Work in Progress

We had our new garden arbour delivered today, along with 15 bags of (the wrong) shingle.  The local garden centre were very quick to sort out the shingle issue and happily, the correct shingle was delivered this afternoon. 

We have a flower bed which backs onto the garden of our opposite neighbour who has a row of fairly mature trees right up against the fence.  The problem is that the trees take all the moisture and goodness out of our soil, the flower bed is full of their roots.  So after a few seasons of trying different planting, which performed poorly, we have conceded defeat and (apart from two dwarf conifers) have removed (or moved) the existing planting and have decided to shingle the area.  We have planted low box hedging around it and will make our arbour the main feature.  We will also dot some potted plants amongst the shingle to make it more decorative.

So, I have begun the task of painting the arbour today.  We're using the same colours as our summerhouse and sheds to keep it all consistent.  Hopefully the end result will be easier to maintain, pleasant to look out onto from the house and a handy spot for morning coffee as the sides have handy built-in shelves just big enough for a mug (or a wine glass!).