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B&Q Unloved Gardens feedback thread. Non-testers: add your unloved garden comments - £150 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

586 replies

AngelieMumsnet · 10/07/2013 12:20

This thread is for the 20 Mumsnetters who have been chosen by B&Q to revamp their unloved garden.

Those selected have been sent a B&Q giftcard to buy the things they need to give their unloved garden a makeover. They're working to complete the makeover by the 28th, and will be keeping us up-to-date on how their revamps are going on this thread as well as posting photos.

Please do follow their stories and add your own comments if you want to show some support!

Below are the questions we'd like testers to answer but please feel free to add your own comments too. Please give us a bit of info about the garden you're revamping and what you plan to do with it in your response.

  • Why is your unloved garden unloved? What do you want to change about it? What has stopped you until now?
  • Where did you get your inspiration for doing up the garden from? What sort of style are you going for etc?
  • Have you had much help along the way with the revamp? If so, who from? And what sort of help - practical or ideas-based?
  • How did you find your shopping experience at B&Q? Were the staff helpful? Did you find anything in store you maybe didn't expect to beforehand?
  • Did you use any of the help and advice that B&Q offer? This includes their videos on YouTube, leaflets and classes in store etc. If so, how useful was that help and advice?
  • If B&Q could do anything more to help you next time you visit, what would it be?
  • Have you had any feedback on what you've done with the garden from family/friends? Has the transformation had a big impact on you and/or your family?

If you're not an official tester but would like to be in with a chance of winning a £150 B&Q giftcard, please post on this thread to tell us about your own garden revamp successes (or failures!) - we'd love to hear from all MNers who have a garden makeover story to share!

Thanks very much
MNHQ

OP posts:
HaughtyCulturist · 21/07/2013 11:17

Post rotavating

HaughtyCulturist · 21/07/2013 11:18

Post rotavating

HaughtyCulturist · 21/07/2013 11:19

Digging the footings (lovely nephew).

HaughtyCulturist · 21/07/2013 11:20

No it's not! That is lovely DH! What is going on with the pictures!

HaughtyCulturist · 21/07/2013 11:20

This is lovely nephew!

HaughtyCulturist · 21/07/2013 11:21

And this is the footings laid.

HaughtyCulturist · 21/07/2013 11:25

I have been looking at the next purchases I have to make. I need to buy weed resistant matting, slate chipping and masonry paint. I have spent nearly all my voucher at B&Q, so whatever else I get will be out of our own pockets. I have just done a brief comparison between B&Q and Wickes, and I have to say that on comparable products, (but with more quantity at Wickes) it is Wickes that comes out cheaper by £65! As much as I feel I should be loyal to B&Q for this project, that is a significant amount of money.

Roma2013 · 21/07/2013 11:57

Bit taken aback. On having dismantled the shed and transported it to our yard, woman who initially had offered it for free and I'd thought I'd give her £30 as a thankyou, suddenly said (as she watched us lifting it off the van), that she wanted between £50-£100 for it!! I was like Shock
All a bit awkward. I definitely didn't mishear her first time around. I'd asked her if she wanted something for it and she'd said no and she d got a 16 yr old lad who d finished his exams and could help transport it for us if we liked (I said I'd be happy to give him some money if we needed that) and thought I'd give her £30 with some produce from my allotment thrown in. Anyway, I ve given her £60 and told her that we really couldn't afford more than that and if she wanted more we'd have to transport it back.

DoingItOurSelves · 21/07/2013 12:18

Roma that's rotten of her. I hate it when people offer something and then decide they want to make after all. Just say it up front and let the recipient decide. I hope your finger heals soon. (I suffer a lot of finger in wheel spoke incidents in supermarkets when people's trolleys knock my hands into them, and find granulated sugar into deep wounds for a few days followed by plastic skin, a swift recovery method)

We're having a few problems here, and at the moment it's a bit of a concrete, cement, sand, and breeze block rubble pile, but nearly past that point, but have had to stop feed hollow legs ds and hopefully will be able to get the camera card to work later. For some reason it's gone onto internal memory and the work shots are on the card, but we need to keep going so for now here's some of the wildlife that's been visiting to remind us why we're doing this Smile :

DoingItOurSelves · 21/07/2013 12:20

Must find out what this is, but very pretty and likes grey surfaces:

DoingItOurSelves · 21/07/2013 12:22

Our bees are appreciating lupins:

Cremolafoam · 21/07/2013 14:03

We have RAIN! Actual wet pouring rain after almost 4 weeks of drought.
Quite a noveltyGrin

Roma2013 · 21/07/2013 15:14

Can anyone help? Dh spent two hes trying to sand down the garage door so we could repaint it. He got nowhere really (see pic). Has anyone used a chemical paint stripper on metal? Which one? And how effdctive/how long did take?

