My Mum lives in a small bungalow, about a mile away from us. Her front garden is an open space, just lawn and as it is a council property they do the maintenance (and the moles wreck it before they get there!)

The back garden is very simple and straight forward – a path in the middle and lawn on both sides. The path goes about 3/4 of the length of the garden then it is just lawn.

When Mum moved in we sorted out some borders on both sides and cleared the brambles at the end. I planted some cuttings of Hebe bushes and they took amazingly well (of course, my cuttings seem to take, whatever I do to them, I can create a jungle in a year!)

All it takes now is to trim all the greenery in the borders and mow the lawn. Easier said than done, I had to wait from March till today. Whenever we decided to do it, it rained the day before and with an electric mower – better safe than sorry.

I wanted to remind myself of the difference so the first two photos are the ‘before’ and the other is the ‘after’.

Another bonus for me is that I bag the cut grass and take it to the allotment so everyone is a winner!