Bye Bye Holly Bush! By Rachel at Number 40...

A few weeks ago I felt very inspired by our 'Growing Well' group so I decided to get my green fingers out (with a little help from Archie.)

After moving into number 40 a few years ago, we had yet to put our own stamp on our garden, (except painting the front door and planting a box hedge out front for privacy reasons.)

After what has felt like a long cold winter, one afternoon the sun finally came out and the weather heated up, so I decided to jazz up our garden, and my main task was getting rid of our holly bush that was continually pricking our visitor's.

I stopped by the garden center to buy a range of treats to spruce up the garden.


With a little assistance from Annie, who kindly lent me a spade and some garden sheers, I was on my way...

... At first, I thought I would be able to dig the roots up... no luck. It was then, I had found out they had in fact invaded an old pipe that lay underneath the soil.

I then decided to get the saw out. This help get the bulk of the holly bush down but the route was still thoroughly grounded.

We then borrowed our next door neighbour (Sue's) axe. Still no luck of getting out the stump.

Hopefully we will get it out once and for all by a professional when we have some black railings put up shortly.

Until then we managed to work around it - by accessorizing with a few pots and plants...  and this is now our garden.

I even found a little time to give the back a slight bit of TLC too.

It was great fun and nice to contribute to the look of the street too.