Getting Down and Dirty in the Communal Garden

This is my first foray into the Hive Garden community, so bear with me! I live in a block of six flats rented from the local authority, commonly called 'the bloody council'. Each tenant has a sixth of the garden to look after. One of my neighbours downstairs used to love tending to the garden. The garden consists of 80% concrete and 20% shrubs around the perimeter. Therefore, he purchased a lot of potted plants to make it more attractive. Unfortunately, a few years ago, he passed away and nobody has bothered with the garden, since. I'm the only person who tries to keep the weeds down and prunes the shrubs.

I noticed things were getting out of hand, so I decided to have a tidy up. Luckily, the council leave us a green bin to put all our garden waste in.

I first pruned the shrub outside my downstairs neighbour's window, as it was looking a bit like 'The Day of the Triffids'. I think it's a type of ivy, but I'm no expert. After I'd cut it back, he is now able to see out of his window.

I gave this plant a severe prune. It's quite an old plant, and its roots have gone through the bottom of the plant pot. I can't move it because it's rooted into the ground. It's quite woody now, and it has lots of brown leaves on it. When I've cut it back in the past, it's flourished.

There isn't a lot of colour in the garden at the moment. Where there is colour, it looks nice.

Mr Gnome has to be repainted every year as the weather isn't very kind to him.

The problem we have in the garden is the wet, rotting leaves. We have trees down the side of the flats, and in winter their leaves get blown over the roof, blocking the guttering or dropping on the ground blocking the drains. It was a dirty job, but someone had to do it.

I don't normally prune this shrub until the beginning of summer, but again, it was getting brown and woody at the top.

My late neighbour liked a bit of steampunk and ....

... he also returned from the flea market with quite a few headless statues. He liked the weird and wonderful. I think this is why we got on quite well.

While out walking, I sometimes come across old signs that have been discarded in the woods, so I always put them in the garden. This is why we've ended up with a 'footpath closed' sign.

I replenished the bird food in the feeder. I don't feed them as much during the summer because I don't like them to stop foraging for themselves and relying on me too much. However, during the winter months when there's less food about, I do put food out for them.

I'm afraid rain stopped play in the end. I was getting quite wet so I will continue when the weather improves. Looking at the weather forecast, I think that might be next week.