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

Smells, thank you. I love our view, we moved from a large town and have been so happy since we came here. WRT B&Q staff, you must have been raging when you came out! I get really bolshy about things like that.

Tallulah, that sounds fab. I love clematis's and climbers in general.

Babies, enjoy your weekend!!

DH has painted the horrible bench in a lovely duck egg blue. It looks so pretty, I can't wait for the delivery now. I want to get started!!

My delivery arrived :)

The sandstone slabs look great, but the hanging baskets are gorgeous, so so pretty.

Couple of my planters were out of stock but I've been assured they'll be here before the deadline.

Going to have dinner now and get stuck in :)

oh, they are pretty!

Non-tester here....

Our garden has been a bit of a forgotten wilderness....when we moved in to our house we had so much to do on the inside (to make it habitable for a toddler), that the garden really got neglected, with the exception of filling in the three ponds (seriously!) in an 80 foot space and getting rid of the ugly gnomes and assorted other stone 'beasties'.

This year however DW has made a significant inroad just by dismantling the children's wooden playhouse and getting rid of the toddlers' luminous plastic climbing frame which is well beyond it's use-by date!!! She has also severely pruned the laurel hedge and done lots of weeding and already it looks a lot neater and more spacious.

We still have the bottom third to sort out though - where the two big ponds used to be. These are semi productive with potatoes grown year on year, but DW would like to convert them into pretty flower beds. The area around the shed needs to be properly decked and long flower pots put against the back fence to fill with climbing plants for screening purposes....

It should be very doable but we have the usual issue of transporting the stuff with no car and it's just finding a spare week or so to really make the difference.....

One day it will all come to a happy conclusion :-).

They do delivery gazza not plants but other stuff

But more on that later when I have refreshed myself after what is swiftly becoming known as the b&q delivery debacle

Whatcha doing with your sandstone slabs terra

[gets slab envy]
[becomes slab obsessed]

Ween a 10ft by 8ft patio and recycling some old fencing to create raised flower beds either side.

I am overly excited by all this, have got the gardening bug :)

Hoorah! OtherHelen has sent me a msg, they are going to ask B&Q to replace our card. I had done some shopping already, so am fortifying myself with wine tonight + nice early night ready for shovelling tomorrow.

You lot up there that are decking and paving - how are you doing that on £300? Are you putting some budget toward this yourselves?

No, I only went over by £1.50 though. I am doing a small square deck at pretty much ground level. The decking and joists came to just over £100. Then screws at a tenner, decking stain, woodpaint, bistro set, new gate... And a new drill. A cordless one. I shall call her Florence. With a new set of drill bits.

Great news, btw! Bless otherhelen.

No, I've £11 left on my card :) bought slabs, sand mix etc, 2 trellis panels and 5 planters. Oh and compost...think. Might need more though.

Will need to to buy all my own plants though. Am begging cuttings/plant donations from everyone I know.

I've been to B&Q and splashed that cash! it was amazing to buy what I actually wanted as opposed to compromising, for example I bought four hostas to fill up my new planter rather than just the one.

so... We bought 49 deck tiles, but I have to say we were totally confused as to how to get them to sit flat. We couldn't work it out at all. so we asked a very helpful member of staff. sadly he didn't have a clue either, but he shared our pain! Apparently the 'decking chap' had left already. The staff member I spoke to on the phone was very helpful when I called up to reserve the tiles. Anyway, that came to £149.

We then chose a long planter, which was £40. I would have liked to have got three but there wasn't quite enough cash left on the card after the decking and some plants.

We had great fun trying to fit it all in the car, it was like a 3D jigsaw puzzle!

So tomorrow we're going to make a start (after I've done my before video!). I can't wait. It's such a treat.

I should have said I've got £47 left. Not sure what I'll spend it on just yet, I'm going to see how it looks after we've done everything. Maybe another huge planter and I'll dig into my pocket for the plants.

I've been shopping sgain, bought the bench, gravel to sit it on, and weed control fabric.

