Garden

Operation Garden Renovation #2 Starting the Clearance

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If you read last week’s post, you’ll know that we have a whole load of clearance to do in this garden, and that one post is not really going to cover it. It is probably going to take quite a few weeks to just get it cleared so it feels like quite a daunting task to undertake.

We are planning a bbq for my birthday at the end of April so that has lit a fire under us and given us the push we need to really get going with it. We have asked for help from our brothers and they are all coming to give us a hand over the next few weeks, but for the first weekend we are on our own – but still determined to make a start!

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Hubby and I thought that as it was just the two of us we would start with the simple stuff and cut down the existing bushes. We have some of the prickliest bushes in existence, seriously one of these bushes has spines about 2 inches long, terrifying, and fricking painful when you get stabbed by it!

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The garden is also FULL of junk. The previous owners seemed to use it as their personal dumping ground. Anything they didn’t want or didn’t know what to do with, it just got dumped in the garden. We found so much stuff in the early days, such as rusted rakes and loads of other old, broken garden tools. We thought we had got rid of it all, but no, we found some other hidden gems during our lopping. Including:

A sock

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A plate

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Loads of bricks

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An old clock.

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Some hosepipe.

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Just in and around the bushes. I mean why? We also found loads of old bike tyres and lots of balls in various shapes and conditions, which monkey had fun with for a bit.

Monkey initially had a lot of fun entertaining himself in his little car (I got it from ebay for a fiver last summer!)

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and then had some fun rolling around in the garden..

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But he did get bored after a while, and we realised we need a wheelbarrow and to actually figure out what to do with the growing pile of garden waste, so we left it for another day.

Next week we have hubby’s brothers round to help and we should get this clearance well under way!!

Mammasaurus and How Does Your Garden Grow?

Operation Garden Renovation

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The first breaths of spring are in the air and it is time to venture into the garden and start our mission to make it better.

Our back garden is a mess.

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When we moved into our house a couple of years ago there was a LOT that needed doing throughout (that’s why we got it so cheap!). We have done a lot – we have a new kitchen, bathroom, put in a shower-room downstairs and have decorated almost every room (one left, more on that to come later this year :)). We’ve also started on the outside stuff but the inside was our main focus. The time has come though to take control and make our garden somewhere we actually want to be rather than just a mess that gives us the shivers!

Like I say though, we have done some things since we moved in. When we moved in, the front garden looked like this:

 

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Now it looks like this (excuse the hippo bag and the bin :)) It’s not perfect but a darn sight better.

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The back garden was different too as there was some huge and ugly, badly maintained conifers all the way round, sucking the life and light out of the garden. There was also masses of Ivy, everywhere! (not the best pictures, this was mid-way through having the trees taken down).

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 We’ve had the conifers down and were sort of waiting for the soil to rejuvenate a bit to do much more. This time has allowed us to think about what we want from the garden and basically we have decided that the thing to do is just to get rid of everything. EVERYTHING.

The rotting shed that is full of cardboard and spiders (shudder).

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The awful arbour thingy that cuts the patio in half.

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(In the background of this photo you may see a bit of yellow hose pipe – the previous owners ran electric cable through the hosepipe to give electricity to the shed! Bonkers!!!)

The patio itself that is uneven, weed filled and has no drainage meaning that a lake forms by the back doors whenever it rains (that can’t be good for the foundations).

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The lawn that is basically just moss and weeds and the flower beds that are huge and now just full of weeds, tree stumps and Ivy.

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Oh and all the other random rubbish that the previous owners have just dumped in the garden.

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Doesn’t it just look delightful? Exactly what you want in a garden (eye rolls)!

Late summer last year we tried to get quotes from contractors to do the hard work for us, but most of them never got back to us, and one who did gave us a ridiculous quote and didn’t seem that keen. We realised nobody actually wants to do this for us so we are going to have to do it ourselves (with the help of our brothers – hubby and I have 4 between us, yay!) so this is the start of Operation Garden Renovation, I will let you know how we get on!! 🙂

Mammasaurus and How Does Your Garden Grow?

First signs of Spring

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This winter has been wet and cold and miserable. I think most people would agree with that. Which is why I was so relieved to have a sunny day on Sunday. This meant we could get out in the garden, and to my delight there are some beautiful Spring flowers starting to appear.

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Just a few lovely crocuses but it reminds me that this horrible wet winter is nearly over and hopefully we’ll all have a bit more sunshine and colour in our lives very soon

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My father in law gave us some bluebells to plant recently (my favourite flower) so we made the most of the sun this weekend to get them in the ground and start to have a bit of a tidy up in the front garden. The back garden…..is a whole other story so there’ll be more on that soon!

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Monkey really enjoyed being in the garden and even tried to help with the digging! Good boy!

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I’m not much of a gardener but his daddy is so he must get that from him!

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I can’t wait for these beautiful Bluebells to flower! There’s a little bit of woodland called Bluebell Woods not too far away and I try and pop over there every spring to see the carpet of Bluebells in bloom. I’m sure I will still go, but I’m looking forward to seeing some beautiful Bluebells in our own garden too 🙂

To close, here is a picture of Bluebell Woods from a few years ago. One of my favourite places in Spring.

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