My garden needs a makeover

Section62

1) When you cut the grass the first time set the mower as high as it will go - if it doesn't cut anything at that height lower it by one or two notches. Leave the lawn to dry and recover for a few days before cutting at the lower setting you want.  Trying to cut grass to the finished height in one go is hard work, and the grass doesn't like it much either.

2) Cutting grass right up to a fence or wall with a mower is impossible, which means using a strimmer or shears to get to the very edge. Leaving a strip of bare ground allows you to cut to the edge of the grass without having to do a second job.  It also looks like the lawn slopes fairly steeply towards the fence, so the stip of soil is helping with drainage.  Personally I'd collect some second hand bricks (from skips, with the owners permission) and lay them in the ground (without cement or anything) next to the fence - forming a mini-'path' the lawnmower wheels can run over. I.e. a bit like the bricks either side of the path.

3) The soil just needs digging over - but if you keep soil there you'll have to weed it on a regular basis. BTW, if "recycling" means the bin the council provides then you'll probably find that isn't allowed, even in the garden waste bin most councils prohibit soil being put in.

4) "Cuprinol and Ronseal" are just brand names - lots of different products are sold using these names, some good, some terrible. There are other brands like "Barrettine" (e.g. sold by Toolstation) which are just as good on a like-for-like basis, but often much cheaper.

The green algae on the fence does need to come off before you treat the fence with anything, but you don't need special chemicals to do it. The white vinegar solution already suggested is fine.  But, is the fence actually yours, or does it belong to the neighbour?  If the neighbour owns the fence then you should ask if they are Ok with you doing anything to it.  Bear in mind some of whatever you apply on your side is likely to leak through to next-door's side, so make sure they are happy if they own the fence.

5) You're right to be cautious about pressure washing.  As a longer-term project, you might want to get the patio slabs cut back by about 150mm so there is a gap for drainage between them and the wall. That will help reduce the damp and green growth in the future.

6) The bricks next to the path can be cleaned with a pressure washer - but start gently until you know how much pressure they can bear.  The bricks might look odd when freshly cleaned though... most 'garden' things look better with some natural patina (which is a good excuse to just enjoy your garden rather than slaving to get it 100% right).

WIAWSNB

Jemma01 said:

Hello 😇

The edge of the grass on the right is looking a bit dry, grey and lifeless, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here? Replace it with a new fresh soil?


3. The edge of the grass on the left is almost covered with grass. My plan is to shovel it out to the recycling and also replace it with fresh soil. Is there anything else I need to do here to prevent grass from growing there again without damaging the adjacent grass (or slow down the process)?

That looks as though it was intentionally left grass-free, to make it easier to mow up to the fence. So, is that soil, or is it gravel? And, what is the 'gravelboard' made from - timber or concrete? (If concrete, it won't rot, so it doesn't matter what you place up against it. If timber, then soil against it will make it rot more quickly, so you may wish to replace it with coarse gravel chippings.)

To make future maintenance easier, and pretty much confined to simply running the mower up that side, a potential solution would be to install an 'edging' along that boundary, set at the height that the mower blade will miss if driven over, and then replace some of that bare soil with coarse gravel. If the gravel and grass blade tips are at the same height, then you should be able to run your mover up that side, wheels straddling the edging, and it could be as easy as that. But you'd need to get the edging height right! If you don;t mind a bit more work, then you can have the edging a bit higher - make it a neat feature - and then use a strimmer to tidy up the grass along the edging, before then mowing the rest.

Lots of different edging types - this looks nifty and easy, but I havn't tried it myself: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/312285949202?

If you like that idea, then you could replicate it against the brick wall side too.

WIAWSNB

Jemma01 said:

Reading about both Cuprinol and Ronseal, it doesn't sound like I need to prime the wood from these two? Thoughts?

The wood looks in a dreadful state esp around the end of the garden, it's almost gone green (or maybe not, what do I know!?), I feel like I need to do something before painting it?

First, check what the actual condition the decking is in. Yes, it looks untidy becuase it hasn't been treated in ages, but is it actually rotten anywhere? If not, it's completely rescuable.

