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I wanted to do the garden when we bought our hours, but the the thumb print in the back of my head was getting deeper by the day so I had to crack on with updating our house (which wasn't touched, bar wallpapering on top of wallpaper, and painting on top of that a few times in each room). Soooo.. 4 years on, and I've finally been able to make a start on our (small) back garden.
Probably a good thing really, as having 2 kids appear in that time would have meant that the garden would have changed again anyway. I let the garden go, and it was very, very messy which made it harder to work with. I did put some raised beds in at the bottom of our oddly shaped garden when we moved in, but in time and with my allotment these were left to get overgrown too.
B*gger the blurb, where's the pics? Ok, ok - so here's one showing what I was starting with:
There were large, and huge boulders that were partially buried (which made mowing a nightmare!)
I decide that I'd get the kids a play house, and stick it where the beds were in the above picture - mainly as it's out of the way. I'd pictured a small picket type fence, but wasn't sure what else. I had seen a small trellis type structure, with a roof on it - it was cream and green, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Anyway, on my various trips (the house is still being done, you see ! - though only the stairs really) I saw a rose arch. I found one that was damaged a bit, and using my usual charm (well, I say charm - I'm just damn well cheeky!) I managed to get a 40% reduction on the price - which made the price of the arch somewhat more reasonable. I was happy with this - though for my intended use I had to modify the arch - I'll skip that, as it's boring. Anyway, so archway modified, and built (by heck, I tell you what that was heavy lifting that down the garden - me neighbour gave me a right telling off when they saw me struggling with it!).
I got rid of the beds at the bottom, and emptied out all the compost/soil mix that I could (at one point I was 4' down) - my idea was to bury the boulders, but then decided against it due to the strange shape of them - if they'd have gone in the hole I dug, but not all the way down I'd have been up said creek.
I laid some decent weed control fabric down, and ordered some "play" bark (aka: as it's for kids and not decoration, ramp the price up by 30% and reduce the size of the bulk bag they deliver!).
Archway & one side of the fence in:
Fabric down & some bark laid..
Random pic, but as I wasn't concentrating on the garden & with my mower broken earlier on in the year I hardly mowed the lawn. Quite liked looking at what was coming up through the grass:
Anyway, I ran out of fencing and couldn't get anymore as it was on order - so my next job was to remove the decking - which was a deathtrap - the boards ran & sloped towards the house, and were so slippy we decided that we'd have a patio instead. Before I could get good access to the decking through, there was a palm tree in the way.. Having looked at these in local garden centres I was shocked at the price of them. It was also the previous owners fathers tree that they'd moved to this house - my idea was to offer it back to them if they could collect. Previous owner had then moved away from where they'd moved to, so I couldn't get hold of him - so I decided rather than just cut it down I'd move it.. If it died, well at least I gave it a chance. As trees go, it was one of the easier once I'd dug out (hardest being one taller than our house, and trunk diameter greater than my arms could reach around it!!). Being a tight so and so I did it all by hand, putting the money for any hire tools that I had online quotes for into a separate bank.
Probably a good thing really, as having 2 kids appear in that time would have meant that the garden would have changed again anyway. I let the garden go, and it was very, very messy which made it harder to work with. I did put some raised beds in at the bottom of our oddly shaped garden when we moved in, but in time and with my allotment these were left to get overgrown too.
B*gger the blurb, where's the pics? Ok, ok - so here's one showing what I was starting with:
There were large, and huge boulders that were partially buried (which made mowing a nightmare!)
I decide that I'd get the kids a play house, and stick it where the beds were in the above picture - mainly as it's out of the way. I'd pictured a small picket type fence, but wasn't sure what else. I had seen a small trellis type structure, with a roof on it - it was cream and green, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Anyway, on my various trips (the house is still being done, you see ! - though only the stairs really) I saw a rose arch. I found one that was damaged a bit, and using my usual charm (well, I say charm - I'm just damn well cheeky!) I managed to get a 40% reduction on the price - which made the price of the arch somewhat more reasonable. I was happy with this - though for my intended use I had to modify the arch - I'll skip that, as it's boring. Anyway, so archway modified, and built (by heck, I tell you what that was heavy lifting that down the garden - me neighbour gave me a right telling off when they saw me struggling with it!).
I got rid of the beds at the bottom, and emptied out all the compost/soil mix that I could (at one point I was 4' down) - my idea was to bury the boulders, but then decided against it due to the strange shape of them - if they'd have gone in the hole I dug, but not all the way down I'd have been up said creek.
I laid some decent weed control fabric down, and ordered some "play" bark (aka: as it's for kids and not decoration, ramp the price up by 30% and reduce the size of the bulk bag they deliver!).
Archway & one side of the fence in:
Fabric down & some bark laid..
Random pic, but as I wasn't concentrating on the garden & with my mower broken earlier on in the year I hardly mowed the lawn. Quite liked looking at what was coming up through the grass:
Anyway, I ran out of fencing and couldn't get anymore as it was on order - so my next job was to remove the decking - which was a deathtrap - the boards ran & sloped towards the house, and were so slippy we decided that we'd have a patio instead. Before I could get good access to the decking through, there was a palm tree in the way.. Having looked at these in local garden centres I was shocked at the price of them. It was also the previous owners fathers tree that they'd moved to this house - my idea was to offer it back to them if they could collect. Previous owner had then moved away from where they'd moved to, so I couldn't get hold of him - so I decided rather than just cut it down I'd move it.. If it died, well at least I gave it a chance. As trees go, it was one of the easier once I'd dug out (hardest being one taller than our house, and trunk diameter greater than my arms could reach around it!!). Being a tight so and so I did it all by hand, putting the money for any hire tools that I had online quotes for into a separate bank.
Well. bar two blanking strips of wood - that I keep messing up when I cut (grr!).
!). Anyway, it was a bit of an eye opener and it compressed the ground even more so, so I'd obviously not trampled it down enough. I just hope it's not gone down TOO much now.
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