Garden plans

As we sit outside eating, & then digesting dinner, we contemplate the garden. The bog garden desperately needs something doing to it to smarten it up a bit. This area is regularly under water. It is essentially a soakaway. From the point of view of aesthetics we would just concrete it over, & then add some colourful pots to cheer it up. However, it does perform an important role as a soakaway. The whole yard inclines to this corner, which means all the water from the garage roof heads that direction. The shed roof directs its water to this point. This is why it is so often under water. If it was solid ground we would be flooding the house if we weren't careful. At least, with this bog the water does soak away.

When we first arrived here there were some trees in the bed, but our then gardener (the one before Al) cut them down without our permission. The trees may not have looked overly healthy but they at least were still drinking & did discourage the weeds. We tried planting a few bog plants but they all drowned. The kaffir lily did best, keeping going a couple of years. Since then the patch has just been left & disappeared under weeds, occasionally nuked with some extra strong weedkiller Al puts down.

We finally decide the thing to do, is to clear the bed & cover the ground with a thick layer of bark or pebbles. That way the water should be able to filter through. We may even try a few water-loving plants. We should be able to clear sufficient bark or pebble to plant them yet continue to discourage the proliferation of weeds.

With this thought in mind, I start to clear a few weeds this morning. I'm starting at the dryer end. We're thinking we might get to the garden centre this afternoon so may manage to get some plants for this patch while we're there. Hope so.