Usually I'd recommend 'oil', (or I'm sure there are new products being developed for decking), as it soaks in and properly 'treats' the wood, keeping it from drying out. But for this you'd need to be able to get your decking pretty much back to bare wood first - it won't 'cover' old paint and stains as it can't soak in. So, depending on the decking condition, you may need to use a decking 'paint'. These can be very effective, but won't have any colour variation in the grain - you'll see the wood texture, but not the wood colour variation, as you would will oil. 

So, when a good prolonged dry spell is due, I'd pressure-wash the decking at close range, and try and remove everything from the surface that can be taken off - then you'll know what you have to work with. Be ready to use a stiff brush on any loosish bits, too, even gently with a wire type.

Next, and really worth doing, is to get a 25 litre tub of Everbuild Lumberjack wood preserver, and a garden sprayer. Give the timber a few sunny days to be bone dry, and then copiously spray the whole caboodle, but focus on screws, board ends, and the joists you can see through the gaps in the boards - these are the bits that will rot first.

I had to rescue mil's decking a few years back, and bits of it were surface-soft from rot. After scraping off virtually every trace of old stain - took days... - I then Lumberjacked it, allowing that to fully dry. As the old stain - whatever it was - was peeling off in large amounts, I decided to try something on the near-bare wood that I cannot recommend as it isn't what it's designed for, but it thankfully worked as I'd hoped; I gave it all a coat of Everbuild 406 stabilising solution. This soaked right in as I'd hoped, and dried very quickly. I then applied Ronseal 'deck rescue extreme' paint (as the decking was in pretty poor order), and the ease of which it applied over the 406'd areas was astonishing. There were some bits of balustrade that I hadn't 406'd, and it was like trying to paint over sandpaper in comparison. It needed two coats of the Ronseal, with the second coat being much easier in any case, and 2 years later it needed only the thinnest overcoat just to bring it back to new - only two tiny bits had peeled, and that was due to traffic. So, it worked, but I cannot 'recommend' it. 'English Oak' - actually chocolate brown...

Beeblebr0x

@Section62 I've never known my neighbours to ask me before they painted their side of my fence. I'd be more concerned if the slats were horizontal.

Section62

Beeblebr0x said:

Section62 I've never known my neighbours to ask me before they painted their side of my fence. I'd be more concerned if the slats were horizontal.

Maybe not, but arguments about fences makes up a fair amount of traffic on this board, so unless you know the neighbour is absolutely fine for you to do whatever you want on 'your' side of their fence then it makes sense to check with them before doing something that could escalate into a declarable neighbour dispute.  AIUI the OP is fairly new to this house and has already had some issues with neighbouring folk.  There's no point risking an argument for the sake of having a friendly chat (assuming it is confirmed the fence belongs to the neighbour).

Horizontal slats are worse than vertical, but you can still get leakage through vertically oriented fences if you aren't careful enough.

Jemma01

Thanks for all the brilliant advice so far, I'll be re-reading most and possibly asking questions as unfortunately most of the terms used here are totally new to me, so I'll be researching what's what. I'm not home since yesterday, so no access to a laptop to sit and chew on everything 😆 but I'll be back.

Just a note on the neighbour, yes the fence belongs to them and the brick wall belongs to me; I'll def explain to them my plan, they told me when they redid their garden (re the noise from the machinery). I don't see them objecting as it'll help extent it's life time. Didn't think about the potential leak 😢.

Spikeygran

@WIAWSNB

Looks like you did a good job there.

Spikeygran

It never hurts to chat with the neigbours and give them advanced warning.  The vast majority are normal pleasant people. Maybe find out what colour they have on their side, or whether they are planning on doing their side and use the same colour product (if its not too awful).

If you only put a small amount on the fence brush and work it well on before moving to the next section there shouldn't be too much bleed to the other side.  If you soak the brush and its running down on your side it will run through.

twopenny

The grass looks in excellent condition. Cut on a high cut to keep it like that. Do it as needed. If you can bear it mow in one direction one time then the other another time.

I use a strimmer to do the edges. Cheap one will do for this.

The grass in the border won't keep getting that much. It's been left and a wet year last year. Clear it, tap or shake the soil off the roots, don't need new soil. Keep that space wide enough for a hoe and give it a doing when you do the grass. Quick and easy.

That brick wall needs re pointing. You can get small bags of mortar from a builders merchant. Cheap shop tool. It's quite a nice job to do because you can see good results. Stool, sunny day not too hot gather your tools and put on some music or a podcast.

