There is so much to do in the house but most of it is a long way out of my skill set and until the extension is complete there isn’t a great deal else that can be done.

I’m not great at waiting, so I’ve been weeding and organising the front garden to make it look a little bit more appealing.

There was some ugly Crazy Paving in front of the bay window and weeds and brambles in what had been a flower border at some point.

I keep forgetting to take photos before I start a project, so this is about an hour in and the Crazy paving has been lifted.

Weeding along the border became easier; I’d been expecting heavy clay but it’s actually quite sandy.

The heat eventually beat me and I’ve still the last panel to weed out. The plants had been stockpiled at the allotment and the pots had come from the previous house.

In time, I plan to lift all of the grass and at some point this area will be used to store building materials, so the design is very simple, i.e. a straight line. I’ve chosen plants that will be ‘back of border’ once settled and mature. There’s euphorbia, agastache, linaria, shasta daisy and some ammi majus for this year.

I replaced the crazy paving with some freecycle slabs. The hole in the lawn is the only evidence of a topiary conifer, that just had to go. As well as mowing a football pitch sized lawn, and this patch and keeping the privet hedge under control there’s just no time, energy or inclination for more pruning. Why have conifer when there are so many other more interesting plants available.

No design awards here but it is less unkempt than before.