Ta dah!

So, here's the first bit of terracing finished.  This is taken from our bedroom window and actually makes it look a lot smaller than it really is - the wall at the front is about chest high.  We didn't have to add any extra soil because the stuff Bob dug out at the back for the little retaining wall brought the level about right.  We did add a trailer full of horse muck though and the chickens enjoyed helping us mix that in!

Then on Saturday we had to deliver a garden bench that Bob had made to someone just outside Shrewsbury (actually Prince William's helicopter instructor don't you know!) and a couple of miles from there is the yard where we got the untreated railway sleepers for the big retaining wall round the extension.  So much nicer than the ones that ooze creosote whenever the sun shines.  We had three left and thought they'd work for the back of this border and so we got another one while we were close by.  And here's the finished wall.  Bob is drilling all the way through both sleepers (they're quite hard you know) and then we knocked lengths of reinforcing bar through and into the ground below.  We have also planted some plants as you can see, although they look a bit sparse just now.  Unless you've got hundreds of pounds to spend on lots of plants including some bigger mature shrubs it is always going to look a bit bare for the first couple of years I suppose.  We had bought some shrubs a few months ago in readiness - mostly for Winter interest like a Sweet Box and a Japanese Holly (which is the spike of green in the foreground).  There was also a white Buddlejah for the butterflies and another mystery shrub with very little detail on the label except that the leaves turn bright red in Autumn/Winter which will be the reason we bought it.  When I googled it though it turns out to grow 1.5m high and 2m wide . . . . oh . . . . . . and it likes acidic soil . . . . . oh!  Nothing about that on the label and as we live on the edge of a limestone quarry, the soil's hardly likely to be acidic and it would completely dominate this border.  So, quick rethink and we've decided it can eventually replace the blackcurrants which are planted on an awkward slope at the edge of the path.  We'll have to dig a big hole and fork through lots of ericaceaous compost and if it grows as big as it says it will be a really useful way to fill a very awkward spot.  We went to the garden centre yesterday and got a tall grass to go in the back corner which will look quite pretty, some light orange Crocosmia, a white Campanula to trail over the front and some yellow daisy things.  I'm most excited about the Bergamont we bought - it's used to flavour Earl Grey tea, but if you eat the petals they have the most amazing intense, sweet flavour and the flowers are a lovely dark red and bees and butterflies absolutely love it (it is also known a Bee Balm) so tick, tick, tick!  From our existing border we are going to move a Wych Hazel and a Potentilla which really aren't happy and we'll split all sorts of things like Rudbekia, Penstemon and Euphorbia.  I've also got lots of bits of Thyme and Sedum to plant in the wall.  I also sprinkled loads of seeds from our Mexican Daisy into a seed tray and there are loads of little seedlings coming through - trouble is, I haven't a clue if they're weeds or the little daisies.  Those daisies are amazing and bush out and trail with tonnes of tiny daisy flowers that start off pink and then turn white.  Normally they flower from early Spring until the first harsh frosts, but because we had such a mild Winter last year ours has flowered non-stop since March 2013!

Well, we're off to a barbeque on Wednesday evening and I red in the paper today that snow is forecast - admittedly that is in the highlands and unlikely to reach Shropshire, but ground frost is a real possibility.  Must remember to take a jumper!