Paradise? A small suburban garden
I eNJoYeD reading about the greenfingered couple from wolverhampton, who have spent three decades and £27,000 transforming their suburban back yard into a magical secret garden (Mail). when I moved into my husband’s home 25 years ago and saw his flat, soulless, featureless, unloved, boring garden, something inside me said: ‘Go ahead and create a paradise.’ I did not have any gardening expertise or training, but by using common sense and putting in a lot of hard work, I have created a heavenly oasis on a semi-detached house’s corner plot on a housing estate. originally there was 90 per cent grass, with a few very old trees and shrubs, a shed and a grey garage wall — but I could see it had potential. I have opened the garden for the ‘Yellow Book’ National Garden Scheme and to raise money for charity, and have been featured on local TV. A decade ago my plot was judged to be the best city garden in Bristol. But my main aim has always been to show other people what can be achieved in a small garden. I have transformed the front and back into five ‘rooms’ packed with trees, shrubs, 300 containers and lots of interesting features, ornaments and statues. I will be 80 next year, so I have started to change the garden to make it easier to maintain and also ensure there are lots of seating areas where I can enjoy the view while having a coffee. I have discovered that lawns are hard work to maintain, while digging up and dividing perennials every few years is too laborious! It would be wonderful if a garden expert such as Monty Don could show long-term garden lovers how to make their plots more manageable while they still have the energy to do it. He will be old one day and will find his acres rather more difficult to maintain. when I look at my beautiful garden, I find it difficult to believe that I planted every single living thing in it. I feel so lucky to have a wonderful, different garden 365 days of the year.
MYRA TUCKER, Bristol.