Roma2013 · 21/07/2013 15:15

hours

TallulahTT · 21/07/2013 15:51

I have used a heat gun, it was very satisfying! I have googled to see if it's recommended, it is by some. Didn't take long just hired it for a day.

Disclaimer: I am definitely not an expert!

Roma2013 · 21/07/2013 17:26

Thanks Tallulah... Might hv a word with B&Q people n see what they advise. Was it very fumey? I am knackered. Me and dd2 cut back the old rose and clematis about 2.5 feet. So many old dead branches in there plus a couple of bird nests much to dd's delight. It's made our yard much bigger

Roma2013 · 21/07/2013 17:35

The rose and clematis now (still alot more to go)

Roma2013 · 21/07/2013 17:52

DoingIt.. Did you find out what the moth/butterfly was? Such a stunning colour?

Roma2013 · 21/07/2013 17:54

Who was it that talked about sugar in a wound? And how does it work?

TallulahTT · 21/07/2013 18:09

Wow your rose and clematis are amazing. Are they secured onto the wall? I fear I cut too much back but the plants and small tree it was covering/choked has improved in colour with being able to see daylight, I think we may have saved it just in time.

Roma2013 · 21/07/2013 18:31

The advantage of Clematis Montana Rubens is that you CAN cut it back quite severely and it responds well - but only if you cut it back around early June as it flowers next season on wood made this season. if you hack it back later, into fresh wood, you reduce the quantity of flowers. this is our problem and it's so intertwined with the rambling rose from next door that flowers now, it s hard to take shears to it in June without cutting the rose about to blossom. so, lol, yes, I ve hacked a fair bit back as rose is coming to flowering end but I've been careful to try and trace where the new Clematis growth is and not cut into that much.

Roma2013 · 21/07/2013 20:02

Oh and they re not reLly secured very much. A little but the mortar between the old bricks is so old the nails won t secure. Mostly it entwines itself around next dr neighbour's rose which also spreads into our yard. I love that. Thd rose is a David Austin, spreads prolifically and I do nothing except cut it back.

Cremolafoam · 21/07/2013 20:58

good evening all. Roma - would nitromors do any good do you think- for garage door. I have used it successfully on a metal door before now. also used a wire brush too.

today the trees are finally gone. 5 bastard castlewellan Golds which i have hated with a passion for 13 long years. Removed with the aid of dh's car ( now nicknamed The Elephant) as displayed in pictures,
I cannot completely describe the satisfaction.

Roma2013 · 22/07/2013 03:40

Hi Cremo, Nitromors might work. Will check it out. Well done on the trees! A huge job!

DoingItOurSelves · 22/07/2013 08:57

We had thunderstorms and rain at 6am but the sun's now out.
Ds off today and tomorrow, so just me doing all the jobs that can be done one handed.

Cremola can?t see any pictures, but well done on the trees, that sounds like a massive job!

Roma, no I haven?t found out what the moth is, but I haven?t had much time to look. Grin

Nitromors used to be the go to paint stripper, and may well still do it if it?s a single paint layer, but it?s a different formula now as the EU?s banned the active chemical a few years ago (why it lost its Guild of Master Craftsmen logo)

If it?s lots of paint layers the new stuff generally just softens the lower layers unless you keep applying it, which does makes it easier to scrape off, but isn?t the lovely instant solution it used to be.

Look on eBay for Starchem paint stripper, still got the original chemicals and does all the jobs the old favourite used to. (Do read the H+S info on it, it?s pokey stuff)

It was me who said sugar. It?s an old tried and tested way of healing wounds and reducing infection, and stimulating missing flesh to replace itself, (a lot cheaper than silver powder which is another old method) and before antibiotics saved a lot of human limbs, and horses.

It works by drawing moisture out of the wound which reduces bacterial infection (that bit?s fact) and I suspect irritating the flesh into doing it?s job.
The trick?s to clean and repack when it turns to syrup. A freshly gouged finger shouldn?t ooze much, but burns, bed sores or previously untreated wounds can need a lot of treating, but it really does work.

(If you know who Django Rhinehardt was you?ll know about his hands, but his severely burned left leg was saved and ?reshaped? using mainly sugar.)
Before it existed, honey and gritty vegetable ghee was used, but granulated sugar works better, possibly because it?s bleached?