Spring is approaching fast and it will soon be time to start your new garden, or amend your existing one. It was in April 2016 that we moved into our new build, which had a garden consisting of a rectangular lawn and a broad cement path. Full stop. We immediately started laying out the basic shape of the beds, breaking up the expanse of lawn into two circles, defined by borders with perennials, shrubs, rose bushes and trees. Over the course of four years, the garden has changed enormously, as gardens do. In the clay-rich Midlands soil, roses flourish, as do fruit trees and blackberries, and the garden in many ways has grown beyond all expectations. Would we change anything? Could we have contained our obsession with collecting plants? Hard to say, as it's hard to rein in a passion. Plants have grown taller and wider than was ever expected, so the garden contains rather more mass than voids, and voids necessary for balance! But as a garden is something that changes constantly, this is not the end of the journey; it's just the beginning.
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