The Garden Makeover

Designing my Garden - Where to Start??

No this is not the view of my garden - I wish! It is the view from my cousins back garden in British Columbia, Canada - well at least I can dream and visit now and then............

Background

We have lived in our current house for just over 26 years and in that time we have extended the house twice, the drive once and our 4 children have grown up.  Now all in their 20's and more or less self sufficient, my husband and I can spend both time and money on things we want to do!  At least that is the plan!

When we first moved in we had a lovely garden, large patio, well kept stream - several large trees, flower beds, plus a number of conifer hedges which gave a great screen from the neighbors and the main road.  The first extension took the patio and flower beds around it, the second extension took some of drive and a small part of the garden and when we re laid the drive, we took away the garden directly in front of the house.  As you can imagine, with 4 children, two adults (plus one lodger) our drive has been referred to as a car park - so glad we had it enlarged, but it was at the cost of part of the garden and a flower bed!!

Over the years, one of the very large trees died, the conifer hedges began to really encroach on the garden and some of them were dying off, the stream became difficult to maintain as it went wild (well OK - maybe we didn't keep it under control!) and more of the garden got used as an overflow for the stuff you collect when you live somewhere for years!!

With the kids going to private schools, competitive sport and associated costs, and university plus everything else that kids need these days, it is only during the past few years that we have been able to look at spending our money on 'us' and not the kids.  One is still doing her Masters but we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel (unless she decides to do her PhD - the uni has asked her to!)..........

So back to the garden -

I have known for years that we would re do the garden one day so I spent a lot of time dreaming of what I wanted to do with the space.  Our plot is just ever so slightly less than 1/4 of an acre, if you take away the footprint of the house, it is still a large garden for a 'city lot' in the UK. 

While looking for ideas, I found that most articles and books on design did not provide me with enough information as we are somewhat unique.  So yes - I know - every space is unique, but ours is something that really does provide a design and build challenge!

Our plot slopes from the front road to the back fence by over a meter (about 4') and if you go to the bed of the stream you need to add another 2 meters (8') to that.  The plot then slopes from right to left where our plot is the same level as the neighbour on our right but is over 1 meter (4'6") higher than the neighbour on our left.  As measured from the damp course of the house.  The garden aspect is:- the front is south facing, north facing in the back garden, east on the left side garden and west on the right.

Since we had built on most of the flat areas, there really wasn't anywhere that was level anymore, no patio for entertaining outside, and becoming very dark as a result of conifer hedges which were too big and could not be cut back into old wood as it was unlikely they would regrow.

So what did we do?  Employed a fantastic garden designer - told her our ideas and how we wanted to use the garden and gave the problem to her!!!!  Highly recommended 'giving the problem' to someone else and asking Linsey (Linsey Evans Garden Design) to help you!!  

During this process I have taken pictures each week to show the progress of the build, kept track of all the various suppliers we used and noted where I found various pieces of information. I thought I would post the benefit of my research may save you some time and if nothing else - might be interesting.

[Note: Double click on a picture to enlarge it in another window] 

Before & After

I thought some of you may want a short photographic view of the before and after journey we have been on.............

FRONT GARDEN

BEFORE the Changes: The view is more cluttered than usual as we had not yet planted the Western Red Cedar trees so they are scattered around the house while we were preparing the area they were to be planted in.   

 

AFTER the Landscapers: There is still just a few things to do on this area, for example, the water feature in the foreground to fit and completing the pointing of the path and brick at the far end. We are expecting the landscapers back this week to finish this and the stream area.

SIDE GARDEN

BEFORE the Changes: OK we have started some of the work on the garden but no doubt you will see that as much as I would like to blame the state of the garden on that .......sadly not possible.  This area has been the most neglected area of the garden in all the years we have lived here!!  This used to be the back of the garage and I once tried to start a vegetable patch here but it was such clay soil that apart from a few herbs I did not really get very far!

AFTER the Changes: What a transformation!  I have always wanted an outside porch on this side of the house.  I wanted something that would remind me of 'home' and somewhere for catching the morning sun while relaxing and drinking my coffee.........  I still need to paint the porch and in the future would like a roof so it can be used in all weathers, maybe next summer??

SIDE BACK GARDEN

BEFORE the Changes:  What you can not see in this photo is the trampoline which is behind the screen of Cedar trees, and before the trees arrived the trampoline was further from the house and closer to where I was standing to take this photo.  What was in this dark corner was all the wood (which you can see was moved) and lots of weeds!!  When this photo opens you lose the bit in the front, but you should be able to see the way the ground slopes in the small photo. 

 

 

After the Changes: What a difference eh? You can see here how we have dealt with the levels and by bringing the patio around to this side, it will not matter if the corner never gets sun due to the aspect.  Previously this area was grass but due to the aspect became more moss and weeds rather than really nice lawn.  Due to the colour of the patio tiles it is reflecting what light there is.  It does get morning sun almost entirely but little if any in the evening except across the corner of the house.

