Stripey Cat's Backyard garden

We’ve only moved in this summer.

The previous owner kept it well until he got too ill, so the soil is excellent, but there are some rather out-at-elbow roses and low perennials in raised beds.

Layout is a patio with the raised beds near the house. The beds are about a foot high and two foot deep; the fronts are very sturdy concrete, but the backs are just the timber fences, one of which is collapsing. Any repair suggestion that doesn’t involve me emptying the beds would be very welcome.

The rest of the garden is laid to a mixture vegetable beds (some rather ineptly raised), gravel and rose garden. The soil, being Didcot, is a very nice lightish loam. Total dimensions (not including the utility area behind the sheds) are about 4m x 20m, and the patio is about a third of that.

My cunning plan is to remove most of the rather plain perennials (especially the bugle that’s trying to take over the world) and replace with nice herbs and scented things. The upper garden I would like to be productive, so I’ll be removing most of the hard landscaping and extending the vegetable area. I haven’t the heart to rip up the roses, so they’ll be pruned back into health and happiness; the current gravel between them I’ll probably replace with flowers to cut for the house.

I’m on the waiting list for an allotment, and when/if that comes good, I’d be very tempted to turn the vegetable areas into fruit-growing – a mixture of soft fruit and dwarf top fruit – as the area is ideal for apples and not bad for cherries and plums.