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

[AngelieMumsnet]

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

I have been striking over fruit trees on the Internet, want a row of potted ones, do they need to be insun all the time deos anyone know?

I was putting loads more plants in today and stealing the gravel mulch for my patio base when a neighbour with a beautiful garden stopped to compliment me on mine and offered to pop done hardy geraniums round . This lady has pristine net curtains inher garage, I feel so accepted and grown up!

drooling not striking :-/

I've been syruggling to upload photos from my phone...have finally found the cable to upload them from my laptop

The monster stump that took a whole weekend to defeat!

Not syruggling because I don't think that's a word...I meant struggling

This photo is taken during the planting and placing of the stones. We used a weed membrane underneath to try and prevent weeds getting through.

The small rockery, my boys have put solar lights in this corner

The finished garden

I know our garden is small compared to some but it has taken so much work, mainly because we had let it get so overgrown and overun with weeds. We probably spent an additional £150 after we'd used the giftcard from B&Q. It has been worth the effort though as I am no longer embarrassed by my garden

Just so you don't have to scroll the thread here is the before photo

Another before photo

Apologies for being so late, as well as discovering our flooding problem wasn't fixed before we started, we've been living through interesting times. So, some of our photos have had to have anything showing next door photoshopped out (the main after one has a mock terracotta block standing in for the building next door, but in the rest it's been whitened out)

To save scrolling through, the before pics:

That's actually a pic of the water dispersal pipe that solved our flooding problem!

also before:

side view:

across, all dire:

This is what it now looks like:

corner view

corner view 2

side view (rotten door lintel from flooding yet to be cut out and replaced, but cut out stairs now useful)

cutting out the old wall:

still a bit more to do on it to get it totally level as the old bricks threw up a lot of difficulties, but it's solid enough, now covered in fake grass which is something I never thought I'd like, but has suprised me:

another view of it, along with fire pit (temporary stand!) and tree planter base with chinese black pebbles and white cobbles:

another view:

Old grey walls are now creamy white (basic white and magnolia mixed in equal measures for economy) decking stained with forrest green stain, brieze blocks cleaned up painted, then stippled with fence stain:

closer view