During the lockdown, like many people, the garden became our priority. Unfortunately, unlike a lot of people, our garden was in need of a complete renovation. We undertook our budget garden makeover spring April 2020 and though it’s still a bit of a working progress, I’m so proud of everything we have achieved. The garden is accessible and we are able to start to enjoy our time out there.
I was looking to create a cottage garden feel. We live in a terraced Victorian property and so the garden is quite small and backs onto a railway line. Creating a secluded zone was sitting in was a priority, as well as a large space for the children to play in and have a paddling pool out!
The budget was pretty much non-existent and our first job was to clear it from about 80 years worth of rubbish. We found some incredible things as we cleared our garden, included a solid iron victorian bath and numerous pieces of old pottery. We needed to remove an old apple tree that had been outgrown by ivy. All in all, clearing the garden took us a good 3 weeks, time we had thanks to furlough and the lockdown. Otherwise, I’m not sure we would have ever been able to clear it ourselves!
We took 4 tonnes of stuff to the dump during this time and had to hire a small van to move some of the bigger things. Van hire for where we are was about £30 for 3 hours, giving us plenty of time to load and then unload before returning the van. The dump was free, however I believe that has since changed and we would have had to pay an additional charge for using the van, as well as per tonne of rubbish. Lucky for us, this wasn’t a rule at the time.
One of our main jobs was levelling the garden. We built a small retaining wall at the front of the garden out of some sleepers we purchased from B&Q. We simply used post-crete to put some of the sleepers as posts in the ground, and then built the wall in front of it, securing the horizontal sleepers to the vertical ones. We laid them onto a pit of small stones to stop them from rotting and help with drainage, though I think the wood has been treated. Still, double protection is always better!
After levelling the ground behind the new retaining wall, we threw down some big bags of compost and laid a lawn on top of that. The turf took so well and I’m a little relived! It’s still growing strong and healthy after nearly 3 years, as though it had always been there!
At the back of the garden, we created a seating area out of pallets and a table from a couple thrown on top of each other. Aside from the paint and the screws, this was free! The planter along the little trellis fences was made out of some decking boards and fence boards, filled with some rocks and old turf, followed by compost and a few plants.
Most of the plants in our garden have been bought young, which means they are cheaper. I tried to buy as many perennials as I could, to fill up the boarders, and have filled in the gaps with spring bulbs and dahlias for the summer months.
I’m so happy with our garden, but have lots of ideas yet! I love how it’s constantly evolving and adapting. Everything feels like it’s starting to settle into place and as I start to add more and more plants this year, I’m really excited to see how it looks in a few months. I’ll be sure to share some pics!
