the winter garden

The garden was originally a sloping yard when I came here in 2006. It was a sizzling summer, and the sun reflected off the crazy paving, making the yard a furnace. James being James, persuaded me to let him dig it all up and create a garden. I finally gave in, and through his massive effort, a 3-tiered garden has evolved. It's still work in progress, but last winter (2008)the birds flocked in to eat the fatty sead balls hanging everywhere, and in the summer, the sunflowers were Jack-in-the-Beanstalk high, and the Cosmos flowered on into late October. In November 2008, I started to lay a concrete path directly outside the back door. I put down one section and mosaiced it, then another, and now four more concrete sections await the mosaic finish....roll on better weather! As usual, most of the material is tip-haul, salvage, or car-boot finds. The 'frilly' concrete border was done afterwards, using corrugated plastic and wine bottles and other bits of glass and pebbles.