My latest garden project

The big lad (CL1.1) and I have been working on a little project this weekend. The mission is to make a sort of noisy/musical/sensory garden suitable for both my kids (one is 5, the other will be 1 by the time the grass has established).

Here's what we have so far (2 days work, bearing in mind I'm still lurgied, the ground was overgrown and uneven, and had to waste some of day one tackling B&Q and the easter chaos).



Some of the overgrown stuff I mentioned included a buddleja, which was doing a good job of masking the view of next door's ugly prefab. I've layed some of the elders at the back, and fully anticipate that by the end of summer that view will be masked once more.

So what's going on here then. Just poking into view at the right is the willow den/house. Just starting to leaf up again after winter so still a bit bare. Just off to the left is a small patio that needs to be lifted and redone, as it was never done properly in the first place (previous owner, not me), and not it is more wonky than Willie Wonka's Wonkiest Wonky Thing. There are four of those poles serving to partition the new bit from the current lawn, and while I was going to go for a uniform colour scheme (hence two painted the same colour), the lad thought it would be better to use different colours. You can just see part of the fourth, purple stick right on the left edge of the pic.

Inside, we've built a tree, using another pole, with various bright garden ornament things as branches.

There were several things growing in there, which I had to dig out, leaving great holes and a very uneven surface, so I just dug the lot over. I think the red currant bush, which I left in place, looks all the better now it is sort of centrepiece. So now its all levelled, firmed down, and seeded up with grass seed.

The wind chime thing, I actually made myself, and am quite proud of it. It makes a lovely sound. Its not really a wind chime, the idea is the kids will tap it with sticks to make one in their minds will be a tune.

You'll see that apart from the two light blue poles, the gaps between the poles are currently unoccupied. That will change. One is going to be another knocky thing like the metal one, but made with wood (probably drift wood), and one will be have a big OXO game made of blocks of wood pivoting on three poles going crossways.

Inside the area, we're going to make a sand pit, and a driftwood xylophone which will also double as bench. I also need to find other percussive or noisy things to put in there.

 

Absolutley brilliant!