I never know what to call this outside space – I usually refer to it as a garden, but actually it’s more of a yard. Before we created any sort of design out here it was just one big concrete outside space. A garden to me is soil and being able to plant stuff. We can’t do that. The plant-bed in the corner is essentially one large hand-made plant pot. It’s lined with a fabric to keep moisture and soil escaping, and then surrounded by a heavy wood border. But underneath all of that is concrete, so the plan roots really can’t grow very far. So you couldn’t plant a tree in there… you have to be selective. I love this part of the garden the most – flowers and greenery make me happy. And that plant-bed is three years of growing, maintaining and trimming. I’m forever altering the arrangement of it all. When we were in the process of having house-viewings one potential buyer told me she would “rip that out straight away” needless to say I was slightly insulted on many levels.
I actually never thought I would like decking as much as I do. Initially I had more elaborate and expensive garden plans, but after a money rethink decided it was made much more sense to keep it on a budget, which is where the decking part came in. It was so easy to build, literally went up in hours and didn’t really require any high level of DIY-skills at all. We made ours perfectly square. Our neighbours either side both jumped on the decking bandwagon the next year, but stupidly they both made the same small error – One didn’t stain their decking at all, the other used fence paint. People – don’t cheap out. If you want your decking to look new and fresh forever, it needs to be stained. And any edge you cut also needs to be treated with stain. This is my one any only piece of advice unless you want warped rotting deckboards. Ours have kept really well. Slightly unlike the fairy lights – I spend so long trawling the internet for this crossed-net design fairy lights at an affordable price – John Lewis sell some for £70(!!!), these were £15 each. However, one of them has become incredibly temperamental and hardly ever works. I’m not sure why, but it bugs me. So these will also be staying behind when we leave.
We decided to gravel the floor as it was the cheapest and easiest solution to our concrete-yard problem. We chose these bright white ones, which are actually ‘Cotswold cobble stones’ – I love them so much, but they do have their own issues. Firstly they turn a mossy-green in winter, eurgh. And secondly, when the dogs do their poop it kinda sticks to the stones and we end up throwing so many out when picking up poop. But overall I love the look. Kinda reminds me of being on a beach… I don’t know why. I think it’s just the whiteness.. and perhaps the palm tree. Which by the way is looking a little worse for wear as it needs a bigger pot! The slabs are grey and have a tree-stump design. We also have another random slab (the one on the left), this just covers the drain so it’s easy to get to/find if need-be.
So that’s pretty much it for the garden. We chose to keep a small area of just concrete in front of the door where we keep the wheelie bins. This makes it easier to move the bins and also stops gravel from escaping under the gates. So across the width of the garden we installed these trunk-sleepers. And you can also see some more potted plants in front of our neighbours gate… Although the plants need some major T.L.C….
I was fairly pleased with our garden.. only a few things I would add/change. But in general, it’s really low-maintenance and a lovely place to chillax in the sun. I should really get out there right now and soak up that sun!
No Comments