My Garden Overhaul .... Why Did I Start This ..Picture heavy
Discussion
Craikeybaby said:
Talking of the lawn thread - you probably need to be seeding the lawn sooner rather than later. Or are you going to wait until the spring?
I'm torn on this. I can get turf for practically nothing through work, but only have another month to get it done! Seed would need to be now really and I can't see it being ready for seed for a month which is then too late.Ideally it wants to be some good stuff as the garden is north/east facing and the ground below the 4 inch of top soil is awful.
About time for an update I think!
So the last couple of weeks have been busy!
I put the last bit of stone down, replacing the standard concrete ones at the front door as they looked a bit odd with the path being in stone, my best bit of laying, good job really as it's the bit most people will see:
Then a couple of days of path building and pointing, not many pictures of it happening, but here are a few:
Main, longer path going down, on sand bed, with edge cemented in once done:
Path under pergola done, bar the cementing of the edge to the right:
Main path done, all cuts done and in place, just need a dry couple of days to sweep in some kiln dried sand, and it needs a really good clean:
Pointing done, looks a real mess pre-clean:
That night after the pointing I woke at 5am to the sound of horrific monsoon style rain. dashed outside to check the pointing wasn't being washed away .... What I could have done at 5am if it was is beyond me, luckily the front door pointing was hard, and that was the last bit done... sigh of relief and back to bed! The forecast was for no rain at all, that's why it was done that day!!!
Next job was pressure washing around the edge of the stone to remove excess cement before it goes off completely, good couple of hours with a pressure washer had it looking amazing. Then my mother arrived from Spain, so didn't take any photos. She is a massive garden person and misses having UK climate for growing things other than olives/mangos/cactus etc.
As a treat she said she would buy the plants for the garden, and as we had no idea what on earth to buy, just saying we like roses and lavender, a trip to the local nursery was in order:
One of a couple of trips! good job it's less than a mile home. The wife had to walk home with baby, no room in the car!
I let mother set out plant locations with the wife.... in her element:
Mother and step dad particulally excited when they saw the rose selection at nursery... David someone?? Like I said, I have no idea about plants:
More plants:
Pressure washed patio:
Cleaned and planted:
Photos from upstairs:
The list of jobs is getting shorter!!
-Gravel round all edges between house and path, raised beds and path etc - got that coming Wednesday
-Lay the turf
-build the decking - probably next year
-finish the b
d pergola.....
-clean & oil all the wood
So the last couple of weeks have been busy!
I put the last bit of stone down, replacing the standard concrete ones at the front door as they looked a bit odd with the path being in stone, my best bit of laying, good job really as it's the bit most people will see:
Then a couple of days of path building and pointing, not many pictures of it happening, but here are a few:
Main, longer path going down, on sand bed, with edge cemented in once done:
Path under pergola done, bar the cementing of the edge to the right:
Main path done, all cuts done and in place, just need a dry couple of days to sweep in some kiln dried sand, and it needs a really good clean:
Pointing done, looks a real mess pre-clean:
That night after the pointing I woke at 5am to the sound of horrific monsoon style rain. dashed outside to check the pointing wasn't being washed away .... What I could have done at 5am if it was is beyond me, luckily the front door pointing was hard, and that was the last bit done... sigh of relief and back to bed! The forecast was for no rain at all, that's why it was done that day!!!
Next job was pressure washing around the edge of the stone to remove excess cement before it goes off completely, good couple of hours with a pressure washer had it looking amazing. Then my mother arrived from Spain, so didn't take any photos. She is a massive garden person and misses having UK climate for growing things other than olives/mangos/cactus etc.
As a treat she said she would buy the plants for the garden, and as we had no idea what on earth to buy, just saying we like roses and lavender, a trip to the local nursery was in order:
One of a couple of trips! good job it's less than a mile home. The wife had to walk home with baby, no room in the car!
I let mother set out plant locations with the wife.... in her element:
Mother and step dad particulally excited when they saw the rose selection at nursery... David someone?? Like I said, I have no idea about plants:
More plants:
Pressure washed patio:
Cleaned and planted:
Photos from upstairs:
The list of jobs is getting shorter!!
-Gravel round all edges between house and path, raised beds and path etc - got that coming Wednesday
-Lay the turf
-build the decking - probably next year
-finish the b
d pergola.....-clean & oil all the wood
So still getting as much of this done as I can before the bad weather hits. Looking unlikely I will get turf down this year, so may have to do that early Spring next year, but we shall see.
Does anyone think it is getting a bit late now?
