Garden makeover

When we first came here, we had ambitious plans for the garden area on one side of the house. We planted climbers on the fence, palm trees at the front and lemon trees in the large area at the back along with a cycad. We then proceeded to fill the spaces around with annual and perennial flowers. It all looked good for the first year or so. 

With an abundance of sun and a watering system in place, everything grew rapidly and soon became out of control. I have pictures that show how overgrown it was.  

Age took its toll and I could no longer maintain the garden by myself so we have Los Rubes, who ran the Garden Centre in Bigastro, come every two weeks to look after it for us.

Even they found it difficult. The soil is mostly heavy clay which is hard to cultivate and in which many plants struggle to survive. 

Plan C. Cover the garden with gravel just as they did with the show houses and just have feature plants. 

We are near to completion now with the addition of a couple of planters that are filled with flowering plants to give us some colour.