The path ahead

Hmmm - don't think I will be able to keep this themed title thing up for long.

So - it begins.... What to do first?











It is obvious from the photos that things have gone way out of control, and I could easily find myself rushing around like a headless chicken doing - well - not very much, and achieving even less. Let's focus here! Thinking about it from a Feng Sui perspective - clearing the path seemed to be a good thing to do, maybe get some chi flowing. Yes - even the path was overgrown, and trips to the henhouse, compost bins and coal box were fraught with danger. (An imminent visit from the coal man with the first of the year's delivery (£12 a bag!!!!), with the accompanying anxiety of a lawsuit to follow if he slipped en route was also an incentive here.) The first hurdle to be overcome was a huge clump of Kniphofia which had spread out over the path, barring entry to the garden itself. Next, the unwary voyager must negotiate a carpet of mud, fallen leaves, rotten plums and hen droppings. Finally a huge cotoneaster which has already taken over part of the greenhouse lay in wait to trip up any who survived thus far. Under this, the long hidden paving slabs were covered in thick grass and weeds which had grown between the cracks. This sorry state of affairs continued the length of the path, down to the bottom of the garden, where it merged, like one of those infinity pools into the weed infested morass.
Two weeks ago, then (blogging is also interrupted here), I waved goodbye to my dear husband and younger son, as they set off for a walk along the cycle track. I should point out here that my DH began the path clearing some six weeks previously, but as the spade skimmed beneath the first sod, it hit against a slab which was sticking up, and he put his back out. He was signed off work for 3 weeks, and things are still a bit fragile in the lumbar region - hence my foray into the fray armed with spade, hoe, brush and spring-tined rake. Anyway, I looked neither left nor right, but dilligently focussed on the way ahead. Reader, I worked my little socks off and three hours later....
We have a path - yay! Well, only halfway down. A trip by husband and BJ to the Grandparents the following day allowed another couple of hours sustained effort to take us down to the bottom.












Not all the way - still round the corner bit to do, but small acorns and all that...