Anyway, I have been oiling the wood which makes it look loads warmer, using Osmo 420 UV, that stuff is bloody expensive!! You can see the difference in the pictures. Also had a delivery of golden gravel to fill the edges, which finishes it off nicely:
Main bed oiled and golden gravel down:
Pergola and bed not oiled yet, but graveled:
Then started on the framing for the decking, wanted to go posh and have matching bricks around the decking, like this effect:
So I got some kerb edging blocks from ebay to match and used them as the front curve:
Normal ones at the back, and chucked more golden gravel down (I still have half a ton bag on the drive! not sure what to do with it!)
So that's where I am at at the moment. I am thinking once I've finished the last bit of edging kerbs I will get shot of the mixer so that I can prep my grass and see if I need anymore topsoil. As the mixer sits on where my grass is going.
I figure I can finish the decking next year, or if it is still warmish (I am a fair weather man) I can use those bags of postcrete to do the post work for the subbase of the decking.
Still need to finish the bd pergola, although at least some of it has been preserved and oiled now!!!
Does anyone think it is getting a bit late now?
Anyway, I have been oiling the wood which makes it look loads warmer, using Osmo 420 UV, that stuff is bloody expensive!! You can see the difference in the pictures. Also had a delivery of golden gravel to fill the edges, which finishes it off nicely:
Main bed oiled and golden gravel down:
Pergola and bed not oiled yet, but graveled:
Then started on the framing for the decking, wanted to go posh and have matching bricks around the decking, like this effect:
So I got some kerb edging blocks from ebay to match and used them as the front curve:
Normal ones at the back, and chucked more golden gravel down (I still have half a ton bag on the drive! not sure what to do with it!)
So that's where I am at at the moment. I am thinking once I've finished the last bit of edging kerbs I will get shot of the mixer so that I can prep my grass and see if I need anymore topsoil. As the mixer sits on where my grass is going.
I figure I can finish the decking next year, or if it is still warmish (I am a fair weather man) I can use those bags of postcrete to do the post work for the subbase of the decking.
Still need to finish the b
d pergola, although at least some of it has been preserved and oiled now!!!Wow! What a thread, what a job, and what an amazing finish. Your better then most professionals!!!!
Have you thought about artificial turf - we had our lawn relayed 3 times, poor soil (new build house) + Dog + Kids + Crap weather just ruined it every year. Two years ago we invested in having it ripped up and laid with the best we could find at the time (http://www.easigrass.com/) who have done an amazing job. No mud in the house, all year round use of the lawn, and my sundays in the sun are now spent sitting on my deck sipping gin and tonics while listening to all the neighbours mowing their lawns and moaning about bad backs!
With the finish you have on the edges it would look awesome. And Im sure you could probably lay it yourself - with bells on!!
Again great job all round!
Have you thought about artificial turf - we had our lawn relayed 3 times, poor soil (new build house) + Dog + Kids + Crap weather just ruined it every year. Two years ago we invested in having it ripped up and laid with the best we could find at the time (http://www.easigrass.com/) who have done an amazing job. No mud in the house, all year round use of the lawn, and my sundays in the sun are now spent sitting on my deck sipping gin and tonics while listening to all the neighbours mowing their lawns and moaning about bad backs!
With the finish you have on the edges it would look awesome. And Im sure you could probably lay it yourself - with bells on!!
Again great job all round!
CoolCurly said:
Wow! What a thread, what a job, and what an amazing finish. Your better then most professionals!!!!
Have you thought about artificial turf - we had our lawn relayed 3 times, poor soil (new build house) + Dog + Kids + Crap weather just ruined it every year. Two years ago we invested in having it ripped up and laid with the best we could find at the time (http://www.easigrass.com/) who have done an amazing job. No mud in the house, all year round use of the lawn, and my sundays in the sun are now spent sitting on my deck sipping gin and tonics while listening to all the neighbours mowing their lawns and moaning about bad backs!
With the finish you have on the edges it would look awesome. And Im sure you could probably lay it yourself - with bells on!!
Again great job all round!
Have you thought about artificial turf - we had our lawn relayed 3 times, poor soil (new build house) + Dog + Kids + Crap weather just ruined it every year. Two years ago we invested in having it ripped up and laid with the best we could find at the time (http://www.easigrass.com/) who have done an amazing job. No mud in the house, all year round use of the lawn, and my sundays in the sun are now spent sitting on my deck sipping gin and tonics while listening to all the neighbours mowing their lawns and moaning about bad backs!
With the finish you have on the edges it would look awesome. And Im sure you could probably lay it yourself - with bells on!!
Again great job all round!
OP has one of the nicest gardens I've seen on HG+DIY. No need to spoil it at the last moment using heathen grass. It'd be a slippery slope anyway - plastic grass is just the first step down the drk path towards a
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