Sorting out the garden

When we moved in, it became apparent there was a bit more work than I had noticed when viewing are new house. It would at least give me a great place to grow some fruit and veg, with a very sunny border on the left as you look at the picture.

At the end, was about 20 foot of overgrown bushes and shrubs, with 6 inches of Ivy as ground cover.

As my contract had ended, I had a summer of running an Airbnb, but had to budget my work carefully.

While having a proper look in the mess at the top, I'd struck gold though, there were at least 20 paving slabs, and a load of old bricks.

First stage was clearing a six inch layer of Ivy and other creeping plants, taking out the top of the Christmas tree before trying to dig it out, and clearing some of the soil.

I'd spotted that there was a layer of concrete under the soil, so it would give us a good base for a patio using the left overs I'd found.

If you are ever going to plant a Christmas tree, a word of advice, make sure you never want to remove it.

After extensive clearing, I was left with a solid base to lay the edges of the patio.

All that would be required would be a solid base for the middle part. To make it solid, there was a layer of gravel applied to the bottom, with about 2-3 inches of concrete in sections for each slab.

With only 24 slabs when I set out, I was planning a diamond formation, with one set as crazy paving, however one was broken, so I shifted them round a bit and got a nice pattern crossing diagonally.

There were a number of concrete style breeze blocks, so these would form a lovely side for planters,

Two squares either side, with the breeze blocks set under rendered concrete would give a great finish.

Paths were set to go in and out of either side for access with crazy style paving, and electrics for lighting and future plumbing built in too.

2026 will be the year it's finished, but it had a great start, and at a cost of around £300 plus my time, was a worthwhile build.

Pretty much finished, item apart from some wall coping to install.

Plants (two roses and thyme) set out in small bottomless plant pots, with slate chippings around them. It's a lovely sunny spot, getting sun between 7 and 21:00 in the summer, and perfect for the sun loving plants we've put in.

Summer 2025 in it's unfinished state, we had a couple of pepper plants at the front, but did find in the end, there may have been a bit too much sun, and the plants didn't grow as well as they could have.