So far we have pruned, chopped, broken, burned and disposed of almost everything in the garden. After last weekend we had a pile of rubbish and broken slabs that wouldn’t fit into the skip, so we agreed we would need another. Another skip wasn’t the only thing we knew we would need though, oh no. We also hired some big machines to help us with the final clearance stage of Operation Garden Renovation!
A few of the stumps
A Stump Grinder, for all the tree stumps left from the huge conifers we had to tear down, and a Cultivator to churn up all of the soil and hopefully bring up any plant roots and Ivy! Hubby was pretty excited about the arrival of the awesome machines, boys and their toys!!
The stump grinder looked pretty terrifying to me though and very dangerous. with lovely warnings on the back about how bad the fumes are we decided I very much had to keep Monkey indoors while they were using it. Thankfully we got yet more help from our brothers, as it really was a two man job to use it.
As they got into the swing of things they made great progress with the stumps across the two days. This was also sadly the weekend we had the nighttime A&E trip with Monkey so on Sunday after very little sleep hubby was so very tired, but they weren’t cheap to hire and we knew we had to make the most of having the equipment. So he plowed on through bless him and did an amazing job, even though he was knackered.
Before the stump grinder..
Part way through…
After!! (or nearly finished at least)
After all the stumps had been chewed to a pulp and were a good few inches below ground level, it was time to get the cultivator out to chew up the garden. Thankfully this was now a much easier job as there was not much in the way – other than a single solitary daffodil, that we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to destroy!!
Although Monkey didn’t have quite the same reservations!
So there we have it, our garden is finally cleared and is now a big pile of mud :). There is a few bits of shrubbery still there but the guy who will be doing the hard work of giving us a nice looking garden again will have to prepare the ground anyway so I am sure he can manage those.
It has been a VERY hard 5 weeks of renovation and clearance and we couldn’t have done it without the help of our families, but we have saved ourselves a good few thousand pounds worth of labour by doing it this way. Even so the garden is still going to cost more than we want it to really but nowhere near as costly as it could have been.
The next garden renovation post should hopefully show the garden taking shape at last! It may not be for a few weeks though so stay tuned!
How does your garden grow?
Wow, you’ve done so well! And worked so very hard. It is all a blank canvas now, so looking forward to seeing it start to take shape x
Thank you, it has not been easy! I am looking forward to that too xx
Wow. Beautiful family working hard, love it. Looking forward to your garden growing green and colorful. 🙂
Thank you, I’m looking forward to it too! xx
Youare all doing a great job and it will be so worth it #hdygg
Thank you, I just can’t wait for it to be finished now! xx
Wow what an exciting blank canvas…looking forward to seeing the next stage!
Thank you, me too! 🙂 xx
Stump Grinders are AWESOME! We used one last year to take out a couple of bad ass tree stumps and it was wicked – even I got a testosterone rush 😉
I can’t believe the difference in your garden now – it’s changed so much. I can’t wait to see what you do next!
Thanks for joining in and sharing! x
ha ha I bet, they are pretty awesome,a dn terrifying! Thank you, it is a completely different garden now, and will be transforming again very soon! xx
Wow, you guys really don’t hang around! I’m totally impressed, especially after the hospital trip, but then I can imagine how much it must have cost to hire. I’m really looking forward to seeing what your plans are and how it develops-then all the hard work will be worth it.
haha nope, we like to really go for it, but yep it was so hard to get motivated on that Sunday, we had a lot of conversations about re-hiring the equipment but with family rallying around we pushed through and hubby did an amazing job. I can’t wait to get to the next stage now! xx
all clear now and ready for your garden design!
#HDYGG
Yep, hopefully all will go well! xx
Wow what a difference, great to see if starting to come alone.
Thank you, it is nice having that blank canvas at last! xx
Wow, now you have your blank canvas, now the fun will really begin! Look forward to seeing what you do next x #HDYGG
Thank you, I can’t wait for it to look like a garden again! xx
wow! you have come a long way since last week!!! keep going, keep going! 🙂
haha thank you, having to pause a little while we wait for contractors but we will get there! xx
Boys and their toys, if you want a job doing, get a big loud machine and they’ll happily do it!! It’s all looking good.
Have you been busy drawing plans with big coloured circles on for your new design, like they do on the gardening shows??
Ha ha indeed! Well we tried some drawings but they didn’t look great! We have a contractor coming to lay a patio and bits and he did some much better drawings – though nothing like the garden force type ones! lol xx
Impressive, I vaguely remember OH “doing” the stumps in the garden at our old house…hard work and we never really did get a professional finish! Just think of the end result though!
I don’t think you really appreciate how hard it is to get to that “blank canvas” until and unless you have done all the grunt work! Looks great!
Oh you really don’t! It’s no wonder no contractors got back to us with quotes for the clearance, it was too much work, would have cost a fortune. But liek you say it will be worth it when it is finished, I just can’t wait for that day!! xx 🙂
Wow this is fantastic to see the clearance, I am really looking forward to see how you further transform it.
Thank you, it has been a lot of hard work but it will be worth it in the end! xx
You’re getting there – isn’t it amazing what boys can do when you give them the right toys!
Thank you, oh it is incredible!! xx
Pingback: Adding some colour to the garden | Becoming a Stay at Home Mum
Pingback: Adding some spring colour | Becoming a Stay at Home Mum