First time lanscape. part 1

Hello all. I am writing this blogg to share my first project with you. My own garden. I moved in to my house just over a year ago. On first inspection the garden did not seem to bad. Basically it was just grass. It did need a bit of a clean up and a trim... so i thought. It was only after a bit of rain that i noticed the garden turned to swap, and never seemed to dry out properly.

After speaking to the old guy next door, i found that were my house is now, there used to be a row of old terreces. I moved the shed with a little help from my brother (should of dismantled it first... was bigger than it looks) and started to digg some channels for the land drain pipes.

Yes, I did dig it all by hand. Yes, i do wish i had hired a mini digger. I think that is another lesson i have learnt. Whilst digging, i found only about 8 inches down was some really old stone flags. Some of them was about 3 inches thick. Under the flags was 3-4 courses of enginering brick. I had to smash my way through them to dig my trench. this explained why i was getting all the surface water. I did take a bit of a gamble and instead of putting land drain, i filled the trench with 4 tonne of 10mm lime stone and used it as a soak away instead. It paid off. Over night it had done the job. I think i should also mention that i moved all the lime stone from the front of the house, to the rear in a flexible plastic bucket.. I know, i know... should of used a wheel barrow. And, all the excess soil was put into skip in the same way. (is that lesson number 2 or 3?)

Now, having alot a flags and brick on my hands, i decide to clean up and salvage what i could and use them in the garden.

And with a few swaps and changes, got them laid

I will give them another clean to get some of the stains of them. However, not bad for nothing.This is the end of part 1. In part 2 i will tell you about the fence and chris V's Ivy. stay tuned and thanks for reading. P.s should imagine i would of learnt some more lessons too.Comments welcome. thanxChris

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