Tell B&Q about your unloved garden - £150 giftcard to be won NOW CLOSED

[KatieBMumsnet]

As you may have seen already, we're working with B&Q, who so far have helped 20 MNers revamp their unloved gardens - soon you'll be able to check out the video of their revamps. MNers have also been posting their before and after pics of gardens they've transformed here so do check out this thread for Mumsnetter garden makeovers!

Now, we'd love to hear from other MNers who might have an unloved garden of their own. Do you have a lawn that's more of a jungle? A window box that's a little bit weathered? Or a patio that's seen better days?

Tell us what makes your garden so unloved for a chance to win a £150 giftcard from B&Q. What do you want to change about it? Maybe you'd like to put down some decking or just get some new plants? What has stopped you from changing your garden?

Everyone who shares their unloved garden stories here will be entered into a prize draw to win a £150 B&Q giftcard.

Please note that any comments you post here may appear on the B&Q pages on Mumsnet and potentially elsewhere.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw
MNHQ

[pussinwellyboots]

The main thing that stops our garden from being as we'd like is time and small children who like to 'help' and be involved in everything that we do! I'd love to update our garden by adding in 'easy care' features such as lawn edging. Our patio is very old and battered and not very pretty, so i'd love to redo that. The main change however would be to get a shed for bikes so that we don't have to empty out the lawnmower etc before going out on a bike ride.

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

Our garden was a jungle, grass waist height!
We discovered a patio in there! The slabs need replacing (brought from b&q yet to be layed)
What we have done this year though is plant a load of bulbs (25p a pack from b&q sale!) which will hopefully come up next year and brighten the place a bit!

We plan to have a veg patch too but have yet to do that!

Never really had a garden before so am enjoying having a go

[tethersend]

We have been fighting with the housing association for four years to get the ten tonnes of rubble removed from the garden- some of which turned out to be the old air-raid shelter They have finally done it, and we are making a start, but it was like Armageddon, and it took weeks to get it to look like a Savannah.

Our carefully planted grass seed has refused to grow, and the brambles are threatening to return on a daily basis. We are just managing to keep it liveable, but it really needs a 'push' to make it nice.

Having a garden in the city is such a luxury, and I just want it to be as good as it can be.

[MikeLitoris]

Ours is a tiny garden and has no greenery at all.

Crumbling stone wall all around and cheap stones and decking on the ground.

Its probably the most boring place on earth.

It needs to be easy to clean as our dog has isssues and will only go to the toilet in our garden, not out on walks.

[Spirael]

You want the story again? May as well keep trying, I guess!

We live in a new build house where the builders went bust part way through the build. Consequentially, it was finished as quickly and cheaply as possible by the bank.

As such, the garden had nothing done to it. No turf, no patio, nothing. It was just a barren area full of holes, half-bricks, broken knife blades and enormous weeds. We have a wonky half-fence to separate us from the neighbours.

Since we moved in, between sorting out the neglected interior, we've been frantically trying to transform the outside from wasteland to garden. We've removed tons of weeds and dangerous building material, so it is at least semi-safe now for our daughter to play out there.

We've been digging over sections at a time and scattering grass seeds, which is starting to help. We're in the process of painting the half-fence, which makes it a bit brighter. We've also managed to install an outside tap, though we don't actually have a hose for it. (Watering grass seeds with a watering can is a long and slow process.)

With a bit of time and money, our plan is to lay a patio, put in some flower beds, plant some flowers and a vegetable garden, lay some proper turf, get some garden furniture and build some decking. Hopefully before we retire in 40 years or so!

[blizy]

Our garden is quite small with a decking area at one end and "grass" at the other. The grass is mostly clover and when it has been raining (I live in glasgow, so it rains a lot) it turns very boggy and we can't use it for at least a week until it drys out again. Being a childminder this is pretty useless as I would like to be able to use the garden all year round. I have been thinking of either paving or laying turf and taking the grass away. I would also like to
Add some planters with bright colourful flowers and plants as a memorial to daughter.

