Garden Makeover Thread

[TeamRick]

Inspired by a thread a while ago by grannygarden work on my garden starts tomorrow and I thought I might document it here and maybe others could share ideas/photos of their garden makeovers!

I used to have a lovely garden but we had an extension starting a year ago, it was absolute hell, a straight forward 16 week build which turned in to 8 months of a lying twatchops of a builder and my garden was trashed.
So we've had a push on getting the fence painted this weekend and we're ready to go!

What a good idea TeamRick, I shal follow with interest.the weather looks good for next week.

Hello JT05, I loved the photos grannygarden shared as her garden developed and thought it would be good to do the same.
I'm very excited about starting a garden from scratch again!

Oh yes ,good idea .

Already liking the fence and the colour .

And what is that lovely moggy called ?

Oh he's such a poser, I didn't notice him there! That's Elvis!

Love the fences, is it Cuprinol silver birch?

Thanks User it's CUPRINOL silver copse but painted over a traditional reddish colour fence. It's taken quite a few coats I've been doing a panel each dry weekend since before Christmas - not getting very far but the threat of the garden people arriving tomorrow guild tripped DH in to helping out!
I think bits of it still need another coat!

The patio was done as part of the extension and believe it or not is Italian porcelain! It needs a jet wash! 😱

Hi TeamRick, GrannyGarden here. I was so excited to see your post, I love a garden make-over thread. Mine has given me so much pleasure.

It's lovely, I'm about to paint my shed silver birch - can't wait to see how it turns out. Your patio looks fab, a quick blast with the jet washer and it will be as good as new. Love the door the frames on the extension - I'm obsessed with greys and darks at the moment.

What will tomorrow bring - exciting!!

Oh welcome Astra I'm glad you found me, your garden is beautiful and I have loved your seasonal updates.
User good luck with the shed, the first coat is really hard work but so worth it.

Looking forward to updates. I have testers of all shades of grey on my fence, have until June to decide so may well change and go for a cream instead. Grey is a good backdrop for climbers though. What are you having done?

Jazz yes to the climbers and plants being a good contrast I'd saved loads of photos of black fences on Pinterest but couldn't quite convince DH.

We're going for raised beds down the far side and back with some incorporated seating and then have a review. Might go for some fake lawn, will be such a small space left and are still undecided on the top right corner. So the raised beds going in then we will see.

I'd like a sofa in that right hand corner where the old love seat is- I apologise in advance for the rotten summer we will have once I have a really nice space to sit in! 🙄

Ooooh I love that fence colour, and love the fact you've found it and I can do zero research and just buy it!!
We've been doing our garden since we moved in last year, The front garden was totally ripped out and a raised bed added with a row of photina trees.
The back garden seemed simpler but is SO MUCH harder. We've had new fencing added on two sides which wont need painting for a couple of years but the shed is ancient and needs perking up.
I am following gardeners world with intent as I am desperate for a rill and no clue how to do it. Looking forward to seeing your pictures TeamRick

I’ve attempted so many times to makeover my garden. I’ve finally decided to hire a professional.
The garden company I had for a quote yesterday said I would be better with artificial grass but I’m not sure.
Has anyone got artificial grass in their garden?

TeamRick I came to this forum looking for advice about replacing my paving and lo and behold here you are! Very pleased to see your extension is now done. Must go back to the extension thread and see your pics.

You went for porcelain paving, would you recommend this? How is the ground prepared? Is it slippery? My stone paving is algae ridden stained and beyond repair.

I’ll keep an eye on your garden work which way is your garden facing and what is the soil like? The key to a successful garden is working with the plants that love the soil and light conditions.

Have you seen a bbc show called garden rescue? They do up lots of gardens on various budgets and may give you some good ideas. It’s probably on iPlayer.

I’m having raised beds too. My garden is smaller than yours and being done in June. I was wondering. Whatthefox, I was thinking as I am filling the raised bed with soil it will be perfect for growing? Or am I missing something. My garden is NE facing so lots of clematis and host as I think.
I am addicted to Pinterest, at the point I feel I have seen most of the garden pics on there!

Helllo Whatthefox i haven't really posted any finished pictures- must go back & do that, I still lurk on there. It's a year tomorrow since we started!

I'm not really sure which way we face, not north or south but I've lived in the house for 20 years so know where is sunny when, we're quite lucky as there is nothing at the back of us so we do get sun for most of the day in some part or other. The soil is very much clay but there has been lots of top soil & compost dug in over various reincarnations of the garden so it's not too bad. The beds are going to be quite high so we'll need new soil anyway.

I love the patio, it was laid by a different builder in a particularly low point of the building work so actually felt like we had achieved something! I don't know what it's on I'm afraid. It's not slippy at all, they are the same tiles we have indoors but 20mm thick not 10 with a slightly rougher finish. I'm really pleased with them.

My huge delivery of sleepers arrived this morning! 😀

Thanks TeamRick, I’m going to look into porcelain tiles for my patio. Looks fab.

Looking forward to your raised beds! Have you decided what to plant yet?

Jazzmin the raised beds will certainly help but if you have heavy clay put some multipurpose compost and manure through it to improve the drainage.

Well the raised beds are finished!

The bad news is he's not back for 2 weeks but I can live with that!

Whatthefox I can start planning all that now I know how much space I have. The fun bit! 😄🌻🌼🌸🌷

That looks fab! You can already imagine how lovely it will be to sit in that seat. (Your builder story slightly scared me as we are starting a big refurb this summer and I had been gently worrying as the most intensively planted bit of the garden which is outside the back door. I might need to think about asking them to pile stuff up in less damaging areas. )
Do you already know what you want to plant or are you planning now?

Thanks Cathpot It was very cottage garden before & I still love lots of big flowers but I never seemed to have anything that flowered passed July, so that needs planning.
I want some evergreen trailing things to come down the front of the beds, some climbers. I might visit the garden centre month by month and see what takes my fancy.
I would love it to look like this!

Oh and don't get me started on builders- I can't relive it but mine actually started knocking through with no warning, no covers or sheeting - I still had washing on the radiators! 😡

Team Rick, your garden is a very similar size to mine. I even have the doors out from the kitchen and a black and white cat! Will post pics of mine when it gets going, it is lovely to see how yours is coming along, thank you!
I didn’t think of the soil under raised beds affecting drainage, it is clay soil so will remember that.