Mum Of 3 Transforms ‘Slip & Slide’ Mud Garden With £4 B&Q Bargain
- Kerry, 36, wanted her garden to be a welcoming space
- She picked up bargains from B&Q and nabbed freebies for the project
- After going DIY she and her husband have created a restful haven on a budget
After a couple of rain showers, gardens can easily turn into a muddy mess - a far cry from the pretty spaces we see on Pinterest and Instagram.
One money-saving mum decided to take matters into her own hands, working with her husband to transform her ‘slip and slide’ garden into a safe haven complete with seating and a patio.
Kerry Bevan, 36 from Doncaster who has 3 children aged 14, 12 and 9, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘The idea behind the project was simple - I wanted somewhere nice to spend time in the garden.
‘Plus, it’s my husband's 40th in the summer and we want to invite friends and family over for a BBQ to celebrate.
‘I originally wanted a pergola over a patio area and my husband, Neil, drew up some plans. After talking about it he suggested the post and rope version so it felt more open.
‘My parents are recently retired and love gardening projects, so they were a huge help. My dad has a way of visualising ideas and advising what would work well and what might not.
‘We were able to save a decent amount of money on supplies for this makeover. The paving slabs came from my parent’s garden when they changed their patio around 2 years ago. They had been stacked up waiting for us to start our garden project.
‘The turf was also from my parent’s garden as they were wanting a change and decided to replace their grass with slate and gravel.
‘The rope was from B&Q at £2.49 per metre; we got 18 metres in total. I dyed it in the washing machine with black Dylon.
‘The hardcore was £35 a tonne and we got two tonnes. It was delivered from a local company called Adwick Aggregates.
‘We also got all the decorative pebbles that sit around the slabs from there at £4 for a 25kg bag, as well as the sand and cement used to lay the slabs. We used around 30 bags in the end.
‘The bench, which also turns into a picnic table, was made by my dad in lockdown and painted by me to match the garden.
‘I got Ronseal paint from B&Q for £23 in the shade Tudor Black Oak to paint the fence.
‘The fence posts, gravel boards and patio slabs are all painted in Plymouth Grey Sandtex masonry paint which also came from B&Q and cost £30.
‘The fence posts used for the patio area were again from B&Q at £21.65 and cut into 2.
‘The gravel boards and fence posts for around the outside of the garden were put in before we purchased the house.
‘The hanging bulb solar lights were £20 from B&M and the ice cube solar lights that sit between the slabs are from Amazon at £18.99 for a 4 pack.
‘I also got rattan effect edging around the plants from B&M at £7.99 a pack. I painted them to match.
‘The stencil for the patio slabs was made from an off cut of plywood from B&Q for £4. A stencil that size was around £30 from online retailers.
‘My husband came up with the stencil design. He drew out the 60cm x 60cm square on paper, drew the design on a quarter then transferred this onto the plywood to match the size of the slab.
‘He had Googled ideas and went for something that was easy enough to cut out with the jigsaw but that would fill the majority of the slab.
‘We were now ready to start the project. First, we marked out the area where we wanted the slabs laying.
‘Then we dug out the grass and any large rocks that we found buried. After that we dug the holes to sink the fence posts and concreted them in place.
‘We added the timber frame to create the edge of the patio before compacting the soil and levelling it. Membrane was laid to keep the weeds out. Hardcore was added and compacted.
‘The slabs came next. We laid and cemented them in place. In between, we filled the cement gaps with pebbles to keep them in place, leaving room to sink the solar lights in between.
‘We painted the slabs with concrete paint and added the stencilling before painting the fence, woodwork and all of the stonework.
‘Next up we laid the reclaimed turf and seeded in between to help cover any patches. Finally, we planted a variety of plants and trees in the corner to add some colour and help to disguise an unused area.
‘A lot of the flowers were from Asda and were 3 trays for £5. They were used to fill in the gaps. Other plants came from a local garden centre and cost between £8 and £12.
‘We worked on the garden during the weekends as we work full time. The majority of the work was done over about 4 weekends, then we carried out the odd touch up afterwards.
‘The rain was a challenge when we first started. The garden was full of mud and we spent most of our time trying not to slip and slide all over it!
‘Then the cement mixer broke after laying around 3 slabs, so the rest of the cement was mixed by hand!
‘If we were to do this project again, we would hire a cement mixer and wacker plate. When we were compacting the ground under the slabs we used a sledgehammer with a plate of wood attached. Good workout for the arms but a lot of hard work!’
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘Kerry and her husband have made some great savings with this garden project. By using reclaimed turf and paving slabs, they have probably saved £100s on that alone. Really impressive!’
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