All original content on this page is © Stuart & Darryl 2004
|
|
||
|
||
| The back garden project | ||
| This is the story of our new back garden and how it developed into something that we are very proud of. We even have an aerial photo showing the finished garden in 2004 | ||
|
|
|
| This is how it used to look, a couple of years before we started. It was taken on a Polaroid camera, hence the strange colours |
And again, but this time just as we were about to start with the conservatory roof showing in bottom centre |
Now we have made a start by getting rid of the concrete paving and moving some of the plants to a safer place |
|
|
|
| After a lot of digging and moving of soil, a friend came to help us build the feeder pond and top stream |
And then Darryl dug out the hole for the pond. It's a lot deeper than it looks |
Then we connected up the feeder pond and the main pond with a curved brick 'stream' |
|
|
|
| Finally, the water was flowing, the top of the garden was coming together with a central path and raised bed |
The all the debris had to be moved - 10 tons of it and that's lot of barrow-fulls. The plants started to appear too |
And yet more plants and a stone circle to sit and admire our handy-work from |
|
|
|
| 4 tons of Scottish Pebbles had to be moved one barrowload at a time. The garden seat arrived too |
And finally, Darryl tending his climbing rose, the plants coming into bloom and the sun shining |
And the fish busy exploring their new home. We agree with them ...... it was worth it |
|
|
|
| And now for some contrasts. Here is Madge (the cat) lounging in the sun as cats do |
And here is the garden on New Year's Eve 2003. Snow falling and closed for winter! |
And even though the snow was sort of pretty, we can't wait for the spring to arrive |
|
|
|
| 2004 saw few changes but March 2005 and it's major changes ... the stream has gone so we can divert it through a different part of the garden and the overgrown berberis is consigned to the compost heap. And the walls have lost about half their height too .... |
Laying the stream meant starting with a new length of liner 11m long which was a bit of a handfull so Madge (the cat) decided to help |
The stream is being diverted to the left of the stone circle so we can reclaim some garden and is going to run at ground level - like a real stream would |
|
|
|
| The stream with it's new feeder pond at the head are completed and the only things now left are little snagging issues, like pointing between the gaps in the coping stones, and filling the garden with plants. The best bit! |
And, now the risk of frost has gone, all the annuals join the hardy plants and we sit and wait for them to grow and fill in the gaps |
And here's a view looking back down the garden toward the back of the garage |
|
|
|
| Finally using it for what it was intended, Darryl cooks up a meal while his mum shields him from the summer rains |
And once darkness falls the electric and oil lamps come into their own and light up the garden so we can continue to use it well into the night! |
A few weeks later we held the 'official' opening party for the neighbours so they could inspect the results of our work |
|
||
| And then sit and have a few drinks and some food. And, yes, you can see a fan in the background - the weather really was that hot | ||
All original content on this page is © Stuart & Darryl 2004 |
||