It's taken 19 years to get started....Part 1

My small back garden which slopes away from the house has for the last 19 years been relatively untouched, apart from cutting the grass and weeding whenever things started to look untidy. It's not that I don't like gardens in fact I love the idea of having a space filled with flowers and fruit and veg, it's just that I never had the confidence, courage or vision to tackle such a project.

However, late last year I finally decided to take the bull by the horns and go for it. No half measures for me though, no just dipping my toe in the shallow end, this was a full on dive with triple somersault and half pike straight into the deep end with plenty of mistakes on the way down.

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This is what i've been looking out on for 19 years.

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OK it may not seem much of a slope to you but that lintel in the wall (don't ask) is just below the conservatory floor level

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When we moved in this was no more than 12 inches high so it was sad to have to send it to the great woods in the sky, but it ws taking a lot of moisture out of the ground blocking out the sun and surface roots were starting to appear everywhere.

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One blunt pair of secateurs and many blisters later.

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Well it was a spade and several weeks hard labour or this, and after cutting the tree to matchwood by hand I think I deserved a bit of mechanical help.

Having decided to terrace the garden I worked out with the drop in the slope I would need 3 retaining walls with steps in between and in my naivety, thought it would be best to start on a flat surface and build from there. As you will see later I discovered this was not actually the case, but in my defence I am a twit. :dh: Well at least I had fun driving the digger. :gnthb:

 

looks like you have quite a challenge on your hands....but a fantastic view over fields to look forward to!
Good luck, looking forward to the 'after' pics

 

The story continues.......

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It took two hours of digging round and hacking at roots by hand before it would budge an inch. Even the digger couldn't shift it.

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So there we have it, the slope replaced with just over a 1 metre drop ready for stage 2 of my folly....er I mean grand design.:skp:

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It doesn't get any better no matter which way you look at it.

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Here I've dug the footings for my retaining walls. The digger had been returned and so it was a case of spade, shovel and pick axe. I used a pick axe because the ground was solid hard clay and each row took me a day each, working non-stop for at least eight hours. :flag:

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With one of the old rotten sheds gone I prepared a base for something a bit more substantial.

Demolition is always the easy part, building is the clever bit. Oh dear!:cnfs:

 

C'mon, hurry up with Part 3!

 

oh my - what a lot of work

sounds like you have cracked the back of it though

loopy