The hanging baskets are still alive. After a few days of drenching rain, the main garden is looking green and lush but the rest is a little bit depressing.

Just as one part of the garden seems perfect, some other part runs out of control. And at the moment so many pieces of the garden seem flawed that I’m daunted. I’d like to start laying another flower (rose) bed but it seems a bit pointless until the rest of the garden falls into place. I need a list.

• Gravel garden. Too many plants dies last Summer and stripping and relaying the garden to repair the flat roof hasn’t helped at all. It looked relatively elegant in the Winter, but right now the gravel is covered with speedwell and just looks mostly abandoned. Plus cats have started to scrat in amongst the gravel.
  • Weedkiller on the speedwell in the gravel.
  • Cutback the dead plants and consider replanting en-masse
• Underneath the holly tree there is a more or less abandoned compost “beehive” useless because it’s just too dry to make compost. Some of the houseleeks have taken root but not enough to make a feature of the place.
  • Empty the beehive and move the composter to the dark garden where even if it isn’t effective (also dry) it will at least look better than weeds.
  • Plant more houseleeks
• The dark garden is overrun with euphorbia and geraniums except for under the yew trees where nothing is growing at all. The fatsia in one of the planters is looking dreadful and cats have started to scrat.
  • Take out much of the geranium to give other plants some space and take out most of the euphorbia (wear gloves)
  • Re-lay the bed in the dark garden and move plants from underneath the yew hedges leaving a relatively large unplanted area. Consider what to do with the space and whether or not the largest compost bin can be dug out and abandoned to add to the space.
  • Dse the pots being babied down by the house to top up any dead zones
• The beds at the front garden look messy, overrun with the remains of alliums that never really seemed worthwhile. Without pots to cheer up the space, it just looks bare.
  • Either strip the mess out or plant some fleabane over them
• Bedding still waiting to be planted out
  • Get on with it – using available family
• I want an extra rose bed at the back before the yew hedge, maybe raised with sleepers to make it easier. I need to find a man to do the work and price up the sleepers, topsoil and labour though this all assumes I can persuade my partner to cut up some lawn.
  • Do some research and ask around.