The Garden - The starting point

I didn't take a picture of the garden as it was when I first started on it in 2009. But, it's been a slow evolution while I tried to work out what I was going to do with it, so over the last two years only a few things have happened to it. This is a picture of it in nearly it's original state. Disintegrating fencing on two sides, and an elder bush that had suckered and grown it's way to a 20' tree with about 6 decent trunks (the pic shows it halfway through being tamed, now it's been cut down to stumps at nearly ground level). The concrete paths, patio, and the manhole with the wonky concrete surround are as they are now. The veg bed has just been started on the right, and the compost bin is in. There was a 6' x 4' shed in the far-left corner of the garden that the elder was slowly growing through, so that went. So this pic is practically how the garden was - minus the veg bed (that was just more grass), minus the compost bin, and plus 50% more of that tree and a rotting, collapsing shed.

This is a plan of the garden as it is now, to give you an idea of size and layout....

Walking in East Yorkshire - Spurn Point

My other half is on the countdown to a 16-mile charity walk taking place on Sunday 1st of May. Now, usually, he's not one for walking in the countryside, he finds it a little dull. But recently as 'training' he's been willing to try a few circular walks I have found for this area on the net.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Spurn Point Nature Reserve to walk the perimeter, which is an approximately 8 miles in total. What a fabulous place it is.....

What's it all about?

The blog that is. Well, I'm Jo, and I am a small (5'4) gardener, with a small (14ft at it's widest x 30ft at it's longest) town garden in East Yorkshire. So, my gardening is on a small scale, and 'The Small Gardener' covers me, my garden, and the type of gardening I'm doing. Clever, huh?

I'm not an expert gardener. I watch Gardener's World and that occasionally gives me ideas. Generally I use it for a 'what needs doing now' guide. Otherwise I find most of the info I need on the net. (How did we cope before the www.?  We can't have had books on everything.) Or, I learn by trial and error, you can always move a plant if it's in the wrong place.

I will be using this blog to show the transformation of the garden. Hopefully I will be passing on some useful info about creating a garden on the cheap (which I believe you can do with a bit of research, and being in the right place at the right time). Plus, I will pass on any space-saving garden things I find in the shops, or online, for people a bit short on acreage like me. And, I will pass on any discounted, or just generally cheap, garden items that I find, because even if your garden is bigger than mine you'll still appreciate saving a few pennies. Everyone loves a bargain.

I will also be sharing my discoveries of East Yorkshire. Because, let's face it, unless you live here you've probably have no idea what's here. I certainly didn't before I moved up here. And I would imagine you have no inclination to visit either, because I didn't have it on my list of places to visit either.....