I am particularly proud of our latest home improvement born on a bored Sunday afternoon in July looking at the redundant bit of space in a corner of our garden next to the summer house. It’s one of those areas of the garden that never seem to get the sun and suffers from bad drainage evidenced by the boggy appearance of mud and moss.
But what to do with it - a wedge shaped bit of land 80cm at the back of the isosceles to 165cm at the front, an upside down ‘V’ shape if you can imagine. We decided fairly swiftly on a stainless steel water feature from the selection of five we had in the garage – ex demos’ from an exhibition stand I had set up in the past. Our choice was between the
Angel,
Cautley,
Orgate,
Backstone or
Aspley. After a short time we eliminated the spheres in favour of the tubes and ended up choosing the
Orgate water feature as we liked the angled face where the water comes out.
Loosely, we decided on a tall plant at the back, water feature in front, a couple of plants, the whole area covered in plum slate and sectioned off with log roll. Simples!
So off to B&Q we went. They are doing a good deal at the moment on log roll, 3 for the price of 2, we got the small 15cm height, 3 rolls at a cost of £11.98. Foolishly thinking it would be enough we bought 125 litres of compost for £6.98. On to the Factory Shop where we knew they were doing a deal on plum slate, 3 bags for £12, and weed proof mesh & securing pegs for £6.97. Sorted – apart from the tall and short plants, but we thought we would sort that out later.
We got back home where it promptly started to rain, and whilst I am keen, I’m not mad. The next day we were at her parents house for a BBQ when I commented on a palm tree they had in a pot and casually said that it was what we could do with for our project. Fortuitously they had other designs for that part of their garden so there we were, all raw materials purchased or beggared and Tuesday was construction day.
The next day it rained all day. On to Wednesday and armed with a spade we made a start. First thing, dig a hole for the water feature, but only half the depth of the bucket as we were going to build the area up with earth, compost, and due to an unfortunate incident involving our cat in our Sons sandpit, sand. So far so good, it was to be fair one of the finest holes I had ever dug.
Then to mark out the boundaries with a 1 inch trench in which we would hammer down the log roll. That done we set out the log roll and raked the peat over the entire area. It was then that we realised 2 important things, 1) the log roll would not be high enough at the back, and 2) we would need more compost. So off to B&Q once again and bought another 3 for the price of 2 log roll, but this time the 45cm height at £29.98, and got a good deal on 280 litres of peat for £8, half price as the bags were a bit ripped.
Back home and the back two thirds of the log roll replaced with its taller cousin, water feature bucket down and all the peat & sand added and it started to take shape as it evolved into a three tiered masterpiece. But there was something I had forgotten, a nagging doubt remained; oh yes, the hole for the palm tree. No problem, step 1) clear the peat from the back third; step 2) dig another fine hole. The hole for the palm was only one third the depth of the roots as there was to be a further 40cm of compost built up around it. The palm went in, the peat was replaced and I was happy, in fact I was grinning all the way to B&Q where I purchased another 280 litres of bag damaged compost for an even better value £5.00.
Back I came, up tools and the 3 levels really started to take shape, the back sectioned off with 45cm log roll, the rest with the shorter variety. Weed proof mesh down and pegged and the water feature went in. Then the slate went down and we realised we had massively underestimated our requirement. Back to the Factory Shop and another £12 lighter and three bags of plum slate heavier. Once it was down it looked great, just missing a few plants and one more problem to solve in that the water feature jutted out at the front as it was placed level on a slope. No problem.
Bored with B&Q, Homebase had all Lillies, Celosia, Grasses, Hemerocassis Varsity & white chip stones that we needed, all for a reasonable £18.95. Once they were down it was finished, we just couldn’t wait until night fall to see the true effect of the 9 multi-colour rotating LED’s on the water feature reflecting on the steel & illuminating the water as it cascaded down the tubes – and it did look lovely. Unfortunately the rest of the patch was in darkness and not seeing the light made us see the light, which was of course that we needed some lights.
Straight on to the world wide web, 4 x solar lights for £10 and 2 x 50w Par 38 spotlights for £20 and I realised that we must start doing a line in outdoor lighting on the Garden Games & Leisure website. Anyway, that may be to come but in the meantime we have transformed the dullest, drabbest area of the garden into absolutely the nicest most tranquil area you could want and have also noticed that now it is raised up it does get the sunshine for a few hours a day. Happy days.
