Where is the soil?!

I haven't blogged since March due to a welcome influx of business in the past few months.  Gardening is certainly one way of keeping fit and happy!

I just recently finished a project for clients that involved rejuvenating their front borders that had not been done for many years.  I agreed to do the work without checking the depth of the border soil which turned out to be non-existent!  I love a challenge particularly when it involves using a pick axe and removing barrow loads of large stones...  Fortunately, the client gave up some of his work time to weald the axe to remove deep roots and stones and this helped to move the project along.  

The clients wanted to be proud of their front garden after years of looking at tired overgrown plants and poor soil.  Some of the plants had been installed before they bought the house.  Together we planned a planting scheme using both new plants and divided herbaceous plants taken from their back garden.  I suggested a lavender hedge as a starting point and they wanted to have a more informal 'cottage garden' feel to the rest of the planting scheme inside the hedge.  I also suggested planting 'New Dawn' climbing roses that would soften the area around the front door.  As the soil was so poor,  I purchased two large planters for the roses to go in either side of the door and used a loam based soil mixed with plenty of organic matter, general feed and micorrhizal fungi to help the roses settle in quickly.

In all, it took 2.5 days to finish the work and the clients were very pleased with the outcome.  The photos show the gradual changes to their front garden.  The border is in its earliest stages and will need further planting to bring about the informal cottage garden feel.

Finally, the clients suggested that I start a TV show called 'Extreme Garden Challenges'!  I can't imagine what they mean.... but a word of warning,  don't ever think that every gardening job is going to be plain sailing because you would be wrong!