[cather]

Our garden is very neglected and the weeds are threatening a take over! There is an area that has trellis on three sides that is very overgrown but must have been lovely when it was planted as the climbing roses are beautiful but the are hasn't been looked after. The ground beneath them is full of rubble and weeds and spoils the beauty of the roses. I would love to clear the area and add a bench as the scent from the roses is amazing and it would make a lovely spot to sit and watch the children play.

[chocolatelime]

Our tiny garden is a blank canvas at the moment! The whole garden is a wooden deck on 2 levels and although I had a few plants in pots they were looking very scruffy, so I recently removed them. So I literally have a deck with nothing on it! We have an allotment and grow a lot of our own veg, but I need to put some of our gardening efforts into creating a lovely relaxing space at our home.

I would love to have some wooden planters, maybe a trellis with climbing plants and a bench for us to sit on & enjoy.

[CMOTDibbler]

When we bought this house, it had a very slopey garden, and a grim patio on the only flat bit.

8 tonnes of topsoil, a giant deck, and some epic work with a mini digger, its soo much better. But no plants, garden furniture etc. Its all hard landscaping and no prettiness!

[trikken]

Our garden needs love but is a mass of weeds at the moment. It could be nice but just need to save up for some plants and something to make a nice path-way. We dont have a proper fence either so need to sort that out. possibly a little raised vegetable garden would be good for the kids and I.

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

Weeds weeds and more weeds. It is a constant battle and I just want transform the garden so that they can no longer take over. Our grass is virtually 100% clover.

Any plants I do buy seem to be eaten by the local wildlife. Why can't they eat the weeds and leave my plants alone I don't know!

I'd love to be able to clear an area for DD to grow some veggies. If she grew them she might actually eat them.

[poppy1973]

One of the reasons we purchased our house was the lovely back garden originally. However, we lost the garden when the diggers/bulldozers had to come into the back garden and dig up the old septic tank and drop a new septic tank in - just weeks after we moved in !!! It took a whole year until we had grass as we had to get someone in to rotavate the ground and plant new seed for us. Since then we have worked in trying to get a garden back the young children. We have now managed to get some vegetable beds back into the top garden to plant vegetables and am now trying to sort out the side of the house where the diggers caused so much damage getting up the side. We are now trying to smash rubble up to get a nice base to put shingle down so we can place nice pots etc. to make that area look nice.

[Steffanoid]

our first house together as a family has a lovely big garden, but since we moved in the priority has been the interior, and we've only had funds for babies room to be finished just before he arrived, transforming my grass, moss and weeds would be something I'd love to do to make somewhere lovely hopefully by the time this little one is crawling about .
The giftcard would be used for perennials on a border and some planters for the paved area, maybe even a little bench to transform it into the suntrap haven it's got the potential to be

[TheFutureMrsB]

Our garden has been the last thing on the agenda, we had to re-decorate the entire house and a lot of the junk has been put in the garden hangs head in shame but it really needs to be sorted.

Having four children we really do need the garden to save our sanity for the children to be able to play outside and also it would be nice on sunny days to have breakfast out there but at the moment it looks half jungle half building site .

The bottom half is concrete (chipped concrete at that) with steps leading to the top, we need a gate that actually stays on the wall and not like the one we have now which flops off everytime we open it! The concrete needs to either be sorted or covered with something (decking) and then it needs to be made child friendly. This would be the ideal place for my littlest ones sand table etc. as it is right outside the back door.

The top is mostly grass with a path, the grass is patchy and overgrown, there is a lovely bushy tree thing but that is starting to get a bit wild and then there's the junk at the top of the garden waiting to be taken to the skip yard. It's not ideal by any means but it has lots of potential to be a lovely garden with a bit of hard work and some plants and prettiness!

