Groundforce

Back in the late 1990s/ early 2000s, the BBC ran a popular gardening programme called Groundforce where people were hoodwinked by their friends and family to go away for a weekend and then some gardening/ DIY experts moved in and, in the space of forty-eight hours, transformed their garden from run down plot to something you could charge money for entry! Quite a simple formula but it had us all hooked and made gardening trendy again.  It was all about "outdoor rooms" and entertaining and making your garden  an extension of your living space.

Our family have been practising this for years now - basically if there is a Gardening Project to be carried out, everyone comes over, works their arses off, while the host (who, unlike the TV programme, always knows about the work, but is not always an active participant) provides tea and lunch and generally gets in the way a bit.  I've definitely had at least two Groundforce episodes here - one being digging out the shrubs that were left behind by the last residents and replacing with my own that I brought with me in pots from my rented cottage in Hardley.  And the other (which was a huge affair) was the building of my pergola - a birthday present for the first year in this house.   Sadly, that was before I had this PC so I cannot find any photographic evidence - I think the photos are languishing on a dead laptop somewhere.

(As I type this, I'm actually waiting for B&Q to open so that I can run over and get cement and pebbles as we're having a Groundforce here today.  Shannon and I will be making a start on the mosaic path, while Amanda will be trying to control Sid and Finn in the hope that we won't have doggy footprints in the concrete and hopefully Mum will be potting up my lily of the valley which I have no idea what to do with. Dad is keeping well out of the way at home with the Spanish Grand Prix.)

A few weeks ago, we had a Garden Project at Mum and Dad's - lifting out a couple of conifers - which also incorporated quite a lot of furniture moving from the kitchen to wherever it could fit in, in readiness for a new floor being laid.   (We earned ourselves a roast dinner for that day.  Today, weather and dogs permitting, we're having a barbecue to burn some of the dead branches which I have sawn from the neighbour's overhanging buddleia this week.)

Mum and Dad's Groundforce project was a huge success with two conifers removed and Dad has since put in and painted their picket fence (pictures to follow, I expect!). I'm not sure what the neighbours thought of all this - at one point, Nicholas was chasing me down the road with an axe as I wasn't very complimentary about his chopping skills! (Every time he swung the axe, it hit a different part of the conifer so not much progress was being made initially!)

I'm stupidly excited about my mosaic path and will put pictures up of progress, together with the finished article.  Although the project won't be totally complete until I've got my gravel board in, plants dug up, weed suppressant and gravel down and hopefully a beautiful, level garden with very few weeds. Watch this space!