Creating access behind the garden

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One of the worst mistakes that you can make in your garden is not giving yourself room to do routine maintenance. And that means giving yourself a place to stand, and the ability to reach into the garden without really ever stepping into it.

I learned this trick about perennial borders which are always no wider that six feet. That's because the average person can reach about three feet. And if you have access from both sides, that's perfect.

What you are looking at in the photo is the back of the southern edge of the east-facing wall. This is a premium place for plants as it gets dappled shade from the tree, and of course, full shade in the afternoon from the house. So plants do well. Maybe just a little too well! Which means that I have to get in there and trim, and weed, etc., regularly.

Until today, this area was a mass of random plants that I had planted all the way up to the wall of the house. But yesterday I moved the watering head from just inches from the way to about two feet away (you can see it there, with the little bright blue head). And that means that there is almost two feet of clearance back there where I can walk, stand, crouch, and reach, with no danger of stepping on plants, or mud.

The striped rock that I got yesterday was the finishing touch. Just put it there this morning.

The Dioon garden as viewed from the front

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