My garden and me

That composite decking is very expensive. It was working out just under what a similar sized patio woulld cost when I priced it2 years ago. .I'm so glad we went with the patio slabs though. I gave it a 10 minute power wash the other day and it looks like it was just laid. Absoloutely delighted with it. We spend a lot of time out in our garden now. Got a pergola also.
 
SomeRandomer said:
Some great post and suggestions here so thanks. To answer some of the questions:

- I'm planning to do the work myself over the summer, hopefully with a bit of help from here and youtube I'll get it to a stage I'm happy with.
- The house is east facing so the garden would be west facing. The sun rises at the front, at midday it's just starting to come around to the back garden (to the left as you stand at the back door) and in the evening it sets at the end of the garden (about 2 o'clock on a clock face) as you look out the back. I start to lose sun around 5 pm due to the tall trees down the end, and this area is always in shade so nothing much grows there.
- Re budget I don't want to spend too much, maybe around the 1,000 mark max.
- Re auto-mowers can anyone recommend a decently priced one? @Jazz01 I'm not seeing that one for 200 euro on the Lidl website.

Agreed that the decking is the first thing that needs to be sorted but not sure what to replace it with. Patio slabs would be nice but I'm guessing would cost thousands which I can't afford. As far as I can tell the foundation / frame underneath is still sound. A cheap option would be to replace the rotten boards with pvc ones (as I say I don't really care how it looks), but does anyone know if they'd slot into place and could be screwed in if I got ones with the same dimensions (2430mm length x 140mm width x 30mm depth)? Can pvc boards be cut to size easily?

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Patio slabs could be an option? I just had a quick look on Adverts.ie and there are patio slabs available for free or very little money. Sometimes people buy more than they need for a project.
 
So I tackled some of the trees at the end yesterday after buying an extendable pole trimmer. It made a bit of a dent but not much. After looking at the decking again I think it's gone past replacing some of the boards.. the whole lot will have to go. So some questions after realising this and reading previous posts about planting:

- can anyone recommend someone to replace decking with garden paving or composite decking in Dublin 9? @bitethebullet mentioned earlier that composite decking isn't much cheaper that paving, so if that's the case then I'd go with paving. Could anyone put ball park prices for a decking area my size? (Thanks for the link @Sophrosyne)
- when people say to plant stuff what would be the best option? Create a raised bed maybe on each side and put in good soil with fertiliser and get plants from a garden centre? Or is it easier to buy pre-potted stuff and just place them around the garden? Should I only get perennials? What could I put in the shaded part down the end? I read that certain ferns do well without much sun.

(Oh and by the way I don't have a dog)

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Patio materials and labour are so expensive these days . I was quoted 8.5k for the decking and 10k for the patio so obviously went with the latter .
Initially we got a lot of guys in to have a look and some came up with great ideas i hadnt thought of myself.
Lad who did ours wouldn't travel to Dublin. He only does local jobs so maybe ask around your area. Talk to your neighbours they might know a good crowd.
 
If the decking base is OK I would just replace the boards with new ones and treat them annually. Shouldn't cost too much, will give you a patio area and in a few years you could always put down a stone patio then.
 
Remarkably, this thread is on its 2nd Page so there is some interest in gardening even on AAM. We're in the latter stages of making our gardens more Age 70+ friendly. Nobody said it was going to be easy. But, we've found that once the goal is in sight, go for it, and don't pick off a point where a goal beckons.

I reckon the OP's garden has several trees/shrubs that he doesn't want. I note also that his neighbour at his back garden also has some trees (perhaps a little more better looking than the OP's). So use your neighbours trees for good views and get your own garden friendly towards your needs.

I visited Euro and Mr Price shops in Cork and found you can buy a bow saw for €10.00. Fierce damage can be done to unwanted trees and hedging with such and fast. Borrow a pickaxe or long crow-bar and the stumps can be dug out whenever. Steel will always beat timber; I've never known steel to fail.
 
Just an update and some advice:-
1. We've removed every flower bed and save for a small tree and hedging (on one side) in our back we have no plants in the ground. We have plants in planters and pots which are more manageable and to be honest with Mrs Lep's dexterity and ingenuity with pots and clusters of pots the garden has never looked so well. Thanks to @SomeRandomer for the inspiration.
2. Yesterday after visiting the betting office I walked around Dealz and found that they're selling different kinds of garden plant bulbs for next year We bought around six packs @ €1.50 each (they can be stored in my man-drawer and don't take up much space). I reckon these packets will save us fairly big money come April/May when they are due to be planted in our pots. We have our daffodil bulbs for planting mid November to flower towards the end of January (renewable free of charge every year). If any person looking in is fond of easy gardening do yourself a favour by purchasing the stuff now and you'll save a good few bob and have plenty of beautiful garden colour next year.
3 We have enough pots as it is but if such are being sold off cheaply towards the end of summer we'll buy some more.
4. If you haven't got a compost bin, get one - I recovered one from a neighbour's skip recently for our use and we have one compost bin in use and the other being readied for next year. (Again savings on compost and probably will have better compost than the stuff being sold in garden centres).
5. If you have no hydrangeas it is time to start thinking for next year so slip a few (easy and use Youtube if necessary) - Cost 0.00.
6. We will have to buy some trailing lobelia and trailing petunias next year, but hey! they're not expensive and a safe bet.

