Back Garden Make-Over

With summer coming to a close and the weather turning cooler it was time to start work on the back garden. I realise this sounds a bit daft but it is far to much of a sun trap to be working out there during high summer. Sadly due to the slope of the ground there was no easy way to enjoy this space as the only flat bit is the concrete path. We came up with an idea of how to make 3 good sized useable areas but it was going to take a fair bit of effort.

How it all began. We erected the fence against the existing garden wall and it really shows how much of a slope the back garden is on.

Time to make a bit of a difference........................

We started by marking out where we wanted things

And after a day digging the hard sun baked ground this is as far as we got. We were bruised and battered and had got very little done.

We quickly realised we could not do what we wanted using hand tools so reinforcements were called in.............

We got a lot of dirt moved with this

 

 Thats a bit better!!!

 Gerorge was 'supervising' as usual

To be honest I didn't trust myself with a digger (even a small one) so we hired Paul and he had the entire job done in a day, just the way we wanted it

Once all the ground was flattened Paul started boring the holes for the posts

 All 23 post holes done in about an hour

 The first of a couple of wood deliveries

Posts in and aligned ready for concrete (note Mount Smart that needs shifting)

The concrete truck and pump out on the road. This is all getting a bit serious considering I just want somewhere to put the BBQ.  It certainly got a lot of the neighbours talking :-)

Once the posts were set we strated putting the retaining wall boards in place

It started to take shape really quickly. We also fitted the rim joist for the deck whilst we had access to do up the coach bolts

Back filling begins, the grey stuff is gravel, 100mm wide to aid drainage and stop water soaking into the retaining wall

Wendy's veggie patch finished, with compost bin set in place. Thats the first area finished

Started backfilling the (to be) grass area

Getting there

So after all this work we called Paul back to bore the holes for the posts that will support the deck

More holes................Despite the sunshine it had been raining hard the previous day and the garden was beginning to turn very muddy

More posts in place ready for concrete

Posts concreted in but the washing line was beginning to get in the way



so we flattened out the (to be) grassed area and moved the washing line up there, just a bit of grass seed and that'll be the second area finished

Once the posts were concreted in place we began to fit the bearers

Time for a beer 'on' the new deck

Onced the bearers were bolted to the posts Wendy cut them to length

Bearers fitted, posts cut down and joists beginning to go down, we also placed weedmat and gravel under the deck area

Overall view is looking good

So that is as far as we have got to date. Still a fair bit to do but we are getting there.


More soon