My Garden Overhaul .... Why Did I Start This ..Picture heavy
Discussion
So about time for an update on this!
I have been trying to get as much done before the clocks change and the cold weather comes in. My plan now is to have everything done bar the decking subframe and actual decking, if I manage any of that as well I will be very happy. If not, it will be done in spring next year.
So I finished off the brick edging for the decking:
This means I can get rid of the cement mixer and any other materials, as the posts for the decking will be held in with postcrete. Getting rid of the mixer also means I can prepare the lawn area for turf.
So in order to not be left with any soil piles, I dug out the holes for the decking posts, or rather I borrowed a post auger.. what a machine, cut through my clay soil very easily:
I went a bit OTT on the holes, did 11 of them all about 600mm deep. This area is only 3mx3m and curved at that!!! better for overkill I guess.
Next I levelled out the lawn area, fairly lucky on quantities of top soil ordered, I was only short of a small amount, better than having to much. I will top up with sharp sand:
You'll notice the pergola is still not done. I MUST get this done this year, I do not want it dragging into next year!
Turf was ordered through work for practically nothing, arrived Friday, laid Saturday. Doesn't take very long, as most the hard work was done with levels and tampering down:
You can see I fine tune the levels as I go, mainly with sharp sand:
There are over 300 snowdrop bulbs in the top soil under the turf as well, hopefully they come up this spring:
Done, a few hours of jumping around on boards to make sure it's down:
Then left the sprinkler on it for a while. Next day jumped on boards again to ensure a good bond with the top soil below. I also chucked some fertiliser from Lawnsmith.co.uk which is made for new seeeded lawns or turfs http://www.lawnsmith.co.uk/prod/lawn-fertiliser-pr... hopefully worth the money. Also bought some Autumn and Spring fertiliser to help. This fertiliser and the others is not meant to stain hard surfaces, a problem I've had in the past.
So basically, all I want to finish now is the pergola, which just needs me to put those 4 rafters/cross beams in properly, and oil the other half, less than a days work. Pray for dry weather next weekend!
I have been trying to get as much done before the clocks change and the cold weather comes in. My plan now is to have everything done bar the decking subframe and actual decking, if I manage any of that as well I will be very happy. If not, it will be done in spring next year.
So I finished off the brick edging for the decking:
This means I can get rid of the cement mixer and any other materials, as the posts for the decking will be held in with postcrete. Getting rid of the mixer also means I can prepare the lawn area for turf.
So in order to not be left with any soil piles, I dug out the holes for the decking posts, or rather I borrowed a post auger.. what a machine, cut through my clay soil very easily:
I went a bit OTT on the holes, did 11 of them all about 600mm deep. This area is only 3mx3m and curved at that!!! better for overkill I guess.
Next I levelled out the lawn area, fairly lucky on quantities of top soil ordered, I was only short of a small amount, better than having to much. I will top up with sharp sand:
You'll notice the pergola is still not done. I MUST get this done this year, I do not want it dragging into next year!
Turf was ordered through work for practically nothing, arrived Friday, laid Saturday. Doesn't take very long, as most the hard work was done with levels and tampering down:
You can see I fine tune the levels as I go, mainly with sharp sand:
There are over 300 snowdrop bulbs in the top soil under the turf as well, hopefully they come up this spring:
Done, a few hours of jumping around on boards to make sure it's down:
Then left the sprinkler on it for a while. Next day jumped on boards again to ensure a good bond with the top soil below. I also chucked some fertiliser from Lawnsmith.co.uk which is made for new seeeded lawns or turfs http://www.lawnsmith.co.uk/prod/lawn-fertiliser-pr... hopefully worth the money. Also bought some Autumn and Spring fertiliser to help. This fertiliser and the others is not meant to stain hard surfaces, a problem I've had in the past.
So basically, all I want to finish now is the pergola, which just needs me to put those 4 rafters/cross beams in properly, and oil the other half, less than a days work. Pray for dry weather next weekend!
B17NNS said:
Lovely job OP
eps said:
Tip top job!
911Ads said:
Great job! Looks amazing!
Many thanks everyone, much appreciated. Been a hard slogAll that jazz said:
Nice work. How will it feel to be overlooked by so many other properties while chilling in your nice new garden though? There's no privacy there at all.
Wont bother me in the slightest, only about 4 houses overlook my garden, two are immediate neighbours. They joy of living on a housing estate. Not my forever home, but in my neck of the woods a 4 bed detached which isn't overly overlooked would be another £200k and at 30 years old, i'd rather not spend that just yet, half a million would be a tad much on my current salary.techguyone said:
I see everyone has the same style of fence, is that some kind of condition clause of the area to ensure uniformity? Although one of your neighbours has put black sheeting of some kind on the inside of his fence so that you can't see through the gaps presumably.
It's because its a new build estate, only 2 years old, give it another 2 and they will have started falling down!Yes my neighbour has but put some strange green netting, he uses it to grow plants up.
All that jazz said:
Nice work. How will it feel to be overlooked by so many other properties while chilling in your nice new garden though? There's no privacy there at all.
Aye there is! That's not too bad at all for a new build, you can't expect to live on an estate and not have at least your next door neighbours being able to see in and let's be honest, you'd have to have some nutty neighbours to actually sit at their upstairs window looking at your bum crack while you tended your borders 
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