I've used some Ronseal Fence protector - nightmare to open even when you've released the seal. Its easy to put on and looks good but seems to wash off in a year or two.

Ducks Back is more durable.

Jemma01

FreeBear said:

The wall, I'd give a once over with a wire hand brush just to remove any loose paint & crud. Then give it a couple of coats of limewash. Don't use a modern masonry paint on it - Moisture will get trapped in the bricks if you do, and after a few winters, the bricks will start to spall.

I didn't realise people paint brick walls 🙈, thanks for the heads up.
On the limewash, researching this implies that it is some form of a paint that would change the colour of the brick wall? Is that what you're referring to? I'd like to preserve the life of the brick wall (because it'll cost me an arm and a leg to fix 😅) but keep the same natural colour. Is there a sealant or something that's made out of brick powder that I may need to apply to worn out bricks? Not really inspected the walls properly up until now, they're much older than the house.

Flugelhorn said:

"

1. the edge of the grass on the right is looking a bit dry, grey and lifeless, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here? Replace it with a new fresh soil?"

It doesn't look too bad - if you want a border with some plantsthere then you might need to make it a bit wider, try digging it over and perhaps adding some compost - don't need to replace it

I think someone mentioned it is gravel that preserves the integrity of the fence, so I think I'll dig it up, and see what I'm working with, if I need to add more gravel I might do that. I think the fact the fence is discoloured there is what's putting me off.

Spikeygran said:

The first thing is dont panic, tackle an area and get it right, then move on to the next. Dont rush I'm a great believer in gardening by accident.  People throw out perfectly good ornaments and plants at times, you dont have to spend a fortune. I'd probably do the decking area first as you will want to sit out in summer.

It looks like theres been gravel next to the fence, its to stop wet mud touching and rotting the fence panels.  The other side looks like its been gravelled too?  If you are going to turn it into a flowerbed, sort out the wall first and only dig when you are ready to put something in or it will fill with weeds.   If you are working long hours, flower beds are more labour intensive, shrubs will mind themselves.

Moving forward you'll need:

A rake for autumn leaves.

A trowel for weeding and planting.

A broom

Something to sit on.

You might eventually want a composter to deal with grass cuttings weeds etc.

Supermarket and pound shops often have cheap tools, charity /junk shops / boot fairs are worth a look and have a look at  freecycle.

No my intention is not to have flower bed there, in the patio area there are few pots on there for flowers, I'll revive these and just keep them surrounding the seating area (I've not taken picture of that area except the wall).
You might well be right actually about the side being gravelled to, it's covered in grass I couldn't tell. I'll inspect it further and restore it, I like the idea of both sides being the same.

Thanks for the suggestions, the fork and shovel were like 20 pounds each!! I could do with reusable tools!

This is a picture from google that shows the seating area right by the patio


 Beeblebr0x said:

Re- the fence panels.

A solution of one part white vinegar to three or four parts water applied to the green algae should kill it after a few days. When applying, scrub the algae with a stiff brush, leave for 30 minutes, then get a watering can or hose and rinse off the muck. I get my vinegar from a pound store. I'd be inclined to wire brush the algae first to remove the powdery growth and you might want to wear a face mask to save breathing it in. Make sure the fence is completely dry before painting. Any green stain that hasn't disappeared can be simply painted over as the fence paint will be formulated to kill algae.

Cuprinol and Ronseal are both very good products. Some wood paints I've used in the past require the second coat to be applied no more than eight hours after the first, so check the tin before buying and plan your day accordingly. I bought an angled paint brush and it made the job so much easier.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/harris-trade-angled-timbercare-block-paint-brush-4-3-4-/487fy

Perfect, thanks for the suggestion, I have white vinegar at home, I could do that today actually.
The previous owner used Cuprinol, they left half a tub in the shed, so I'm pleased to know what colour they used.

Thanks took a note of the brush, I think I'll get a paint sprayer as well seeing the size of the fence and the need for multiple coats, esp the driveway, I want yellow fences 😁 its such a dull place with no greenery (pictured above), needs a spice, and yellow looks a difficult colour with at least 3 coats 🙄. It's great to not have to ask for permission from a landlord !!