Bonnie’s Blog from Episode 7 Garden Gaffe
Anyone with a sloping garden will know that at first it can be a daunting prospect, but if designed to its strengths it can be a fascinating space with various levels and hidden areas. Ray was full of enthusiasm for his new project and planned to impress his wife Sarah by levelling the garden; armed with a shovel, spade and a wheel barrow!
It started out well but as the days dragged on he realised that he had overfaced or more accurately over sloped himself! Not wanting be totally defeated he changes tact and instead of flattening the entire garden he thought it would be nice (and easier) to create a small entertainment area. He built a fence to retain the soil behind, but must have leant on the posts in a state of fatigue before the concrete had set as they were as straight as zebra stripes!
When we turned up for filming, it was the first time I had actually seen the garden, apart from photos and sketches; and it was a bit of a shock. Not a pleasant one. Under the main slope there were two giant mounds of soil where the weeds were moving in. Time wise we had not budgeted to tackle this area but it was hideous and would have ruined he look of any other work we did. I asked Ray why it was there in the first place and he sheepishly admitted that he couldn’t be bothered to order another skip so had left it piled up. Digging it out again was such hard work, I was glad of the rain so that no-one noticed we were dripping with sweat…lovely! We got about half way down when I hit something solid which I assumed was a large rock. Ray informed me matter of factly that he had buried two concrete troughs when he had piled up the mound. My natural reaction was to ask whether he had thought of moving them as opposed to covering them up but he replied indignantly that he couldn’t have done that because they were full of plants!!! At that point I was lost for words! We carried on excavating, as when the surfaces were level we were planning to plant into them, however just as we were starting to despair at how behind schedule we were we hit solid concrete! This made it quite difficult to plant into them so we had to improvise and plant the rediscovered troughs, and then tidy the area by laying down Cotswold buff stone which looked great.
In place of the wonky fence we secured sleepers which are much sturdier and more aesthetically pleasing. But it was getting late in the day, and there was no sign of any decking going down so understandably we were on a slippery slope with our director who was worried that the light was running out!
Luckily the sun came out again and we were back in with a chance of finishing the filming albeit at 9:30pm! With the end in sight there was a final surge as we planted a strip to the side of the decking which softened the edge. The colour pallet was soft pastels which toned in well with the smoky millboard decking. This decking is an innovative solution to slippery decking as it is made of recycled plastic fibres, which do not promote algae growth. It is also very easy to clean, is remarkably stain resistant, doesn’t fade and is extremely durable. You have to make sure you have measured properly and fixed them in the exact right position though as they do not like to move home!
Ray and Sarah worked so hard, and I think Ray well and truly redeemed himself, because the garden had been completely transformed from a hole in the hill to a sleek entertainment area. It was well worth the sweat and tears!
Garden ER is brought to you by Anglian Home Improvements. Have you entered your garden into the Best In Show competition?
(PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS PROGRAMME HAS NOW FINISHED!)
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