Decking - better in black

Black decking... for a similar look just burn the existing decking.

BIG CHANGES here in the clay garden. Instead of my usual tinkering with plantings I've pulled my finger out and got round to some structural things we've been meaning to do for a while. More to come in a later post. For the moment though here's the first major change. Our decking has been a standard brown ever since we've been here. But no more. We decided to paint it a dramatic black. I say we - the other gardener was the painter (and colour chooser I might add). I just moved the pots.

It's a bold look. I wasn't totally convinced to begin with, but I'm starting to like it. It sets off green foliage nicely with the pots back on it and makes the garden look a bit more designed and thought about. Although strangely, looking at these photos I've started to miss the shabby peeling brown - felt friendly for some reason. Before and after pics below. 

Before - with all the plant pots on it.

More before - in case you didn't know what decking looked like up close

And after - austere, but better once the pots are back on it.