I painted a big section of fence tonight, over the weekend I plan to paint the rest, build the bench, choose where to put it, dig up the lawn and lay the fabric and gravel. On my own while DH goes on a stag do. While looking after preschooler twins. Hmm, I may have been too ambitious this weekend!

i'm impressed with how well the fence paint has gone though, I got loads done in a short space of time, and the fence looks so much better, it was really peeling and fading before.

The staff at B&Q were lovely again, really helpful and friendly, I couldn't fault them. I've noticed the card shows up as 'promotion' when they scan it, and whether this flags me up as a 'special customer' to the staff, but each time I've used it they've taken me carefully through how much I've got left on it, even circling the balance on my receipt etc.

I've dug out one of my (I don't know what you call them)patches in the vegetable garden and planted raspberry canes. My veg garden will not look pretty but it will look more functional and tidy than the overgrown mess that it was before.

I'm doing an 8' by 8' platform of decking. I took my mum shopping with me and she has their pensioner discount card so got 10% off as well.
The decking and screws came to £149. Actually couldn't believe it was possible. There is loads more I'd love to do to the garden if budget allowed but hopefully this will spur me on.
I don't have any budget to add to this do have been trying to stretch it as far as possible.
I already have a few plants I bought need to go back for my hanging basket if I can get someone to put a bracket up for me.

Geek - lol I was thinking of bringing my FIL with me to get the 10% too
Vair impressed you got your decking at that price.!!
Today is scorched earth day . Finally the temperature is below 20 degrees so we are all on the case. Dd in painting gear. Dh in bonfire mode. I'm directing with a cuppa.
Will post my little plan drawing later.

DH and I got started early this morning. He's been building the patio, there has been the odd bit of muttering under his breath in frustration! It looks so much better already though.

I've been planting up my half empty flower bed, it looks great.

I'm just having a little sit down before starting the next job.

I have been to B&Q again today, a different store is time because I needed 1 more of the bamboo edging I got the other day. There weren't many plants BUT there was a demo for the Karcher window vac, not directly garden related but we have floor to ceiling windows facing the garden and when they look grubby outside looks even worse - does this justify the purchase? I was really impressed that I could try it before buying, they had a mirror and tile to try it on

I have bought more plants and weed control fabric, they didn't have the cobble stones I wanted so will have to check around on the website.

I am presuming we can add to the budget? I have bought trellis elsewhere this morning because B&Q don't have the one that matches everything else and I couldn't replace it all.

My daughter also convinced me to buy a raspberry plant so that is her job to plant that. Credit to people working in their gardens today, it's so hot. I am waiting for some shade then I'll venture out.

I'm holding off until a bit later or I think I will die! It's 32 degrees in the shade here this afternoon!

Oh dear lord, it's hot! I managed to build the bench, and dig up the lawn where the bench will go. I still need to dig over the soil, lay the weed control fabric and put the gravel down but it's just too hot, I'm exhausted.

I think we're going to add to the budget, but maybe after the 28th, as I want to replace the kids' playhouse with a wooden one which is much more useful and will last till they're a bit older than the current one would.

It might mean I have to leave one area unplanted, which will look a bit odd, but I can't manage to buy, paint and build a new playhouse on top of everything else, all within the next 2 weeks.

Almost at the end of day one of the gardening. my wonderful DH has been out all day in the baking sun, and he's still out there trying to finish the decking. It looks fab.

We're just back from a second trip to b&q, to get some replacement drill bits, more flowers and more decking wood. We went £25 over budget, but I don't mind as we've achieved so much!

You guys are getting the weather we had here last week!! This is why we've only started really today- temp in Ni finally dropped a bit
Have cleared quite a bit of grass today and tidied up the drive.
Much clearer about what we can do now! Sorry you're all suffering from the heat guys. Well done for keeping going . 32 is just TOO HOT to dig in!

We have put in a few hours this afternoon, it was hot even in the shade, it's been great to spend some time with my teen without having to spend a fortune, I have cut a lot back, now I'm thinking maybe too much! It looks a bit bare. I have bought a few smaller bush type plants, I have found at the bottom of the garden there is lumps of concrete and bricks and impossible to dig down far so I have bought the smaller versions and I'm hoping they'll grow to the size I'd wanted to buy. I may need a year for my after picture after today's cutdown.