Frans Garden

I helped Fran (from work) today with her garden.We had a list of garden jobs she wanted me to help her do. From twelve untill Six PM I helped her dig the front border where a privet hedge had formally been.

She went plant shopping yesterday and had some summer flowering bulbs as well.The council had shredded some trees in the parkland behind her house.

The mission was to collect the bark, dig the front border over, plant it, then cover it with bark chippings.

I took thirty five photos throughout the day.Everything hurts now from breaking up the clay soil, adding fresh compost, then forking it over.

We had to avoid a Chinchilla grave which we over dug i think.It is still in the ground somewhere beneath plants.

We planted forget me nots, pink flowers like forget me nots, Photinia Red robin, a pieris rescued from oblivion of the back garden, A Dicentra bleeding heart, an unknown white flower plant that smelt like jasmine, some late flowering Dafodils, some bluebells, Aqualegias, some Astilibe (strange bulbs like square roots.They looked like roots too from the late Privet hedge), and Fifty Peacock Orchids.

The bark chippings were scooped up into frans Trug (funny word), then transported to the front border for a moisture/weed controlling mulch!

The soil once broken up and turned was quite nice.It was dry in places, clay like in others but the ghostly hedge had left a lot of organic matter for us to mix into the soil.

We never did get to the back garden that is another days work.She has a bermuda triangle too at the back right hand corner.Thats another post when i go back to help tidy the back garden up...

The borders look neater now, just need the plants to fill out.They had a good watering, and the bark chippings are excellent for retaining soil moisture.

Its amazing how much two people can achieve when they set their minds to it.

I have asked that she photographs it regular so i can see if the bark chippings improve the plants lives.