Hi from sunny Surrey

Get yourself some big polythene sheets if you can. You can buy them from decorators shops for covering the carpets etc while painting. Use such polythene sheets to wrap up your palm trees while blitzing the surrounding area with Roundup, and keep the sheets on for a few hours afterwards, just to make sure your palm trees don't accidentally get sprayed.

 

Thanks Clueless. Great advice!

I am at that stage where I keep staring at the garden thinking that I have zero chance of sticking to the plan. I am considering working with the garden as some beautiful purple flowers have started to bloom behind the palm trees and the amount of work required to get the garden level and start from scratch gives me a headache. I was thinking of keeping the lawn area and trying to get the weeds out of it rather than killing it all, I can shape the natural area afterwards, right? Make it curvy somehow? I was also thinking of keeping the path and just killing the border areas to start afresh. The middle of the garden is fairly flat but the back of the garden is the biggest problem at the moment as it's at a slightly higher level and bumpy, it is also a problem I do not want to worry about right now so is being shelved until I have a fresh wave of enthusiasm. I could kill everything in that section and beg my father to lay curved decking there instead, although I imagine it would still have to be flattened somehow.

The plan is too detailed and expensive for me to get the results as quickly as I would like. I imagine a fresh weed-free oval lawn in the centre area of the garden, beautiful rose bushes and plants in the border areas (which are actually bricked and curve in quite nicely) with shingle or bark there. The top area decked as my garden is North West facing (neighbours gigantic tree blocking a lot of the sun there though by the afternoon).

Anyway, I am killing all the weeds in the crazy paving cracks (I really hate crazy paving) at the moment and hoping to tidy it up a bit so I can see what can be done with ease. I have my garden furniture set being delivered on the 13 July and my dissertation to crack on with after that. The next couple of weeks I will be getting as much done as possible. Maybe one day I will come back to the plan but right now I just want a garden that I can enjoy and be a little bit proud of.

Thanks for everybody's advice and encouragement. It has been really helpful.

 

Even if you do stick to the plan (which I doubt, because its only when you spend time out there that you realise what you really want), you can do it in 'passes'. That's how I'm doing mine. I'm not bothering to get everything just how I want it, as long as its something like, and better than it was. That way I can cover more ground in less time and at less expense. The patio was one of the first things in our garden that I did. I had a patch of bare, dead ground that even weeds wouldn't grow in (really). I drew a rough line with my spade, marked it out with a piece of rope, and said this side of the line is patio, other side the soil will be improved. That's what I did. My patio needs some finishing touches but it is good enough for now, and it means I have a patio and lawn etc, whereas if I'd aimed for perfection first time, at the rate I work, I'd probably only just have my patio by now, and still have bad soil and no garden beyond

One day I'll put the finishes touches to the patio, but not before I've sorted some of the remaining bits of the garden that haven't even really had pass 1 yet.

 

I'm in a better frame of mind now I've walked away from it for a bit. You're right, I shouldn't slap-dash this project out of frustration. My problem is wanting it to look as good as perfect as soon as possible and I guess that will mean rushing it, the garden not looking exactly how I want it and causing more problems in the future, and eventually hating gardening. It doesn't have to be exactly the same as the plan but the prep is very important. I would like to see your before and after pics. Is there a link?

 

Thanks Clueless. I saw this post yesterday and figured you were right. Section by section, trial and error and a bit of leeway. I am quite a perfectionist in everything I do (except housework) so tend to beat myself up a lot. I am going back to the original plan of killing everything (except my palm trees) and starting from scratch. Right now, I don't care as much how long it takes. I will be leaving the Round Up until next weekend so the weeds are tall enough.

 

I also think that it might be an idea to do what another poster on this thread did by setting up a blog type thingymajig rather than posting on the introduction section. I don't feel as much of a newbie now.

 

Great stuff! I did comment but it needs to be moderated/approved first... not because I swore or anything... :D
I'm very impressed!

 

***update***View attachment 38069View attachment 38070View attachment 38069View attachment 38070View attachment 38069View attachment 38070View attachment 38070

 

Hello again! Looks like some pics came up twice but I don't knowhow to change that. Anyway, it's been a while but finally got there thanks to my kind brother in law. The grass seed is now down, so fingers crossed.