First-time house renovation

ronaldmacdonald

Stolt, your garden looks very tidy and orderly, it reminds me in many ways of the big brother gardens before they all get let loose on it. Must be nice not having to mow the grass and weeds.

stolt

ronaldmacdonald wrote: »

Stolt, your garden looks very tidy and orderly, it reminds me in many ways of the big brother gardens before they all get let loose on it. Must be nice not having to mow the grass and weeds.

ha ha, yes funny you say that one of the neighbours said the same thing the other day when the grass was going down. yep nice that it kind of looks after itself, just a quick brush here and there and thats about it. Kids can play out there and it doesnt matter if its just rained it soaks through and doesnt churn up either...

kmmr

so good to see people finish as i sit in my empty house preparing for the builders tomorrow - sort if terrified and excited to see it start! wish me luck!

stolt

the sad life that i lead ive been trying to organise the photos of our house in some sort of date order and found some old pics of the garden of when we first moved in..... New ones not going to be everyones taste as the old garden was more traditional i guess but also just bushes (did feel nice and enclosed though)


Before...






Some after.




heres a little vid of my automatic watering system!
View My Video

aliasojo

Oh I like that watering gizmo. Will get me one of them at some point (probably in the next 10 years the way things are going, lol)!

I like the new version but I think it will be better once the plants are fully established.

I liked the old bushy plants too but the garden seemed 'messier' to me then. Definitely an improvement imo.

Btw, your house looks lovely. I am jealous.

stolt

aliasojo wrote: »

Oh I like that watering gizmo. Will get me one of them at some point (probably in the next 10 years the way things are going, lol)!

I like the new version but I think it will be better once the plants are fully established.

I liked the old bushy plants too but the garden seemed 'messier' to me then. Definitely an improvement imo.

Btw, your house looks lovely. I am jealous.

Every now and then i see the watering system bits and bobs go cheap on ebay. I've picked things up to make the system up. trouble is i think i've installed too many little spray heads and the pressure and reach of them isnt so great, so might have to take a few out so the sprays reach the back of the beds. Ordered some plants off the net so looking forward to adding a bit of colour.

Thanks for the comments about the house, i think come july when the kitchen is installed then it will really come into its own, like everyone else time and money means that the dinning room will have to wait untill next year. And then We really must go abroad, havent had a holiday in 6 years and my eldest is 8 so it would be nice to take her away.

andrew-b

Have a look at www.easywatering.co.uk as they've got everything for irrigation - was having a look the other day. I want a pop-up lawn sprinkler system plus maybe soaker hose for the veggie plot. I remember installing irrigation in the past on the farm i used to work on during my summer holidays..but much larger scales, bigger diameter pipes and much bigger distances! With our shed i'm probably going to install guttering and collect water in the water butt for the veggie plot though.

Yesterday evening i spent putting pea shingle into the edges of the shed base that OH bought home after work. The idea is it forms a "french drain" around the edge so rainwater doesn't bounce back up the side of the shed. Didn't manage to finish before dark as i had forgotten that i needed to lay a line of paver bricks along the far edge to prevent the pea shingle spilling out through the holes onto veggie plot area.

Also trying to decide what sort of fencing to use to divide veggie plot from the rest of the garden. It's only a few metres but needs to have a gate and be at least 4 feet tall else the dog will just vault it (mind you he could probably vault a 6 foot fence when in chase!). Probably going to use trellis panels or wooden palisade fence as i need something that will let light through. Like the Jackson jacktop panels but not sure i can justify the costs - particularly of the matching gate.

ukmaggie45

stolt wrote: »

then all the little costs such as weed membrane creep in, truggs that i bought and drilled holes in the bottom to plant my bamboos (so the roots dont invade everywhere) but never did use them so there useless as buckets now aswell!!!

Use them to grow potatoes. I'm sure there'll be a thread on it in the Green Fingered Forum.

I loved your grass gabion - great fun. :j

ukmaggie45

andrew-b wrote: »

With our shed i'm probably going to install guttering and collect water in the water butt for the veggie plot though.

OH did that over the weekend.



We got what are probably our final plans yesterday evening. Plan Man called round to the house on the off chance we'd be there. Not had time to look at them yet, really must try and get to do that today. Been too busy gardening to have energy left for much else (have sowed sweet corn, beans, squash, courgettes in the last week or so), but we think we've chosen a gas fire... Shame it costs around £1000! :eek:

Must begin looking at kitchens soon. aaaagggghhhhh I hate making decisions, it's going to be a nightmare! :rotfl:

stolt

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Use them to grow potatoes. I'm sure there'll be a thread on it in the Green Fingered Forum.

I loved your grass gabion - great fun. :j

thats a good idea, do they need full sun as the truggs are shocking pink and well i havent really incorporated any space for a veg bed although we did look at rasied bed that was sort of waste height, definatley something i want to be doing (probably too late this year) but i would like to do something like that next year. Perhaps i coudl have them round the back of the extension (not much sun there though):o