Kirk titmarsh's garden makeover on a budget
 

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Where have you been Kirk ? I missed you,that is a great garden for wildlife tbh.:laugh:

Hi Kaz,

Sincere thanks folr 'missing me'. I am genuinely touched.

I have tried to steer clear of Serious Debates because I feel I no longer have anything of value to say - well, anything which is valued on there, I suppose :laugh: but I have also been working hard on the rear garden of this property which was once an attractive lawned garden with flower borders etc, but was/is in an appalling condition after being neglected/trashed (like the house itself) by the last tenants.

It is a 3 bed 2 bathroom detached and the twats scarpered owing thousands in rent and left the place in an atrocious state. I have spent the best part of a year (on and off) refurbing the interior and though not finished, have moved on to the exterior to take advantage of the 'good'? weather. :hehe:

The worst thing the bastards did (notice how polite I'm being in not using swearwords? :laugh:) was chop down a mature conifer hedge revealing a ghastly mess of broken down boundary walls, missing/decayed fence panels, and steeply sloping useless banks which were overrun with huge nettles, brambles, thistles and other giant weeds. The 'dead' branches of the reverse of the neighbour's own conifer hedge was also left on view.

I am on a strict budget and working completely alone but love outdoor work so it is a 'labour of love' so to speak and it keeps me fit and oh so young (I will always be dashingly handsome whether I work or not. :laugh:)

I think some Tibbies might find this thread interesting because I am using the uttermost crap and rubbish and sand and cement mortar to form boulders and rocks for a pond with waterfalls and to 'tier' the 'unusable' slopes. I am also installing a large decked area and covered 'gazebo' for the barbecue etc. - all out of second hand (cheap) materials.

I know that the average Tibbie can do what I am doing so they might find this useful if they want to transform their own gardens or add features at low cost. I will be only too happy to offer advice if they do decide to 'have a go'.

Mastering this 'image posting' business is my biggest challenge but I will persevere.

Stay tuned.

xx Kirk.

Do you do free quotes for gardens? I'll give you a bell. :hee:

Well Kirk that sounds horrific,the state some people leave some properties in is disgusting and thoughtless,God knows how they live day to day,I am sure you will have it looking pristine in no time,I do like nice gardens,and it keeps you out of mischief :-),I wondered where you had been,dont let people put you off,your opinion is as valid as anyone elses,I do like reading the various opinions of people.You will have to send a pic of the garden when you finish it ,would love to see it.

Oi oi, show him your garden first Kaz. :fan:

Aha Kirk welcome back :love:

all you missed were 782 Marsh bans, a bisexual awakening, Mock and his incest obsession again and 2 lesbos getting it on in a dream

pretty standard Tibb stuff


:idc:

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Well established giant brambles, nettles and other weeds were strimmed down revealing the broken down brick boundary wall and missing/rotted overlap fencing panels, as well as the clinker block debris (from other works like internal wall removals etc) and broken wc's and sinks, old bricks and ceramic tiles etc, which I had previously 'dumped'in the approximate positions where I would be later using them to form the base of my 'rocks' and 'boulders', Even the tin cans and glass bottles and jars left from burning the huge amount of rubbish dumped at the property were placed where I could also use them for making my 'stone walls' etc.

This is the beauty of my method of 'making 'faux' rocks and stones - any rubbish can be utilised.

Tit Marsh

:fan:

:hmph:

Thank you Kaz, Marsh and LT - I love you all. I haven't missed much really because I have been regularly looking in and avidly following the threads and have been fighting sometimes the urge to post, but thought better of it and got 'stuck into' the garden instead.

I've also stayed in touch with my beautiful Liv, so I am 'up' on events (nothing much changes though does it? Righties V Lefties? :joker:)

Anyway, I hope to soon have you all grabbing a shovel and trowel. :laugh:

Nice to have you back Kirk

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I think that anyone interested has now a good idea of the state of the garden. The second picture is where the decking is going.

Here's some pics of the actual 'spade work'.

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Digging the pond.

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Setting out for the raised deck.

Sincere thanks Arista. It's good to be back.

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Pond is dug deep enough.

Now here's where building and gardening purists will become apoplectic, but I do not like wasting money and throughout this thread I will show Tibbies just how to achieve the same aesthetically pleasing and 'solid' results with this garden 'make-over' by using junk and cutting corners as buying expensive new building materials - stone, pond liners etc - at a fraction of the cost.

I have been successfully doing this for a very long time and my 'easy' low cost way actually works.

Anyway; here's my lining the soon-to-be pond with old carpet underlay, empty builder's plastic sacks and an old rug:

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And a piece of 200g 'Visqueen' damp Proof Membrane which is many times cheaper than a purpose bought pond liner and performs equally as well:

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I 'line' the sides of the pond with old paving slabs and even a couple of large floor tiles. Incline them slightly so that it is easier to cover them in 'gobbo' as further below:

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Next, using a mortar mix of 1 part cement to 4 parts building sand, I cover them. Using the hands (rubber gloved of course) and 'patting the 'gobbo' into position is easiest in my experience.):

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Kirk Tip: Be sure to back-fill with gobbo any gaps behind the pavers or tiles as this increases the strength of the finished 'stone' walling.

I've skipped a little here as I don't want to bore you all to death, but having finished covering the pavers and tiles of the pond 'walls', I have placed clinker block and brick debris to form the 'walls' of what will be the top 'Holding Pond' and down what will be the 'Spillway' and 'Waterfalls', then lined it all with pieces of Visqueen which is well overlapped.

I also placed clinker block to form the lower edges of the waterfall and covered them in gobbo as with the pond walls. I have 'shaped', 'textured', and coloured one huge 'boulder' to illustrate what the finished project will look like - though I could not resist putting a 'Tibbie' face on the boulder. Can you see it? :laugh:

Don't worry about the actual 'technique' of making these gobbo-covered clinker block/bricks actually look like rock, we will cover this in detail later.

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The Acer tree which I have placed in the picture is one of several which I potted about 10 years ago and is another example of how the purists B.S us all into paying through the nose for things which aren't necessary. Though strictly not a 'Bonsai' because I have not trained it etc it is a fully formed Acer which will not grow any bigger and which complements ponds and rockeries etc. More importantly it has not cost me a fraction of what a comparable sized bonsai would cost me. More of how to grow one later.

More to come.

Having roughly gobboed the wall beneath what will be the waterfall, I have cut and shaped some of the actual rocks/stone, and built out the projecting slab which will be the actual waterfall.

Again, for those who may want to try their hand at this (it is simple really) don't worry about technique as I will cover that in detail later.

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Another angle:

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Now below are the above cut and shaped 'rocks' with the first colouring on them.

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More to come.

this is one of the cutest threads I've ever seen. bless you :love:

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"Kirk, I need you to help me with my mulch"

Nipples. :flutter:

:joker::joker: Tis true though:hehe:

Well you've inspired me kirk! I've been wanting to turn my back garden into an organic veg garden it would be 100 times more productive than arguing the toss about rubbish on here that's for damn sure :laugh: as seen even on a shoestring and with no help you can succeed :)

Utter Bliss

:joker::joker::joker:

TD will be pleased I think he is a bit bored without you Kiek