PUSHING THE BORDERS

Going on from Chris's building work, I've had building work going on from Sept last year and today they finish. I've still got a 'few' jobs to do inside including the floor in the extension plus then lots in the garden including hard landscaping/pergolas/huts. A few weeks ago I got a man with a digger in to turn over some planting areas and I've been planting these up over the last week. These beds still look quite empty as some plants are still dormant (gingers etc) and other plants are small.
The first is before any work started and then more recent.









a view from inside



The 2 doors on the back face E/SE so lots of morning sun and the door on the side is S/SW. I will be having separate patio's from these doors - the garden at the back will be more 'traditional' with a lawn and then at the side will be more tropical/exotic part.

Here are some more photos of the garden so far.

A long pergola will be put up along here from the house to the prunus (to shield us from the north and the neighbour). Lots of climbers Charlie!




Fruit trees dividing the greenhouse and 'tropical' areas.



other photos






as you can see, still lots of work to do :roll:

Hi John that looks considerable better state than my garden after the woks. The house looks great, lovely and bright inside. It looks like you have been able to work on the garden a bit at least and no doubt once the gingers and other plants get going the exotic part will look great in a few months.

Chris - the builder was very tidy and kept the site clear. We were lucky when they first started in that the weather had been very dry and the ground was baked hard, therefore the digger and dumper truck did little damage when they done the ground works. The soil which came out was either put directly behind the sleepers which I put up before the works started or was taken straight off site ;)


yes I've managed to do a bit of gardening but I'll be happier once the patio's etc are done. :)

Looking lovely, Letting builders anywhere near a garden can be traumatic, I make enough mess when ever I do anything and I am being careful :)

charlie wrote:Looking lovely, Letting builders anywhere near a garden can be traumatic, I make enough mess when ever I do anything and I am being careful :)

The difference in care taken and tidiness between our two builders is noticeable :lol: :lol:

Looking at our 2 experiences Chris I think I would have to agree with you :lol:
I was expecting more damage but wasn't overly concerned as there wasn't much of a garden to destroy to start with :roll: :lol:

JonK wrote:Looking at our 2 experiences Chris I think I would have to agree with you :lol:
I was expecting more damage but wasn't overly concerned as there wasn't much of a garden to destroy to start with :roll: :lol:

I guess the difference is also that being in London everything had to happen in the garden, and also I said they could use the garden as i was being ripped out, which in hindsight was a mistake :lol: But for me I was planning and ripping everything out to start from scratch anyway, I could just have done without them emptying the concrete mixer onto the ground at the end of each day.

So are you a "planner" or a "just get out and do it" person? It is interesting the different ways people go about designing their gardens. I tend to do countless scale drawings and designs which I no doubt end up ignoring :lol: But then it helps me to rule out things that definitely wont work.

No emptying of the concrete mixer for me each day on the garden. They cleaned up and took it away :) There's nothing worse than when digging, finding a large panel of cement where the mixer was :evil: I have found that in the front garden from when the house was originally built.

I do have a plan which I've sketched out but I also play it by ear aswell. I'll stand back and imagine what certain plants would work where, different heights, textures etc. It worked that way for my old garden and that didn't turn out too bad :lol: Getting the main structure right is the hard thing, once that is done, playing around with small stuff is easier and small plants can always be moved.

Gardens evolve though and change throught the years and sometimes take years to develop. Their characters and look change with age and what might not seem quite right now will look superb and rightly positioned in 10-15 years time. That is the hard part trying to have that forward thinking, not just for the instant garden but also for the future, but time spent on that is worth spending.

Over the summer (I think I managed to pick the hottest weekends to do it), I built the patio on the back of the extension. I've still got a bit to finish off on the front egde and some planting to do but its getting there. We've gone for a mix of slabs and decking. The decking meant I could go flush with the doors but still keep a good space below for drainage.

Still lots to do but I will have to take my time over it :roll:

Looking very nice, matches in with the house well too.