This was my garden just a couple of days ago. I took the photo from just underneath my metal arch, you can just see the edges of it at the top. This is the main sitting area of the garden and I got the so-called summer-house from B&Q back in the time when we used to get some really hot days and it was handy for me to sit in it when I needed some cooler shade to read in. At the moment it has become a wee bit of a dumping ground for things which have been emptied out of the attics and haven’t been recycled or otherwise found a new home yet.

They always say that you should plant trees for your grandchildren, meaning that they are slow growing so you probably won’t live long enough to be able to appreciate them, but the trees which I have planted all seem to grow like Topsy. They’ve shaded out the greenhouse which is behind these trees and since taking this photo I’ve been busy with the loppers and a saw. I couldn’t even see the top of the silver birch tree which was only about three feet tall when I planted it 10 years ago. I’ve cut back all of the branches and my husband hacked the top of it out, a good eight feet of it I think. When I move to another garden, remind me never to plant any trees because as they grow stronger – you (me) grow weaker!

The blackbirds have been enjoying the rowan berries and when they’ve stripped them all off I’m going to give the tree a good haircut as it’s spreading far too wide and high and casting an awful lot of shade.

The grass is now covered with lopped tree branches and my brown garden recycling bin is full so we’ll be making yet another trip to the town recycling centre. One good thing about this area is that all garden waste is composted by the council instead of it just going to landfill.

I’ll take some more garden photos when it has all been tidied and cut back, no doubt it’ll look drastic, but it has to be done!