in article , dave @ stejonda at
wrote on 10/2/03 8:11 pm:

In message , Kay Easton
writes
dave @ stejonda wrote,

my neighbours seem to be having trouble selling their concrete playpen

Yeah, but you said that that was looking pretty tatty, didn't you?

yes Kay, but my point was that this is less than a year after they
finished constructing it and that working with rather than against
nature is likely to be more satisfying for the OP and in the longer term
produce a more easily maintained garden

*I* am entirely in sympathy with your views but I really, really don't
think the OP will be, or not yet. Maybe, in the fullness of time, he will
enjoy working with nature but for him, that time seems not to have arrived.
And perhaps it never will if he spends the next X years swearing and cursing
because he has to maintain a lawn he doesn't want or appreciate and flower
borders that just do absolutely nothing for him. When I was in my 20s, I
remember someone recommending I grew Hostas in a certain part of my then
garden and me thinking "good grief, how boring can you get." Now - well,
let's just say I'm a bit older, a bit further down the line in gardening
terms and think rather differently.
But if he does start with paved over, *attractive* (mega important word
there) stones, cobbles, (I *love* cobbles and long to use them somewhere,
sometime) or even different types of paving/stone/cobbles to add interest,
plus pots with plants of their choice, this could be a *fantastic* small and
above all, enjoyed, garden. THIS garden will be all about design, textures
and harmony of *natural* materials but above all, enjoyable use. Stone
slabs, bricks, terracotta pots, water, carefully chosen plants in those pots
etc. etc. It wouldn't be all about unwanted, grudgingly mown lawn and
rigidly kept to the side, depressed borders.
I would so much rather buy a house with a garden like that which had been
thought about and looked after to its minimal requirements, than a house
with an unloved, unkempt garden, because I would immediately wonder if that
attitude reflected on the house itself. (No offence to the OP, BTW, I'm
speaking very broadly here!)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk