We've just come through a few weeks of juggling keys, workmen, trucks, and (the cherry on top) the smell of manure permeating the house.

Our new garden is in and we're quite pleased with the results. First off I have to give all the credit to Claire. It was her idea. She's the one who did all of the legwork. She pulled together the various people she needed to go from conception to inception to what you see here, to the right.

The new garden should be a little hardier (and water wise). As far as possible, the selection of plants incorporates species indigenous to the region. A few of the original "tennants" remain behind because they're established and established is (apparently) valuable. We've done away with the lawn out back. It was small, uneven and required mowing. In its stead we now have some pavers with a minty groundcover planted between them. Eventually this should grow out and insted of using deodorant I'll have the option of rolling around on the pavers and going to work smelling like an after dinner mint.

A large part of the work involved tearing up concrete down the side of the house. There was a tremendous amount of space just going to waste. We've put up a wooden wall with a gate, giving us access to the back that doesn't involve going through the house (handy if you're carrying manure for example). We've paved a small part of it to use as utility space (for storing things like our outside bin and corpses that need to be disposed of), and so we have the option of parking the bike out of sight (although it's sloped so if the bike needs to be push started I'm in deep kak). We've also put in a fair sized water feature and now have the soothing sound of water trickling outside of the lounge window. Soothing, that is, until your bladder starts playing up.

We've put up trellises down the side. One trellis screens the back garden from the side path (providing an air of mystery: "What do you think's down here Doris?") and another screens the whole lot from the aforementioned utility area. A paved path winds its way down the side of the house, past the water feature and out to the front of the house.

Some of the new plants include a plethora of clivias (yes, they have their own website; I'm as surprised as you are). We have an established specimen at the back that's looking quite spectacular at the moment and we've redistributed a large collection of younger clivias around the new planting areas. We've planted a young indigenous tree and a lot of Wild Jasmine, a creeper that will eventually grow up the walls and trellises, and that resembles (oddly enough) Jasmine, both visually and fragrantly.

I have to be honest, I was skeptical initially, especially when we were looking over the quotes we'd been given. But I think it was worth it and I'm glad we took the plunge.