on the East side.
2014 saw the arrival of our greenhouse. Formerly owned by an ex-WW2 Hurricane pilot! We drove to Caterham, dismantled it and brought it back in our van. A lovely day out and we didn't lose one pane of glass (until re-erecting anyway!). How did we manage without a greenhouse?
Easter 2016. Following a terrible gale in the night we awoke at 6am on bank holiday Monday to find the 50ft Douglas Fir laying across our garden. Fortunately no one was hurt. It took out two fence panels, a deck board, some old garden chairs and a large chunk of our magnolia Delavayi where it came to rest on top of the greenhouse. Miraculously not a pane of glass broken again! We managed to cut a tunnel through the branches so we could take a garage full of Daffodils up to the Wisley Show that day! The next day the contractors did a fantastic job of clearing up.
