I have a new project. I began a few weeks before we went on holiday and it's to clear/improve that bit of garden at the front of our front garden. It was intended to have a sort of informal look but turned into jungle-style.
I forgot to take a photo before I began but this was at an early stage of the project.
And this was a bit later. Or possibly the same time but a different angle ...
Anyway progress is slow especially as weeds began to take over again as soon as my back was turned - but I have plans. Trouble is that my plans tend to be a bit like Baldrick's with about as much success.
I had originally intended to put down a mixture of paving stones and pebbles but really I think grass would be nicer. Husband isn't so keen on that idea though. Our garden isn't huge but still he already has seven individual patches of grass that he has to mow, hence his reluctance to add another. Although I think he'll hardly notice one more ...
So far so good except the beds that already exist sort of slope down into the earth where the grass/paving stones will be and at the side dropping down to the steps. So I've decided that I need to do some stone walling as we have in the rest of the garden. Which means we need stones.
Husband's plan, that he pick one up in the woods each time he walks George, while economic, is possibly unnecessarily labour-intensive - and slow. Not to mention probably illegal and ... well, I'll tell you in a minute.
The Gower peninsula is mostly carboniferous limestone so working on the assumption that the original flower-bed walls and paths were probably made of that I tootled off to the local builders' merchants yesterday to look for some. And found none. Turns out the nearest store selling stones is about 20 miles away. But while googling for stores I made a discovery, which although it's taking me a long time to get there, is the whole point of this post.
Did you know that water-worn limestone hosts its own ecosystem and that the human habit of using said stones for garden walls and paths is damaging the fragile balance of man and nature? I have to check that the limestone being sold is deep-quarried. Oh for goodness sake.
I feel guilty enough as it is for all the plastic bottles in my home and I recycle with a fanatic's enthusiasm. Now I have to make sure the stones in the garden are eco-friendly.
Life was so much simpler in the old days. When I swam in the polluted sea without a care in the world ...
