I’ve finished the patio, completed the terrace for and put up the greenhouse. Also put in a second pond for the frogs and other little critters to live unmolested by goldfish. That also required a new retaining wall down the side of the garden. Still a few things to do, like a new shed but it’s coming along. 4 years ago

I’ll finish the patio and top wall. 5 years ago

Photos to follow but I’ve started laying the patio and finished the foundation of the wavy wall. A slow job and the weather hasn’t been great but it’s getting there. 5 years ago

Rather than keep them in pots any longer I planted out the climbing rose and clematis. Dug a big hole, filled it with compost, built an edge with rubble to run the patio up onto and there they are. 5 years ago

The grass is coming along nicely, and now doesn’t have the doom of chickens hanging over it. 5 years ago

Despite all the rain I’ve managed to get on a bit with the curved retaining wall. 5 years ago

At the bottom of the bank the old retaining wall was falling apart so I’ve started ripping it down and rebuilding. Instead of going straight across I’m making it wavy to tie in with the dry stone walls above and a general curvy theme planned for the patio. 5 years ago

A couple of previous photos show the bank at the top of the garden all covered in ivy and weeds. I’ve now cleared the top two levels and planted them up with a variety of white flowering plants. My little girl says they’re boring, being white rather than pink or purple, but I think they’ll look nice, a sort of moon garden, all white and with night sented flowers where I can manage it. 5 years ago

Part of the ‘top patio’ area is initially going to be grass and wild flowers, with my plan being to build a quarter circle pegola which will then be clad in chicken wire as a run for pet chickens. Anyway, for now the edge of the area has been defined with old black floor tiles. The mesh is just there to keep the local cats off until the grass is established. 5 years ago

Two paths ended with this little gap so I was always using the bit of flower bed as a short cut. Well, that was just silly so I put in some steps. The wall there on the right needs the top fixing and building up so that the end of the wood chip path can run up to that rather than the wooden support in place now. 6 years ago

All done :o) 6 years ago

The rain has let up enough the last couple of days to allow a bit of fence painting, putting up some mesh on half a panel and planting out my jasmine which was getting too big for indoors. Also dug out the end of the front lawn and planted some of the chamomile from the back garden to see if it does better than the grass. If it does then the whole front lawn will be dug up and replanted in the autumn.

It looks like the weekend will be rain free, even a little sunny, so I’ll be bale to get back to the hard landscaping again, ie. finish the steps. 6 years ago

The long term forecast is pretty much rain for the rest of the month so I’m not likely to be making much progress on this goal. 6 years ago

Nearly finished. 6 years ago

After I dug out beside the old steps and removed the bits I needed to so I could fit on the new slabs. 6 years ago

Here’s a little bit of retaining wall I had to build under one of the fence panels. I’ve planted it up with some white thrift and another drought resistant rockery type flower. 6 years ago

They’ve had one coat of treatment but need a couple more of a different colour just to match the others. 6 years ago

Here’s the new fence from the bottom, with solar panel for the pond mounted on it. 6 years ago

Spent the last couple of days tidying up and removing dirt from the area where the greenhouse is going. Used most of it to fill pots for peppers and tomatoes. Also knocked some more old wall out where the steps need replacing, so that’s the next big thing I guess. 6 years ago

Woo hoo! Some more painting this side and I can mark that part of the plan as done! Photos to follow after I’ve recharged the camera. 6 years ago

One more four foot panel to put up and gaps at the bottom to fill in. Then a couple of coats of paint on the last four (I did the neighbour’s side before I put them up) and it’ll be all done. So, hopefully tomorrow! 6 years ago

Here are the first 2 of the new lap panels. Putting them in first meant the fence posts would be in different places, avoiding a lot of digging since the old ones were set in concrete. 6 years ago

The verticals needed replacing and then I painted the whole thing. good as new. 6 years ago

Here’s a photo as I started taking down the old fence. The first 3 panels were good enough to rebuild. About 30 years old and they survived the big storm undamaged! 6 years ago

All on my own, in one day. I’m knackered! 6 years ago

going, going … 6 years ago

Not long for this world! 6 years ago

The weird white thing on the left is a raised bed containing carrots with a fleece ‘wall’ around it to keep out the carrot rote flies (I’ll let you know if that actually works later).

Over on the right you’ll see the tired, old, broken grey fence. Front right is the area I’m digging out for the greenhouse. 6 years ago

Here’s the completed retaining wall and compost area with Sage and Rosemary at the front, a path to the bins, green cone on the left and blackberry plant at the back. 6 years ago

The 3 6’ panels and the first rebuilt one are up. 2 rebuilds and 2 4’ panels to go, after I’ve taken down the old shed. But anyway, looking good so far. I’m taking photos. 6 years ago