Phew, just amended Tesco for tomorrow. Nearly forgot.
Sort of watching the cute penguins. Daughter back, more painting 
, already gone up to bed. She did point out how much dryer the 'lawn' was after the couple of dry, sunny days we'd had. Hmm, still totally soggy in my book. Shall 'spike it' & top dress with her old play sand! Knew I'd find a use for it after all these yrs. 
I seriously think shall 'find' a path to one side of it as you can see the change in grass (!) texture/colour when you look out of the bedroom window.
Have printed off RHS pruning advice for old trees- poster put links on for me, otherwise I'd be floundering around their site. Bjay- I've got a huge RHS bible too, must consult it more often, but not really portable.
Somehow the usual advice re leaving an established/neglected garden alone for the first yr is going to be very difficult. Still little at a time. Shall do the nearest bits to the house first & the bottom bit whenever- that's the worst bit for hidden objects I found.
The front garden isnt too big, a joint Leyland hedge between the 2 houses, beautifully trimmed to a sensible lowish height. A green patch, moss. A couple of sorry looking Hebes- not enough space nor sun so they wont do well. A mop-head hydrangea, 2 nice-looking, thin conifers, still small, a skimmia, some bulbs- yay- & real primroses- not polyanthus! On the verge outside is a mature copper beech. All in all it's a good size plot, so how much should I charge?? J.
