Taking Back the Garden - The Before

The back garden in December 2020, before any work had been done. Unkempt but still beautiful in the snow!

At first glance it's a beautiful view out of that back window isn't it? The snow disguises some of the problems but lets look at the photo in more detail and see what we can see.

Straight away it's obvious that the bushes and trees are overgrown but there are some more subtle things to examine...

Look at the fence and the blue highlights on this close-up. These are brambles and they were everywhere. Coming into the garden from both sides (or the other way around). Snaking across paths, hiding in the grass and just waiting to tear someone's leg apart when they trip up on it (yes, this did happen).

Next is the yellow highlight - this is where the path was. It was overgrown and was also made narrower by random rocks being placed there.

That leaves the orange highlighted are which was actually part of a wall but in reality was the closest thing to a path that was left!

The keen-eyed among you may notice the overgrown grass. This was about 50cm tall until the snow came and squashed it all down.

Highlighted in this close-up are the three large tree stumps that exist.

The garden actually continues beyond the bushes behind the tree stumps but that had clearly been used as a dumping ground for quite some time.

 

And lets not forget about the random concrete post. I have no idea why this exists. 

If I'm lucky it's just part of some removed garden feature that a previous owner couldn't be bothered moving.

If I'm not lucky, it'll be marking something underground that will undoubtedly be in the way and completely immoveable.