I have a little lawn to the north facing front of my house. Over time I've added some box hedging to line the front path, some birch trees, that I intend to keep small with regular pruning, a few pale narcissus that pop up briefly in the spring and a Rosa banksiae 'Lutea' rambling rose which I'm currently training along the wall and adjacent fence.

Unfortunately the lawn is a bit of eyesore, with neglect leaving it overrun with moss and a brown colour suggesting a small infestation of Chafer grubs, and whilst I do like a bit of the old green blades, I’m still finding the area fairly featureless and so decided to attempt a little bit of simple landscaping to create a new central bed.

With some lovely stock bricks left over from a part removal of a garden wall, I've decided to attempt bordering this new bed with a lattice brick and loose stone surround just for a little bit of added interest. So lining out the intended bed with string (no matter how good you think you are with free hand turf cutting, this is very advisable; trust me I've tried without, with staggeringly poor results!) and prior to making any cuts, I laid out the bricks on top, firstly to ensure I had the correct quantity, but also to have a play around with a few designs layouts.

Right, I've got the design I want, now the hard work begins. Putting the bricks aside, I removed the turf by cutting the outline with an edger and then into small strips to allow easier removal.

Whilst this brickwork surround is for aesthetic purposes and not a pathway with lots of traffic, I discovered that it is still advisable to dig down about 15cm and line the bottom with some hardcore to avoid the brick from sinking over time. Then using a 5:1 dry mixture of sharp sand and cement, I placed it on top of the hardcore to a depth that ensures that the top of laid bricks are level with the existing lawn, apparently you should use a spirit level to keep it flat, though I didn't as I wasn't too fussed if it's slightly off kilter, it all adds to the look and appeal!

Filling with sand and cement mix to just below the top of the brick allowing the loose stone space to nestle down, the whole area was then left to settle, absorb the ground moisture and set for a day or two, before finishing it off with a little 10mm pea shingle.

Now the fun bit, off to choose some plants, and a little bird tells me there’s a problem with the bees, apparently they’re on their proverbial knees. So with motivation to ‘do my bit’ my new planting will incorporate a little help for them.

The Bumble Bee Conservation Trust website provides lots of great advice on ‘bee kind’ plants and it seems that these environmentally crucial little beauties aren't fussy and actually have extremely varied and sublime ‘taste’ in plants. In fact I’m not sure why you wouldn't choose to follow their lead anyway!

So with a little Chelsea Flower Show inspiration and my newly found bee friendly knowledge I set off for the post-Chelsea Crocus open day. If you ever have the chance to visit a Crocus open day, is it strongly recommended, the expansive site holds thousands of plant varieties to inspire and with discounts to their standard online retail prices, the only problem is trying to contain your enthusiasm. It’s probably akin to an Ikea visit for an interior enthusiast, you may plan a quick visit to pick up a bag of tea-lights but you leave with a full trolley and a strong intention to replace your kitchen.

A stroll of the site is a pleasurable experience in itself, even without the additional enjoyment of matching the plants to the Chelsea show gardens this year as designed by Ulf Nordfjell and Christopher Bradley-Hole and both built and supplied by theirs truly.

Crocus opens its grounds a handful of times a year, I wish it was open everyday, but everything in moderation I guess. On this visit I wander the grounds, head half admiring all the plants on offer, half in my iphone checking identification, height and spread, flowering period, bee friendliness etc. After two hours of blissful enjoyment I finally picked out the three perennials; Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum', Agastache 'Black Adder' and Echinops bannaticus 'Blue Globe' for my own and the bees appreciation and the lovely gentle grass Luzula nivea to blend between. I've decided to surround the bed with a small box hedge (another bee favourite), just for a neat finish and also because I can't get enough of the stuff. (I'll let you decide which was my best-in-show garden this year!) All my collections of these varieties were swiftly delivered to the checkout area by an army of staff on hand to deal with all the customers and I was off with my bounty.

Back home with new additions quickly installed and my new found friends suitably appeased, I now sense this new bed as being like the jewel in a somewhat very ordinary crown. Ahh,

a gardener’s work is never done; this small project is now developing into something slightly bigger…

A quick trip to the drawing board, a play around with a few layouts, and I think I've finally decided to leave a little lawn surrounding the bed and convert the rest to border planting as soon as larger plant decisions (tips gratefully received) are made and finances allow. ‘What’s that you say?, Crocus is open again this weekend’ Hmm, I’m not sure I’ll have the time for making those decisions prior to then, but will make another trip, with enthusiasm curbed, just for inspiration purposes you understand. Who said Saturdays are boring without football!

The saga continues….

There’s no such thing as a small garden project!