Kef's Garden Makeover!

[kefkef]

So, started the makeover in march this year. We had a 27m2 extension done last year and the back garden took a major hit during the build. I pretty much flattened it and turned it into a builders yard for the extension. So decided to get stuck in and turn it into something we could enjoy, rather than dodging between brick rubble and building site junk.

The pictures start after I've already emptied around 5 ton of **** from the place, old screed, bricks, timber. Hopefully they show the full transformation. It took about 2 months of weekend work and doing bits after work during the week. Roped in some forced labour of the brother in law and also my best mate, plenty of beer tokens paid out in the process.

We've enjoyed the garden for the rest of the year afterwards and I've finally got round to uploading the images. Next years plan is to put in a small patio area in the back corner and also to dig in an 8ft trampoline so I can get rid of the net around it.

Images uploading.........

Time to secure the back garden properly for the first time in a year or so with new posts and reusing the old fence timber.

Best mate making himself useful! Concreting the footings in for the retaining wall.

 

[kefkef]

Had a load of rain and ended up with a swimming pool!

So dig out all 4 ton of the crush and run, limestone and re-mix with cement for a more solid, waterproof base to be put down as I do the flagging! Also installed the drainage for the flagged area.

Time for the walls and flags to start being laid!

Time to start shifting the excess soil from the wall footings and flagged area. Ended up filling this completely and had to do a few tip runs on top!

Wall looks a bit wonky but I was using cheap bricks to keep the costs down and they weren't very uniform!

Steps going in!

Finished the wall and flagging.

Get the wench working whilst I take a break!

 

[kefkef]

The rotavator has arrived, it was a bit larger than expected!

Garden levelled, time to barrow in 5 ton of high grade top soil.

Turf time!

The garden is finished! Just one more little job to open up some more light......

Ended up down to about waist height, and was another skip load of tree waste, but kept the logs for the chiminea.

 

[topgun06]

Good work! Glad to see you have kept real grass!

 

[BigT]

Awesome job, well done.

As an aside, do you really have nine recycling wheelie bins for your house as the first picture would suggest?!

 

[kefkef]

Nah, haha. There's a communal parking area and we keep the bins there as the binmen are happy to drive there and empty them. Saves having to out them out into the road every week.

 

[BigT]

Makes sense. I was wondering that, if your council is like mine, you would have had a hefty annual bill for having that many yourself! Mine racks up a fair bit with the extra garden recycling bins I need.

 

[snips86x]

It's amazing the difference a little renovation makes. That looks stunning! Good work!

 

[boxman2000]

Great work, well done.

How big was the soak-away for the runoff drain next to the house?

 

[kefkef]

Couldn't build a soak away, so hooked it into the main drain after speaking to the water board about what would be best.

 

[koolpc]

Looks superb. Well done

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Nice! I'm envious of your garden.