My Advice to Anyone Doing DIY Garden Renovations
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Garden renovations are hard work. They might seem like a good idea, and they are, but there's a lot more to it than you might have thought, especially if you're doing it yourself. It can save a considerable amount of money by choosing a DIY garden reno, but there are some things you need to think about first.
As someone who has undergone a DIY garden renovation myself, and a MASSIVE one at that, I thought I'd be best placed to impart some advice to those doing it for the first time. So, here's my advice to anyone doing DIY garden renovations!
Have a plan
Plan out what you want to do before you start to rip things out, cut things down or kango things up. Draw it out, measure up, and make a budget for your project before starting work. Once you begin, you can't go back, and you'll have to follow through with your plans.
Set a budget
Budget is crucial when it comes to garden renovations. You don't want to run out of money before you reach the end. Price everything up and then put that money aside. Don't forget to think about the cost of skips as well.
Also, for good measure, add another 10% to the total of your budget to account for unexpected costs, like going through a sewer or a water pipe, for instance. It's always better to over-budget than under-budget.
This way, at the end of the renovation, you may have some spare cash that you can pocket or use it to buy some nice things for your garden, like furniture or plants. Leftover money that you've budgeted is always better than being caught short and then not being able to complete your project.
Compartmentalise
Our garden renovation was HUGE...and I mean HUGE! While you're in the thick of it, it can be really easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. It often felt like the never-ending task, and it also felt like we didn't really have a life.
It was garden work day in, day out. Every weekend and every weekday evening after work was spent in the garden until the sun went down. It was months of digging and digging and digging. Then it became weeks of mixing cement and more digging.
It was hard to do, both physically and mentally. But the the best thing you can do, if you're experiencing a garden renovation on the same scale, is to compartmentalise the project. Complete tasks bit by bit and section by section until it's done.
Invest in tools
We have been through about three spades, a shovel and two garden forks in the time it took us to complete our garden renovation. It involved a lot of digging and a lot of ground work, so it's no surprise that we went through so many tools.
Part of the problem was buying tools that were budget-friendly, like £10 spades and forks from Wickes. Instead, we should have bought more expensive, quality tools to begin with, because they may not have broken so easily or so quickly.
If you add up the cost of the three spades, two forks and one shovel we went through, that's £60 wasted that we could have invested in one decent fork and one decent spade. If you're planning on renovating your garden, then make that investment at the beginning. Don't be tempted to choose the cheaper options, because it won't be such a cheap choice in the long-run.
Expect everything to take time
You might think of a job and think that it won't take long. But you should always expect every job, even if it seems simple, to take longer than you think. Take the time you think it will take and double it.
There have often been jobs that we went to do that we thought would take a couple of hours, but it actually ended up taking the whole day. Never underestimate the time it takes to do anything during a garden renovation.
Don't start tasks if you have to be somewhere later that day. Carve out whole days to do jobs for a garden renovation because you just never know how long it's really going to take. If it takes less time, then that's just a bonus!
Drainage is more important than you might think
We made this mistake when laying our patio. The soil we have is heavy clay, so drainage wasn't really a thing, naturally. However, we completely overlooked the importance of a proper drain for the water to run off into and away from the patio.
So, the patio slabs were down, but we retrospectively added a drainage system that pours water from the patio and directly into an outside drain. Before we did this, when it rained, the patio would fill up and it would become somewhat like a swimming pool.
So we knew we had to do something, hence retrospectively tapping into the drain. It would have been much easier to have done it before we laid the patio, but you live and you learn, and that's why I've added it to this blog post, so you don't make the same mistake we did.
Choose low-maintenance options
When renovating your garden, you should make an effort to choose patio slabs, tiles, stone and plants that require very little maintenance, especially if you're busy. Low-maintenance doesn't mean paving over everything and filling everything with concrete or resin.
You can still choose a garden that looks incredible, green and colourful, but without the maintenance you think it will require. Our garden is green and filled with lovely flowers, and it's super manageable.
Don't be tempted to rip everything out and replace it with stones and slabs, because that's not good for the wildlife, the bugs or the birds. Something I did when we renovated out garden was do a lot of research.
I researched plants and flowers that like shade and I also opted for more evergreen plants than other that need to be constantly looked after. Refrain from buying plants and flowers that need frost protection.
Go for hardy evergreens or perennials that will come back year after year. Planting bulbs is also a good idea if you want stunning displays without the work. If you want a spring display next year, plant your bulbs out this September/October.
I plant mine in pots so I can add a summer display once the spring ones have faded. Over the winter, I pop them in the garage and bring them out again at the start of February, ready for the daffodils to bloom.
Don't underestimate ground preparation
Perhaps the most boring part of a garden renovation is the ground preparation. We had a lot of groundwork to do before laying turf and putting a patio down. It's hard work, it's consuming but it's also completely necessary. It's like decorating a room in a house.
Preparation is everything. It can be the difference between amazing results and poor ones. I know it's a pain, I know it takes a long time, but trust me, it means everything in a garden renovation. So, don't underestimate the groundwork and preparation.
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I hope you enjoyed this blog post and that you found it useful for your own garden renovation. Let me know in the comments if you have any other bits of advice for those doing a DIY garden reno and I'll see you all again soon with some brand new content!
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