The new garden, and a big thanks...

So, I've managed to reach the age of 30 without ever doing any gardening...and I mean ANY. 3 months ago, I decided to renovate my garden, single-handedly without buying in any outside expertise. I removed 4 trees (I know, I know, I nearly cried doing it but they were so overpowering it was ridiculous), 2 giant bushes, 2 large skips of concrete and brick, 2 lawns of turf and 1 very, VERY strong Anderson shelter. The before picture......



After 3 months of hard, hard, satisfying manual labour, some handy hints from lovely people on this forum and Dr Hessayon (...and some labouring from a cracking dad and father in law) as of yesterday, I sat down in the sun with an ice cold Peroni in this...



I now fear that I have the gardening bug! I've just been out watering the lawn (with another ice cold beer may I add!) and am off to buy a sprinkler tomorrow. Yay!

 

Quick, lift the turf up and put a soaker hose under it

 

Looking good. What Water-Garden really means is keep it watered! Congrats on a lot of hard work...and in a short space of time.

 

I like all your grass.

 

Am trying my best! Stood there for 2 hours, hosepipe in hand. 10am this morning and 9:30pm tonight.

Sprinkler tomorrow. Does it look dry??? Obviously I have no idea!

Also, realised it looks like there's a big hole in the middle of the lawn, tis camera trickery! The top half is actually a big slope!

 

you have worked hard good lad, and what a huge improvement from the before pic

 

WoW what a transformation Akki, Its Brill, Love your fencing you must have a few climbers in mind? We had a new lawn laid couple of months a go and i watered every day for a week, just make sure you water all the joins thoroughly, Your going to have a great summer in your brand new garden, And i know exactly what you have gone through after we have not long finished our Front garden, couldn't straighten up some days .

ps just noticed you kept one of the Trees, Lovely..

 

No, I really do mean lift the turf and install a soaker hose. The lawn is obviously new, so rather than wait till later, install a soaker hose now. Best thing I ever did when I had a lawn was the soaker hose. Connected to a timer watered everyday, all I had to do was cut the grass.

 

Thanks for the kind comments! I've actually kept two trees, one eating apple tree and one HUGE, beautiful Silver Birch (That was never coming down!).

The fence at the back was actually there all along! It was hidden behind overgrown privets. I was really surprised when I dropped the privets as the fence looks brand new!

Well, after a couple of days intense watering, the lawn looks like.... (also, see the lovely Silver Birch on the left!...and my new patio table and chairs! he he.)

 

Ooooh its gorgeous, really gorgeous Akki, The silver birch is a beut and of course you had to keep the apple tree, all those Apple Crumbles at your Fab table and chairs, and finding that lovely fence behind the privit is a stroke of luck and saved you a fortune.. have you any plans for planting?

 

:thumb:

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea about gardening so in terms of what to plant...any suggestions appreciated!

Also, as an added bonus, it turns out that just behind my apple tree in the garden behind is a lovely pear tree overhanging my fence! I'm sure the lady at the back won't mind if I use a couple of pears!

 

Hahaha thats brilliant, hope there better than my pears last year, well one pear to be exact, it was like a turnip lol.. Im trying to work out what you have in your pots, the one on the left looks like a palm! I can't see what the others are. As for planting, what do you like? You can't go wrong with some red plants, So bright and hot looking on the decking maybe in pots. or do you like cooler colours?

 

Hi akki. You look to have done a good job there :thumb: You are now in the position where you have something of a blank canvas. There are quite a few styles to choose from, most of which you'll probably see here, either in the 'Members Gallery' or 'Garden Projects' section. It's worth taking your time before deciding which style you'd like. Of course, you may decide you don't want a style as such. Whatever you decide, so far you've done a great job and I'm sure it'll look great when you 'get there' (not that anyone REALLY 'gets there' ) Cheers...freddy.

 

I want rich colours, yes. But, and this might be controversial...I don't like flowers!! I like non-flowering plants. Any suggestions? Evergreen would be nice too?

The pots contain Yew Trees. A gift from my Brother in-law.

 

Big grasses might suit you then, or ornamentals like Phoriums.