[Lucie1979]

Oh my god! Where to start! Ok so I'm not particularly green fingered! The lawn is actually more of a jungle! We have no borders, just an uneven bit of grass/lawn/jungle/weedfest! We are lucky to have such a nice sized garden and it really is time to make more of an effort. The children long to play in the garden but it needs saving!!! HELP!

[loopyloou]

Our garden has terrible earth, like clay, making it extremely difficult to dig over. It needs bags and bags of compost or something digging into it to improve the soil.

One side gets barely any sun, so nothing much grows there.

The lawn is full of weeds and needs some treatment to kill the weeds and improve the grass. However, as we have two cats and a dog, I am unsure what products I can safely use.

The borders are almost empty, due to the quality of the earth.

Unfortunately our Hollywood swing has now developed rust and the cover is frayed, so it will need to go to the tip. Where it has stood is separated off from the lawn and gravelled, so, as we don't plan to replace the swing due to the expense (this one we bought in the sales many years ago), we will need to remove the gravel and edging and lay down new grass seed there.

The fences need to be stained to protect them.

Generally the garden looks unloved and consequently we don't spend much time out there as it's just not very nice. It needs a lot of time and money spending on it.

I have my fingers well and truly crossed that I win, as the prize would come in very handy.

[loopyloou]

Forgot to mention that we also need a shed to keep the lawn mower and spade etc in.

[Fraxinus]

I don't know how long I will be living here.


That's why I'm not motivated to do much here. Moving house is hard enough without having to move big pots and benches.

When I move into a place I'll be staying in, then I'll make it beautiful.

[Lilyloo]

We entered the comp but didn't win :( so decided to use our holiday funds to do some work in our garden with the lovely weather.
When we bought the house we turfed it all and made a small patio out of grey cheap paving slabs.
We then purchased a trampoline which took over a large corner of the garden.
I planted some 'plants' which most turned out to be shrubs in an area cornered off with some log roll.
This turned into a big pile of bare mud under the trampoline and some massive shrubs / trees in a small area.
Do and ds have dug it all out and put in a large decked area. The trampoline has been moved and is now on a barked area. However we have run out of funds (despite sacrificing our holiday and its now raining) We would love a storage container , and I would love a raised bed to plant some vegetables in.

[Lilyloo]

Dp not do

[maternitart]

We moved house when I was pregnant with our first so we decided to get rid of the small pond in our new garden.

We emptied it (of rancid water and decomposing fish) and pulled out the plastic lining...

That's as far as we've got. So we have a big crater of a hole near our back door. DH chucked a couple of broken bricks in there, just so if any small person falls in they'll probably cut themselves on them.

We also have no garden furniture meaning we've spent all the hot weather sitting on a bit of plastic near said hole.

[TotallyEggFlipped]

Our garden used to be ok, despite the fact that most of the lawn is so steep it can only be mowed by sending the mower abseiling down it then pulling back on a rope. Then a massive tree fell down and crushed the three nice trees that we had. Now there's nothing left except the mountain.

We have a small patio area, but it's in desperate need of weeding and cleaning if we ever find the time and energy.

The garden does have potential. We've just neglected it for so long it seems like a mammoth task to make it decent.

[LastLight]

Our garden was a mass of slabs when we moved in. We thought it would be easy to look after, but actually, it was just ugly. So, we started taking up some of the 326 (yes, I did count them) slabs, to find... More slabs. Yep, someone had put an ugly patio straight on top of another ugly patio. We got them all up, but thanks to a crap spring and work commitments, we have yet to do anything about getting rid of them, let alone making a pretty garden. So we currently have a garden full of sand, weeds.... And, yes, slabs. Its going to be a fun summer getting rid of that lot!

[FairyThunderthighs]

My poor garden is a bit unloved yes. It has the potential to be beautiful though! We have decking all the way to the end, with two "cut outs" at the sides. One currently has slate chip/tile things (that's the technical term) and the other is just bare mud at the moment. I would love to put grass on both sides so my children have a comfy place to play!