Incidentally, the work wasn't easy, but at least it's done.
 
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Don't skimp on the fitting patio slabs. Will annoy you for ever if you do.

Grass is a low cost option with a robot mower.
 
Mowing the lawn is good outdoor exercise, I don't get the fad of Robot mowers. How much time does one actually spend mowing a lawn? This coming from someone who just bought a Roomba and doesn't often hoover, so very much coming from a position of hypocrisy.
 
David_Dublin said:
Mowing the lawn is good outdoor exercise, I don't get the fad of Robot mowers. How much time does one actually spend mowing a lawn? This coming from someone who just bought a Roomba and doesn't often hoover, so very much coming from a position of hypocrisy.
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In my case it was around 2 hours each time, up to three times a week during periods of fast growth if I was mulching. The lawn is healthier now after a year of the robot.

It's going to be more for some and less for others of course, but it's all just a matter of how you prioritise your free time. Many prefer more social and regular forms of outdoor exercise. So if your alternative is to sit on the sofa eating crisps, don't buy a robo-mower, but they're no fad, they'll be around long after we're gone.
 
It cuts the grass when you can't. So rather than having to wait for a good day. It's never needs cutting.
 
So just an update on this for anyone that's interested. I got a friend to replace the decking with paving slabs which turned out well, and I got the trees cut down to size so they're pretty low now and much better looking. I also dumped the pallets and other bits that were cluttering up the place. Some pics:

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I'm happy with the progress so far but the grass got pretty trampled with all the work that was done, so it's in pretty bad shape now. I gave it a trim and will let it recover for a while. I consider this as phase 1 of the work and phase 2 will be the improvement of the grass and researching plants and other things I can do to make it pretty. Onward and upward :)
 
You’ve made a start and the patio looks good and will save on any future labour. But, it’s four months since you started and all the trees, shrubs and hedging are still there although cut back. If I were you, I’d cut away all the big trees to stumps say one per week (going forward as they say in the HSE). You can treat the stumps over a long period of time with suitable chemicals and the stumps will eventually disappear. I’d lose the smaller trees too. A bow saw will clear them pretty easily with some elbow grease. The hedging might not be all of your concern as it is probably shared with your neighbour, but it needs continuous work - do you need this?

Don’t take my comments as criticism, I’m only trying to inform you of my experience this year. The secret is keep going and don’t lose sight of the objective. My objective is reduce future labour big time without compromising on beauty.

Don’t forget to reward yourself at the completion of each worthwhile stage.
 
We had ten trees in our back garden for over 30 years. We paid two guys to cut them down as I wouldn’t risk using a chainsaw even though I could get a loan of one easily. After clearing the branches and storing firewood we were left with ten stumps nine inches in height. I tried digging out the smallest one using an axe, crowbar and a pick-axe. Tough work and took a day and was left with a large hole and sore limbs. I didn’t realise we could rent a tree-stump grinder. The rental is expensive, but my body could take no more extra hard work and the stumps were ground to six inches below ground level in a few hours. Basic safety is required and use is easy. I shared the rental with a neighbour who needed some tree stumps removed too,

Not cheap but worth the money.
 
I got a couple of stumps ground down by a couple of companies (one company disappeared after doing one tree) but they only took away the green waste and not anything mixed with soil. Of there is a considerable amount because you grind down into the soil.

So there was a lot of heavy labour getting rid of the soil and re leveling with fresh soil afterwards.

So factor that into your costs and labour.
 
Leper said:
I didn’t realise we could rent a tree-stump grinder. The rental is expensive
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Other cheaper options are to drill holes in the stump and either (1) fill them with salt & cover them and wait a few months or (2) fill them with petrol and burn them (have a bucket of water nearby just in case). After both options it would be easy to then break up the stumps.
 
Even simpler option is to cover the stump with soil & let nature take its course.

Cut the base out of a large bucket or plastic trug, sit it around the stump, fill with soil / compost and ignore it for a year.

Plant a few flowers and / or build a planter box round it if you want it to look pretty.
 
Squaring off the garden edges is a great space-saving idea. consider incorporating gravel or mulch around the new planting beds to make weeding and maintenance less of a hassle.
 
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