My new build garden for newbie gardener

Hi all,

Having just discovered these forums and gathered a load of new inspiration, I'd thought I'd share my project, where I am up to with it and hopefully get some honest feedback/suggestions other than of family and friends.

The start: Okay so I bought new build property last year and the garden was handed over as rubble filed mud pit. The garden dimensions are approximately 6.5m by 10.5m South-East facing.



As you can see it wasn't exactly inviting. Nevertheless. blank canvas and all that.

Turfed: The property was initially rented out while I was based elsewhere with work. So I decided just to get the lot turfed as a starting point. This was my first real insight into the scale of the work that needed doing into creating a decent garden. Hours of raking, picking up rubble and leveling off.. Even with this I had to wait until several months later to get a good spell of weather for it not to be waterlogged!




However, I made the school-boy error of going on holiday the day after it was laid with no external tap or hose fitted. I came back and honestly thought I'd have to re-do the whole lot.

More to follow - seem to be having a few issues with the pictures.

 

Hi Adam,



Welcome to Gardeners Corner, I'm sure you'll find lots of help and advice here and you'll soon have a garden to be proud of

 

Good progress @Adam2707 and so exciting to have a blank canvas to play with

 

to GC @Adam2707 pleased you have joined us.

Lovely to hear that you have already found some inspiration here

Glad you have posted some before/after photos - our members are a photo hungry lot - it gives us a great idea of what you have to play with; as you say, blank canvas. You have already put in a lot of work getting it all turfed over.

On thing you mentioned which drew my attention:

May I ask, what (if anything) have you done to address the issue of waterlogging? Or has it sorted itself out?

Now you've laid your turf corner to corner ... which parts are you going to pull up to make beds/borders in?

Have you decided on which style of garden you would like, or, will it remain as turf and then make full use of patio pots?

Oh, and I forgot: congratulations on your new home

 

Thanks guys. That was just the start - loads more to come. That was about this time last year. I gave up last night but now I've found a a quick way to re-size all my pictures I was having trouble with.

Apparently waterlogged ground is a common with new homes as it gets turned up and moved around and squashed with heavy plant. They told me it should short it self out within a few months. Which it did in fairness.

 

Following on: Okay so my grass wasn't in the best condition after the go on holiday and leave without water mistake. But it actually picked up a lot better than I expected. This was it 6 week later, just before the first cut. Can see a full overview of what I have to work with now.



The Plan: I knew that I didn't want to do the same as all the neighbors and just add a few more paving slabs by the back doors. Wanted to give it a bit more interest. So I went with curves and circles.. I decided with a decked area in the sunniest part (circle) with a raised sleeper bed and to extend/alter the patio to match the design.



Sleepers in!: I got the sleepers in. Tried to add a bit more interest by varying the height. Battened out the inside of the fence and put a damp proof membrane throughout.

 

Digging!: This was by far the hardest and least enjoyable part of it. I decided to go with sunken decking, I'd seen some cool ideas on Pintrest and wanted something similar. This meant however having to dig out the whole area. Filled up my raised bed nicely though and the rest I managed to spread out to the side of the house.



Decking part 1: This was all new to me and the circular decking was proving a bit more of a head scratcher than I thought. Rather than working out where individual supporting post would be I was advised by my dad to create a few strip footings with a joist on top. Could then work out if I needed anything more when it came to putting the joists on.



Joist in: Now I could start on the top deck. This was the end result.


Deck: I loved this part of project. Could finally start to see some end finishes.



Lights: Some last minute additions. Meant that I had to take it up and re-lay the top but I'm glad I did.



Deck was finally done. Happy with the end result.

Stay tuned. More to come.

 

Golly gosh @Adam2707 what a massive change you have made. If you happen to have an hour or two spare feel free to pop along and give me a hand
It's looking fantastic.

 

Looks excellent!

 

@Adam2707 you really have done a fantastic job , I can't wait to see it finished

Oh & to the forum

 

Hi Adam, welcome! Lovely job you've done there, not normally a fan of decking or even spot lights but that looks wicked fair play!

 

Thank you you everyone for your kindness!

Here are a few more of when I was getting my patio finished over the following weeks.



Finally most of the building work had been done, was keen to get it planted but moved my focus inside over the autumn/winter. This is pretty much how it was left during then.



Water feature: Another thing that I found myself adding from my original ideas. Spent a while deciding on one but found this contemporary one on Primrose.



I'm still debating whether I want to cover the lot with slate or just a circle around the water feature (where a stone of some sort would be required to cover the reservoir). Has anyone got any advice with planting with slate/stone?

 

Very nice. Slate? Darker flowers with just a few highlights would keep with the contemporary theme.