This year, we’ve been gradually trying to clear out all the unwanted trees and shrubs in our garden. Neither of us is a particularly keen gardener and given that we know very little about the plants in our garden – how to look after them, and whether they might be poisonous to the children – we felt it would be best to clear them all out. Apart from the roses, that is – the only things we’ve actually planted in the garden are the two roses belonging to the girls – our Pretty Jessica rose and Sophy’s Rose.
The combination of the sunshine and cooler weather recently has been ideal for spending some more time doing this. We’ve removed the big compost bin that used to be in one corner – with food waste and garden waste collection, we have no need for it any more – and can now see all four corners of the garden for the first time since we moved in six years ago.
The girls enjoyed helping Mummy and Daddy to clear out the plants. Jessica was very happy to be given her small trowel and some plant pots and to be encouraged to dig away to her heart’s content. She was very excited to keep finding lots of “wriggly worms” in the ground. I’m not sure the poor worms were quite so happy to be pulled up by Jessica and presented to Mummy and Daddy as her “new friends” though!
We also found an old birds nest in one of the trees that was chopped back and Jessica was quite fascinated by this.
The trug was very useful for collecting stones and twigs and other “treasures” from around the garden. It took a little persuading before the girls were willing to let us have it back for collecting the debris!
We’ve still got a little way to go with clearing out the plants but the garden feels so much more spacious with most of them removed. We just need to get some of our neighbour’s trees chopped back a little and then the next job will be to replace the fence. I’m not sure that we’ll get much more than that done before the winter but it feels good to have made some significant progress.
I love that Jessica is obviously having so much fun finding hidden wonders in the back garden, she is looking so happy in all your photos. I think it is so good to get the kids involved in gardening. Hope the worms get a bit of respite now though!!
#countrykids
Thanks Karen – she loves finding the worms but the poor worms do get a hard time as a result!
Wow! You guys did a really great job of tidying the garden…we really need to do ours as well! Your roses are looking better than ours! Outside is like a jungle in our garden! 😉 #CountryKids x
Thank you – ours has been like a jungle for a while, it’s been good to start really clearing it!
Gosh, you really have made a lot of progress in the garden! Lovely pictures as always x
Thanks Iona – it’s very satisfying to see the progress!
Clearing the garden and making it a family activity is a brilliant idea! I think I might just copy you 😉 Love the photos of your little girl, she looks so cute as always 🙂 #countrykids.
Thanks Dean – the girls have loved joining in and “helping” 🙂
You’ve made some serious in roads in your garden already, it’s really starting to take shape and look like a great playground for the girls. Jessica looks like she’s having a great time helping you by digging up the mud and putting in in her plant pots, hunting for worms is such a great activity for kids. I’m sure the girls will have a fab time playing in it when it’s finished, Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.
Thanks Fiona – it’s been very satisfying to make such good progress with clearing out all the unwanted plants and lovely to have the girls “helping” too. Lovely to link up as always 🙂
It does feel good to see progress in the garden doesn’t it? It’s something that’s so visible 🙂 Looks like the girls had fun helping x
Thanks Sara – they loved joining in 🙂
Well done you – I am very inspired by your green fingers! Gardening is the one thing I am completely in the dark about but wish I could do! So lovely to see your girls getting stuck in too! x
Thank you – gardening isn’t my strong point either although I can cope with digging up plants! It was lovely to involve the girls in the process too 🙂