My Garden :o)

We moved into our first home in March this year. The garden was (or should I say presently is!) made up of a lot of concrete and stones!

The front has been the first project to tackle as it was making our house look terrible :( So with my bad knee, broken wrist and Mum traveling the 90 odd mile round trip (it's in the job description, I'm sure! ) we set about the transformation.

The drive when we moved in


The front 'garden'


Despite managing to create a lovely Annual bed (even with the weather) the weeds began to overtake me! :rolleyes:

 

With money being limited, we had to work with what we had!

We used a systemic weed killer to get the most of the weeds under control and create a better basis for us to begin digging (Mum with spade, me with trowel!)

I dug this out with just a trowel! :D


On that first day, we managed to dig out one whole side of the drive and laid the weed membrane and some gravel - had to show we'd done something!


The bag of top soil and weeds, holding down the membrane (the gravel order was arriving the next day) See the depth of weeds we had to dig out!




By the way, I know it's the wrong order to do things, but we're both blonde and excitable

 

Thanks, Marley It is a shame when weed killer is the only resort! Luckily, there are so many pet friendly one out there now

Between my Mum's visits, I decided to dig out the edges of the raised concrete thingy! I'm amazed whet you can do with a trowel and sheer ignorance LOL


While we continued to dig out the drive, with frequent visits to the recycling centre, we took breaks to plant out some Lonicera. Once established, I plan to topiary them into balls


We dug out the other side of the drive and the front and back, discovering some very broken slabs. :( I laid the bricks for the edging and a section at the top and bottom of the drive

 

After yet more digging and recycling centre trips, we had the whole thing ready for the gravel! We even managed to straighten the slabs, and use concrete skimmed with cement to neaten them up.

I still needed to get the mortar between the bricks





The 'shower cap' on the garage was created by my Dad as we had a rather bad leaky roof! The garage is a job we'll tackle another time

We have now finished the drive, Just need to get a dry day for more pictures! Next project is getting fences for the back garden and making a start round there and the side garden!

I can't wait!

 

That looks great Sarah, you and your poor Mum have done a wonderful job.

 

Poor Mum! LOL She enjoyed doing it as much as me!

Thank you though

 

Great job!
What does the back look like?

 

Thanks, NW

Here are some photos of the back when we moved in




Side garden. We get sun all day long in this part The patch the the bottom left of the picture is a strawberry patch.

 

And this is what happens when you break yourself! *blush*




My Mum and I have sorted it out a lot since these were taken, so I'll get some new pictures to post soon

 

Great stuff, I'll look forward to the progress pictures.

 

Sar, you ( and your mum )are not only doing a brilliant job of it but also, it appears to me, having a very enjoyable time. Keep it up.

 

sar you and your mum have done a great job

 

Looking good Sar your drive way looks so much neater now and placing that gravel border is a very good idea at least now in wet weather your not dragging mess into your house when getting out of your little corsa.

I hope you are treating mum to plenty of cups of tea and cream buns just to keep her going of course and coming back for more! :D

I'm sure when you girls get to start on both the side and back garden you'll do a grand job and but please don't forget to keep us posted with plenty of pictures because we are a nosy lot on here....well I know I am
Helen.xxx.

 

A few words of advice, buying in 25kg bags works out expensive, better to buy a one ton bulk bag or if you have a trailer lose.

Also, tuck the edge of your membrane back under itself and pin it down with some wire pegs or even 4" nails and penny washers