I have both and using the curved shaft trimmer makes by back hurt. It is just too short so I go around the yard hunched over while using it. Also, it is very difficult to get the curved shaft trimmer under low hanging trees such as oranges and limes.

I was thinking about that 165gallon pond... You might want to make it above grade for two reasons - having an edge to sit on thankfully while trailing your fingers; and not having to hack through a bazillion tree roots to install it. You may need to think about either a leaf net or a cover for autumn when the leaves come down in bulk. I have a pool cover of wire netting over mine - to keep out the swamp hens and hedgehogs - and it also catches most of the trees' leaves as well. I agree about the chain link fence - and it does seem to have attractive uprights. However - can you easily get behind it to weed? Or are you going to pay the 'fibro price' for pulling and tugging in an awkward position? Thinking of bee-friendly plants for dappled light - forget-me-not (Myosotis)is great in spring (and an oh dear! if your dog has a long coat but they are easily combed out), Dicentra, Heuchera, Hosta, Clematis - which could do well in one of the lower trees, Prunella. And the simpler forms of Dahlia are much-visited, as are Buddleias. My old dog was always fond of shady 'scrapes' under shrubs or ornamental grasses. Or the middle of the Iris innominata...:-( The wooden decking was popular, too. If you find your tree roots rapidly colonising any garden beds you make you may have to either make raised beds with a barrier layer and above ground drainage points - or move to container growing. They might be why your yard has hungry sandy soil and weeds. The tree looks a bit like a birch of some kind. (Secondary guess would be a flowering cherry.)

Thanks autumngal. :) You convinced me to FINALLY find my old Flickr acct. and post some pics of the house. A lot of the pics were taken for other reasons but I had them on file so that made it easy. The link's at the bottom of this post. I've been looking at your Flickr acct. again and I'm starting to think I HAVE seen your pics before. I remember the tin ceiling making quite an impression! In fact I often think of your kitchen when I visualize how my mudroom might look like when the wall comes down and it gets turned into more of an eating space attached to the kitchen. It has lower ceilings than the kitchen. I just love all the little details in your kitchen. Love those open shelves and the homemade jars at the very top! Nice countertop too. I almost did wood but chickened out in the end (hopefully I won't regret doing stainless). columbusguy1 - same thing - sort of - happened to me a couple of days ago. My contractor removed the last of the lower cabinets and when he did, the one on the right (seen in pics attached below on Flickr) showed that the wood trim to the right of the kitchen-to-dining room door had never been painted! I can't make sense of it. I guess the two most likely scenarios are that the kitchen was once unpainted but with a finish over the wood - but the finish (or whatever you call it) wasn't applied until after the lower cabinets were put in, which is a little odd. Or, it wasn't ever finished wood and was part of that whole "sterile" movement back about a hundred years ago and was always painted a lighter color perhaps. Although I couldn't find white paint on the walls. The oldest color seems to be a light sage-avocado kind of color (not unlike the color mine is now actually - though maybe lighter and maybe with a hair bit more gold in it?) and then the color over that is a sort of cherry pink!! Perhaps way back then the cupboards were painted white re. the sterile phase. Maybe someday I'll find out if we remove layers of paint on them. At any rate it's particularly odd because whichever way the woodwork was, the door trim - like I was saying - is unfinished wood below countertop height. So whatever used to be there, originally went all the way to the end of the door trim (about 21 or 22"). But I always assumed the crappy, unoriginal lower cabinets' presence meant there originally was nothing below except like a wall-mounted old sink and maybe the kind of wooden countertop that rests on wall brackets and has a lip sitting on top of the sink's mouth on either side. This lack of paint or finish on the door trim indicates there WERE built-ins below. So WHY OH WHY are they missing now? Almost the whole house is original and in good-enough shape that I can't understand why those cabs are missing. Am I missing something re. that unpainted door frame/trim? So odd... Lastly I just wanted to say that one of my upper cabinets also has a hole for letting some air in. My grandmother's house used to have one too and she called it a "cooler." I agree it was probably acting as a pie safe of sorts or else even helped chill extra food in the winter (?). Mine doesn't have a door on the outside of the house though - although there's siding there so who knows what's under there! I would love to see a pic of that pastry-storing cabinet of yours!! And the rest, so get on it please! ;) Here are more pics of my house: Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of house, living room, dining room, nook, kitchen

Here are some paths and designs that I like... obviously very large gardens, but I think you can take these ideas and place them in a smaller garden... ..in this photo the shingled path is straight but softened with edging plants, and the path is tapered towards to end, which draws the visitor to it, I think... ..the same view 10 days later..... I like the way the blue Geraniums have now been replaced by the pink ones... but the yellows still draw me to the end of the path... ..another garden, another example of how I like to be drawn forward.... the very straight path narrowing in the distance to what appears to be a pair of dark green pillars.. ..but it is in fact a Hop covered archway, the path softened and the gazebo enticing the visitor forward... I like this one very much... and I think could be replicated in a small garden... ..with a grass path, I like to see curves with plantings that hide the view ahead... and absolutely no spillage onto the paths... I don't like to see that with grass... preferring a nice clean sharp edge.. ..with high straight walls, I think it's important to bring the borders outwards towards the centre... but I don't like these island beds here... although they serve a purpose in this particular garden... ..finally, I rather like the way the hedges here have been shaped to invite the visitor to take a turn right or left... it flows and I find it relaxing... and I wouldn't like it if it was sharp... ...hope you found something of interest in those...