Zero maintenance garden

[mickyc79]

We moved into our new home just over 2 years ago and have been slowly but steadily getting through all the jobs we wanted to do. Inside and outside the house. One of the biggest challenges was the garden. It was a bit neglected when we moved in and needed a lot of maintenance due to trees, bushes, weeds, grass etc.

My aim was to create a space we could enjoy with family and friends whenever we got some good weather....(a new bbq will be my next purchase). And a space where we could relax even when the weather wasn't so good. I'm 95% of the way there and should be maintenance free, bar a quick coat of stain and pulling some weeds when they pop up.

Thinking a firepit area on the stone circle to finish the space off.

I have coated the coping stones on the retaining wall with bitter chocolate sandtex, just haven't took any pics yet.

Photo dump of how it was to how it is, and everything in between.





These were the estate agent images of how the garden was when I moved in...



















Got rid of the weird brick alter thing and put in a massive raised sleeper bed.



The rubble from said alter....way more than I expected!
I managed to infill the sleeper bed with it though.



Grass was left in a mess!











New golden shingles laid and sleeper bed populated with some artifical trees and shrubs...I know all the fakery isn't to everyone's taste, but the lack of maintenance was my goal and I shouldn't have to touch my garden for another 10 years. Im chuffed with results and its been a lot of hard work, total cost, including all the fencing and timber structures was around £10K.

[mickyc79]

Got a pic from my cctv angle. Can see the coping stones on retaining wall have been painted abd looking a lot better. Still have some fence panels to cover the retaining wall beneath the camera and tidy up the lower path.

Managed to get rid of the trampoline !!! Its been clogging up my garden/s for the last 6 years! Still had to have somewhere to hang out washing though, so whirlygig remains, but when its folded down, it doesn't take up too much space.

Ive moved my old fire pit onto the stone circle. Will be getting a new one and some nice seating around it.

[AB]

You've done a nice job of it. I'm not a fan of artificial grass but had a similar area to you in our old house and as the kids were little and crawling round a lot it made sense to use it but to keep a smallish patch for colour and use indian stone for around it.

[mickyc79]

AB said:

You've done a nice job of it. I'm not a fan of artificial grass but had a similar area to you in our old house and as the kids were little and crawling round a lot it made sense to use it but to keep a smallish patch for colour and use indian stone for around it.

Thanks AB, I have a dog and kids too, and a very light kitchen floor, which leads straight onto the garden. Thats one of the reasons I went dwn the no mess/zero maintenance approach.



Can't wait to get good use out of it in the summer.

[AB]

Also, if you had real grass you'd probably find you smashed 25 windows and killed your dog every time you mowed it if the kids are anything like mine with stones

[mickyc79]

AB said:

Also, if you had real grass you'd probably find you smashed 25 windows and killed your dog every time you mowed it if the kids are anything like mine with stones

Haha! Yes, i had a few close calls with stones and the mower...the raised garden means the lawn is pretty much exactly in line with the windows...had a few scares, but never smashed any windows. It was only a matter of time though...

[scot_aln]

Having a dog is really helpful. Our last place we did pretty similar bar the stone circle. The neighbours cats were a nightmare with the gravel though.