BACK GARDEN

BEFORE the Changes: Like other parts of the garden, the back was better but neglected.  There was no patio, the lawn was OK but lumpy and where the dead tree had been removed still had a big hole.......not a happy sight!

AFTER the Changes: Just a little bit of a change!  I can not tell you how enjoyable it is to walk around on the patio or path and just enjoy the changes.  We still have a number of things to do, put up the summer house, get rid of the various bits e.g. plant pots from all the trees etc.  But it is sooo nice now!  You will notice our new Adirondack chairs, I bought them for PJs birthday and they are so comfortable, really looking forward to having the time to enjoy the garden now!!   

The Stream

BEFORE the Changes: OK if any part of the garden had been neglected the stream had, it was overgrown with weeds and generally difficult to even see that there was a stream at the bottom.  Plants that had at one time grown there had been overtaken by weeds including thistles and stinging nettle.........what more can I say!  

AFTER the Changes:  What a wonderful and peaceful place to be.............a deck to relax on while listening to the wonderful sounds of a running stream - ok so it needs a couple of plants ............ that is the next part of the project!

   

The Garden Party

You really can not have a new garden without the obligatory opening garden party!  We were very fortunate as we were joined by some of our wonderful friends and neighbours!

As you can see by the photo's I think a very good time was had by all and I suspect this will be the first of many parties over the coming years.  I will let the photo's speak for themselves  ..............................

         

Planting August 2009

I was not about to tackle this job without help!  While I know what plants I like it is quite another thing to actually decide what to buy how many and where to plant them - especially when you want it done in weeks not months!!  Linsey (Linsey Evans Garden Design) once again came to my rescue!

Rather than tell you all about it thought I would let the pictures do the talking.................

The Outdoor Fire

There is nothing quite like an outdoor wood fire - childhood memories of wiener roasts, burned marshmallows and family fun and games!  I have such good memories of being on the farm and the fires we built although some were very big especially when we were clearing land and buringing the trees. OK our garden fire isn't that big but big enough to use to keep warm in the evening, roast marshmallows or sausages and who knows may even try roasting on it this summer.

We had our first fire last week - we have only just stoped (fingers crossed) having overnight frosts - middle of May and we are still having frost - who would have thought it.

We have had a number of deliveries for the garden which arrived on or boxed in wooden pallets.  Now we could have taken them to the tip, recycled them for something else, but broke them up for use on the fire.  Kept the kids boyfriends busy and entertained, not just trying to break them up but buring them when they had finished.

Thought I would share some of the pictures of everyone enjoying their time playing with fire! The first picture is a day in the Christmas Holidays between Christmas and New Year - cold but fun sitting around a warm fire.

 

Now for May 2010 and having fun during one of the so far rare warmish days.

Now this is not how you should add wood to the fire, but the boys thought it would be interesting to see how the wood would burn if they layed it across the top of the bricks - playing with fire - such fun.............

   

Spring - at last

There was a time this year that I think everyone wondered whether we would ever have spring.  It has been so cold well into May that we really were not sure if it would ever warm up.  It is now mid May and we think the night frosts are finally over and we can begin to put out our summer bedding plants.

The spring flowers are about 3 weeks behind but everything has woken up and is begining to look really nice. We have started to get people stoping to admire the flowers.  Thought I would share some of them with you.  The front garden looks brilliant as everything starts to grow and is a wonderful formal garden with lovely tulips and alliums in flower.

Such lovely colour combinations, tulips that start off almost white with just a hint of purple which become deeper as they age.  We then have tulips which are almost black, but are really deep purple complemented by alliums which are a beautiful meld of the two surrounded by a variety of green as the other later flowering plants begin to grow.

In the back garden we have more tulips, some the same but I love the wonderful pink ones complemented by green stiped ones - fantastic, everywhere you look there is something of interest to catch your eye.

I then have some hanging baskets which I planted last autum but it means they have been in bloom for ages and I expect will be for most of the summer provided I don't forget to water them!

 

I am still busy planging more perennials, some replacing what I lost over our very bad winter and some to fill gaps which we did not have time to do last year.  Will add more as the year progresses. 

Winter Wonderland

Well, who would have thought we would have such a long and cold winter?  It has been the coldest winter for 30 years and we had more snow than the past 30 years as well.  It also transpires that our part of the country seemed to get more than the surrounding areas as well, with about 12" of snow.  The snow started in December and went right through January and February.  We did not have snow all the time, but most of it.

Thought I would share a couple of photo's - who knows when it will be so cold again - and they are trying to tell us we have global warming...............

Ice on the waterfeature and you are never too old to build a snowman!

   

The garden covered in a thick layer of wonderful white stuff - everything looks so nice and clean when covered in snow - may cause plants a little of danger and create danger on the roads, but I can't help but love it!