The 3 year plan to recover a neglected garden comes to an end and so does my KZfaq journey. I have documented 2 years and 2 months of the process - it took the Covid pandemic and lockdown to nudge me into wanting to document the process. We bought the house 4 years ago and spent 1 year reforming it, but every day I took my gardener's eye out into the garden to see what was going on. It was totally overgrown and unloved. As the seasons changed my "to-do" list got longer and longer and finally, house under control, I started ripping out dead plants and trees, treating diseased shrubs and trees, pruning and rejuvenating hot-messes and trying NOT to get hysterical. I also had to deal with major problems (as if taking down trees wasn't a major problem!!!), there was a very sick Cypress hedge - past the point of no return - on top of a very steep embankment. There were also invasive vines on EVERY fence perimeter on the property....a big headache to remove. I was faced with lawn die-back on a certain area of the lawn, but discovered a hidden patio underneath (WOW!!!). I created "Rooms" in the garden: The Woodland, The Shrub Border, The Rose Border, The Terraces and the Maceta Garden. I wanted year around interest or as near as I could get to it and I wanted colour and texture. All these new borders are in their infancy, but now it is just a waiting game (with lots of maintenance to keep me busy), but the design element has concluded and the recovery now is a work in progress. All this could have been achieved in less time but with more money spent and contractors brought in. Miguel and I wanted to show that it is possible to get it done in bite sized pieces doing the work ourselves (despite being pensioners). We only brought in a contactor to cut down the Russian Olive trees due to the nature and lack of stability of these trees....everything else was done by us.
The garden has afforded me the opportunity to show how to prune and recover many shrubs. Pruning is something I love and it has always been my strong point as a gardener - so I guess there are some advantages to buying a chaotic garden!
I would like to thank each and every one of you that has accompanied me over these last 2 years. It has been a real privilege. I will still post photos on Instagram - hopefully I will post more regularly there - but the KZfaq journey has come to an end.
Thank you for accompanying me on this journey.
"Hasta Siempre Amigos"