Revamped Front Garden

Just finished smartening up the front garden and I'm very pleased with the result. This area was difficult to keep weed free and never really looked tidy, which is important in the front garden, so I decided to put down some weed suppressant material and cover it with green slate.
This will keep the ground weed free while letting the rainwater soak through.
It was quite hard physical work but I enjoyed it. First I needed to prepare the area by removing all plant material. Also there were bulbs planted in this area which I managed to locate by referring to previous photographs. These have been replanted in pots and borders in the rear garden. The ground was then raked and firmed by treading it flat.
I was lucky enough to get a roll of weed suppressant material in a local DIY sale. There was enough to cover the area with a fair bit left over. The green slate was purchased in 25 kilogram bags and it took 10 bags in total to cover all the material. The roses which were planted in the border along the fence have been pruned back and moved to the rear garden. I've replaced them with five lavender bushes - these were grown from cuttings which I took earlier this year. They should make a lovely fragrant low growing hedge to border my new garden. There are still some herbaceous perennial geraniums and sedum spectabile at the top of the garden near the wall and primulas have been planted in a narrow border along the path. Long stone troughs have been planted with violas and a couple of other pots contain small shrubs and bulbs to add a bit of interest.
I am so glad to have finished this before the winter. It was a job I had planned to do next spring but the weather has been so nice and unseasonably warm that it seemed a shame to waste the opportunity.