Upper terrace taming

Before and not quite after shots of the upper terrace. I have been very diligent today. A strimming and a raking.  And hopefully tomorrow, a mowing.

I intend to create a glorious sward of a terrace here. This beautiful oak treee deserves some space.

You can barely see it in the distance. I have been pruning its lower branches for a few years now, creating a good space underneath for leisure. Or in my case, space to walk underneath the oak without thwacking my head when I strim.

One day I will have the leisure to actually linger.  But the rest of the afternoon was spent raking up the bits.

I’ve left a sort of mohican middle which I hope to mow. I just need a bit of help to get the mower up the steep chestnut steps.

And for some reason, to give my back a break from strimming on the steep slope, I moved down and strimmed the east garden bank as well.

I have unearthed the rambling rose which is growing in three spots just below the cherry tree.  And by the state of the poor cherry, the rose will outlive the tree too.

It’s all a bit mad and matted right now. I need to detangle the tendrils and then find a way to protect them from my voracious strimmer.

And while I’m about it, maybe mulch around the roses and then create a bit of a supporting structure so one can actually admire the damn thing rather than just hissing and cursing when I run into the creeping thorns as I work my way around the tall grass.

Goodness this photograph shows it in the worst possible light. I must try harder to capture its potential. It looks like seaweed right now. With weeds attached.