Courtyard Garden

On 16th May the courtyard garden was finished: it was started in February before 'la grippe'.
Here is what it looked like; very green when the weeds and moss grew, brown, dark and depressing when raked.  I had previously tried to cheer it with garden pots:

The concrete troughs were there when I bought the property but set elsewhere in the courtyard ... they have to be emptied to move them and then they need more than two people to lift... also they have holes in the bottom where the concrete has fallen out.
I helped the two Italian workawayers trolley and roll them on cylindrical lengths of wood to the back garden for lettuce etc... It was fun but had work bent double running, pushing and keeping the troughs steady whilst  Fl. pulled the weight.

In the past, logs for the woodburner have been stacked under a blue bache, but this cannot be a place in the future. Nor will I be allowed to store geraniums to overwinter in smaller plant troughs under copious layers of bubble wrap with pine branches weighing it down. The photo was taken in January! (This French village ties fir tree branches to vertical guttering along the streets and then decorates with shiny paper bows and wrapped boxes for the Christmas season!) I also acquired some for my downpipe and used them again before they headed to the dechetterie.

There will be no more hoeing, raking and weeding of soil-filled gravel.

Here it is now:

The fence is to be painted/stained a kind of charcoal grey.
 It is intended to provide a degree of privacy between those in the B&B room and those venturing to the exterior toilet block!
I made the fish a long long time ago for a party to hang suspended from the trees in a different French garden...
soon time to throw them out, but they add a watery theme!!!

Anyone who stays at my Chambre d'Hôte can enter from and exit onto the courtyard, even eat there if it is warm enough once I put the new table and chairs there...I am inclined not to clutter the courtyard with furniture!

I like mirrors in gardens.. and once the fuschias start to trail in the hanging baskets there will be more colour. I want only blue pots but beggars cannot be too choosy. I know the paviours could do with a scrub but that would be very hard work... it  amazed me how much moss grew in the last winter and how much soil I sweep towards the gate on a weekly basis.

After five years in this house, with help from WORKAWAYER friends, and others, the courtyard garden is clean, tidy, open, bright with light, and lets light into that kitchen, where I hope in the next few weeks or months a brown window and door will be no more...the kitchen will be gutted, not me! AND we all will WATCH that kitchen space... for progress and when it is finished from my lovely garden. Then from the kitchen I will be able to look out on ongoing fresh brightness!
I am so happy to have my courtyard garden looking cheerful ... it is not quite the intended Asian feel... am not sure what feel it is... but clean and tidy it is .... no more throwing the decorating paint onto manky gravel... no more weeding of manky gravel... and after all my angst i have no regrets that the wretched tree, which did entice the birds is gorn!!!!!!!!
I just love what I have done, even though it has doubled the previsioned budget which was already 1/3 more than I wished...... the price of love!!!!
To begin with I had no idea what to do but did a little research, went more than once to look at what was available to try and understand what to do! To see the possibilities within keeping the funding grounded!   I recycled a friend's tommettes as well as  the fish shapes  There are camellias, an acer, roses, clematis, geraniums, baskets of fuchsias waiting to take off,  lavender and rosemary, a struggling tree paeony and herbs. The flag irises have just finished, anemones struggle on to bloom, choisiya gives that lime green feeling. When I add the table, chairs and lime green parasol kept indoors for the now, then outdoor life will be complete ... at least in my imagination!!!!!!
In Reality life is becoming very different!