Two projects to get my teeth into - and I'm new to this!

Hi folks,

I've decided to get stuck into doing something with both my front and back gardens.

The front garden is tiny and has no features bar two Boxus and a couple of wheelie bins. The plan is to hide or disguise the wheelie bins. There is a tall wall facing south, a fence facing west, and the front of my house to the west. I'll add a photo sometime soon but it isn't really much to see. Ideally I'd like to train something to grow over an arch or trellace that I can use to hide the bins.

Too add to the fun, the lawn is uneven and patchy in places, so I'm going to need to sort that out too.:eek:

The bigger project is the back garden. So far there is an Acer sitting in a pot in the corner and a Clematis slowly climbing up some chicken wire and heading towards the rear fence and trees.





A new addition has been a Chilean Potato Tree which has been planted yesterday which should hopefully start climbing the fence in the not too distant future.

The second part of the back garden project is to extend the patio. It's currently 180 x 240cm but I am going to add another 180 cm to the width and add a further 60cm to the length.

I am extending it for two reasons - I currently don't have much room for to fit any furniture on it and I'd like a table there for a spot of al-fresco dining, plus the lawn gets terribly water-logged and grass will not grow there. It currently has a small selection of weeds.

The rest of the lawn is of variable quality, in some places it absolutely thrives, in others it has bald patches. It's mostly waterlogged through-out winter and has only just become dry enough to mow for the first time this year. I think I could do with planting something along the south wall that enjoys the water logged conditions.

I'm currently toying with the idea of sinking some slabs into the lawn where it goes bald and then placing some pots on those slabs. I'm also considering some raised beds but so far I have not decided what I would plant in them.

Behind the lower corner of the small fence, I'm considering growing a rose in a large tub. I would like a climbing rose to get some colour onto the back fence. I'm thinking of something light purplet to pink, or white/pink but I haven't chosen anything yet.

So, that's the plan, Stan. Any comments, tips, advice gladly taken.

 

Hi John,

Good luck with your 'transformation'. I know what you mean about uneven & patchy lawns, half of my front lawn is 'something' but not grass. Still it's green

Wheelie bins - what are we supposed to do with them. I just heard that we are getting a 3rd one - my garden is only little, i don't want to look out onto them! I have been thinking about how to disguise them too. I know you can get box like things to put them in & i suppose if you trailed some flowers around them that would be ok. So i'm going to keep an eye on you & see what you do, lol.

cheers

 

HI JOHN GOOD LUCK WITH THE PROJECT :thumb: KEEP US UPDATED

 

I have drawn up a plan for the back garden, I just need to price it up now. I have a few ideas of plants I'd like to feature - should I tell you all or keep it as a secret? :D

The front garden is still looking rather boring and I'm yet to think of something to use as a disguise for the wheelie-bins, but I'll carry on plotting.

More photos to follow soon.

 

Things are moving slowly, the plan is forming nicely.

I am going to take up some of the lawn at the rear of the back garden and lay pebbles against the fence and around the clematis and the chilean potato tree.



I've re-potted this little beauty into a ceramic pot. I think it's a Japonica of some variety.


I have managed to find an exact match for my existing patio slabs and I've marked out the area ready for laying those slabs when they get delivered. It's amazing how laying a piece of string makes the plan seem more achievable.


The supplier of the slabs also sells old railway sleepers, which I will be cutting in two, to form raised beds. On on the left of the garden will be closer to the patio, while the one at the rear will be closer to the fence. I should be able to make two 4' sqaure beds.

I have also seen wavy paving slabs at the same supplier which match the colour of my existing patio, so I'm planning on running a flowing path between the two raised beds.

The idea to combat the poor drainage to the left is to lift the grass, lay a membrane and then cover this with pebbles. To the right of the path, I am going to leave the grass as that side drains well.

Plant wise, I'm thinking of keeping most plants in containers, except for maybe a cordyline which I would like to plant into the soil. I've also seen a Canna Durban which I really like and hopefully could be integrated.

Oh and I even put up a temporary struture today. Don't worry, the washing line will not be a permanent feature :D

As for the front garden, no real progress there. A trough will be going under the kitchen window. Here some pictures that are about as exciting sa watching paint dry. You'll probably see why I want to hide the wheelie bins :D The two Boxus are the most excting thigs in the picture :D


More as things progress.

 

John good things come to those that wait and no doubt your garden will look so very different come next year.I'm a big fan of the Montana and I'm sure it will look stunning next May and it'll be so much bigger then too.Hel.xxx.

 

Very quick update for today.

The slabs for the patio and the railway sleepers will be delivered tomorrow.

I have also ordered a Canna Durban and a yet unknown variety of Cordyline (all I know is it's a deep red), they should be with me by the end of the week.

Last years hanging baskets have been emptied and are now awaiting the new plants for this summer.

More news as it happens...

 

A couple of days behind on updates and photos, apologies.

Materials have turned up. Those sleepers are so heavy!



Work in progress pictures...



Trial fitting of first slab.


The patio is now complete

The Canna Durban and Cordyline Australias have both arrived and have been potted up ready.

Hopefully by the morning I will be able to walk on the patio, once I can cross it I am going to mark out the areas for the raised beds made from sleepers to sit, and then mark out the area for the path to cross the garden.

The path has undergone more thought. I initially wanted to weave a Rio Cascade waveset from Stonemarket, but unfortunately the suppliers cannot supply such a small quantity of slabs, so I am looking at now getting out the angle grinder and using straight edged slabs, but cutting them put angles in to the path.

As soon as the path has been marked out, I simpy need to raise the grass where it will be and lay membrane beneath it and on the side where I am exchanging grass for pebbles.

More photos and pics as it happens.

 

:confused: It doesn't have any flowers on it yet. Were you looking at the clematis?

 

Well things have moved on a fair amount now.

The typical wet bank holiday weather hasn't helped things but the back garden is slowly taking shape.

From this:


To this:


The patio is now over double it's original size and I'll be able to get a table and chairs on there.

A small path has been laid to act as a border between the lawn and the gravel. I skimmed the lawn from where the left hand raised planter has been located, and then moved the grass to the corner on the right in front of the second planter, it seems to be bedding in and hopefully will be an easy fix for the patch that had died. Fingers crossed there!

Plant wise, during the high winds of the past few days, the clematis appears to have suffered some damage and one of the stems appears to have begin to die. The chilean potato tree has now produced it's first flowers.


The gravel has been placed on a thick black membrane to surpress any weeds from trying to grow in the gravel.

On the recycling front, not only have I used old railway sleepers, but the gravel is also second hand - taken from my brothers driveway as he wanted to level it out and I needed gravel. The price of the gravel - £4.70 or 2 pints as he preferred his payment :D

The sleepers proved much lighter after they had been cut in half with a chainsaw! They have been used to form the edges for raised beds. I am still deciding on what to put in to them. Once I have decided what's going in there, I'll add some organic matter and compost to improve the soil.

A few more photos of the almost completed garden below.







The next trick is deciding what to do with the front garden...

 

looks a lot better.

One thing I will add though is that personally I always line sleapers with membrane to prevent tar leaching like so:



I take the soil level with the top of the membrane