Before and After Shots :)

We bought our house in 2008- it was essentially a piece of wasteland! The dandelions were so big they had roots like carrots!!

The brochure for the property! Weird, stepped lawn and no proper steps of paths leading from the gate.




I had some ideas about the structure so I began excavating!!! (I have videos of that haha)





Summer 2010 - Lots of changes. I lowered the ugly red brick wall and faced it with 300sq slabs to make it look nice. Laid a patio. Erected new fencing etc, and levelled the grass area to a nicer slope.




October 2011 - Finished!!! Well, Structurally everythings complete!!






Pitty Ive waited till October to take pics as a lot of the nice shrubs and trees have finished flowering (spirea, magnolias, prunus). I need to look to next summer to really elevate the garden to something spectacular! And thats where you guys come in!!!

 

Nice one Kriss, you've done well there

 

That's quite a transformation Kriss! Nice work.

 

What a wonderful job you have done Kriss ... you must be really proud of your hard work and achievements there ... quite a transformation. Well done!

 

Transformation seem to be the word here and I agree, you really have done a grand job Kriss.

 

You wouldn't believe it was the same garden. Well done Kriss.

 

Excellent.

 

Well done Kriss!! What a transformation.

A lot of hard work has paid off.

Looking good.

ps. Would like to say how much I like the spelling of your name.

 

I actually removed 2 6-yard skips of material! The new garden is lower and cuts back further into the grassy slope because originally it was higher than the damp proof course on the house which wasnt wise. So the patio/chipped area was dug down and back.

I must admit it was very disheartening at times as because friends and family kept catching my skiving in a deck chair pondering my next move! Some bits were scrapped, changed and changed again!

But there was a lot of hidden work like the tonne or so of stones, rubble and house bricks I sieved from the garden to create the borders- importing sand, topsoil and compost.

I'll upload some videos my fiance took, spying on me while I demonically hacked away at the ground with a pitch fork

 

Great Job Kriss
I especially like the vertical grey slabs with the grey coping , it looks very effective.

If you would like one or two ideas for your sloping garden look at this one I saw on holiday last week in Portugal. Its a 5 star hotel in Praia da Rocha , the garden is in a stunning setting. I was stood on tiptoes looking over the wall :D

 

Thanks for all the nice comments! Makes a change from relatives just remarking - "So its finally finished?!"...

This was our first house- so I did everything on a budget. The next garden will hopefully be a long term project that I can research and plan more thoroughly!

Its a shame I might never see this garden grow and mature- it lacks the character that only age can bring! There are 3 star jasmines for example that Im going to train up the trelis and shed to form an arch at the back gate.