First things first

I've already bought and read lots of books, and have decided on using raised beds, in part because it'll help with bending over lots, and also you get to control the soil a bit more. As it happens we have some already in the garden, with bushes in them. I'm not looking to be a plants gardener so am happy for these to go. It also means we don't lose any lawn in the endeavour.

The first thing to do is to remove the bushes. I'm not sure what they are, and it seems a shame just to chop them and take them to the tip, but I'm presuming it'd take me ages to find a suitable home for them and I want to get on with the soil.


Part of the problem is that the bushes all have rocks and little pebbles around them for decoration. Taking out the big rocks I found a ton of ants, and a load of slugs. They'll have to go before I plant the veg.


I decided to start by chopping the foliage so that it would make it easier to pull the trees. This worked fine and was a good start. Now I just need a fork to ease the soil to aid in the pulling.

So next stop is local garden centre to buy some tools!