[dawninspain]

We have nearly finished landscaping our garden. We gave up on the 'lawn' which came with the house as it was full of weeds and would have cost a fortune in water to try to improve it. Here are the before, during and after photos:

[Aunt Sally]

That's lovely Dawn, what a beautiful garden you've made, such a lot of hard work gone into it I can see

[Tigerhair]

That is gorgeous!!!!  WOW!  Well done, I can imagine what a lot of hard work that was....  My garden is a lot wetter than yours... must post some pictures.

Thanks for sharing - it's great!  

[Oliveview]

Dawn, that is really lovely.  What is your soil like?  We have really sandy soil, it is like a dust bath now.  I have planted up one flower bed, which I have to water every night, but at least it is colour.  We are very short on trees here, just the orange trees in the orchard bit of the garden and all about us olive trees.  The neighbours have 2 big pine trees, but they come with problems- the processionary catterpillars, which can be very nasty- shedding hair!  The one thing (apart from our sons :cry:  that I miss is my UK flower garden)  I am envious!! Well done Dawn
Pamela

[dawninspain]

Pamela, we have heavy clay which we have improved with loads of manure which has worked well.  There are areas though where the rock is very close to the surface and where nothing grows well. I was pleasantly surprised to manage to achieve a garden with as much colour as we have but its been 4 years of trial and error finding the plants that will not only survive but thrive in our harsh climate which can swing from minus 12 in the winter to 40 degrees in the summer and sometimes 3 months without a drop of rain and then a monsoon.  But you of course know all about that :!:

How is the fuel and food situation now where you are?

Dawn

[ColinGrigson]

Hello people in Spain    Do you not have water wells there , I ask because my mother who lived in Portugal for a number of years had one and had endless free water for the garden . I myself have two .. one a wonderful old 1.5m diameter herringbone brick built one about 6m deep..very expensive to reproduce today I suspect , but last year I had a new well put in at the back of our house that was basically a 2" steel pipe with a spike on the end that was hammered down about 5 - 6m to which we attached a hand pump and a take off for a large electric pump that waters our 1 acre of weeds / trees and struggling veg . The well man said it's not unusual to go down in excess of 25m to find water !  :shock: It was cheap as well since they only charge around £10 per metre and one  only pays as and when they find water , it must be terrible to have to pay for mains water for your garden . I needn't worry about such things today because it's absolutly hurling down  :x

[Trillium]

That is a really great transformation Dawn. And very smart too to work with nature rather than against. I truly believe our days of wasting water on lawns will come to an end soon.
I'm trying to reduce my lawns here too, but am encountering lots of grumbling about the diminishing lawn space. And in the next breath I hear complaints about how much work it is to cut all the grass. You just can't win at times