Rathfarnham, Dublin Back Garden Design Project

Watch the full project video here!

I returned to this job six months later after successfully Landscaping the front of the house/driveway. The clients enthusiasm was the factor that drove me on. He also had trust in me and was prepared to give me free rein over the whole landscaping project. This suited me as my best past results were achieved working free flow, creating the garden as I progressed.

This landscaping project was daunting. It was a very large garden. My business is small so I tend not go beyond medium-sized landscaping projects.

The beds in the garden were completely over run with Ivy & perennial weeds. Access & egress was through a 23” side entrance. There was an old raised sleeper bed at the back of the garden. This raised sleeper bed housed 6 massive Macrocarpa which needed to be felled & removed. There was natural stone stacked all around and builders’ rubble and materials placed within the garden. Although it was hard to visualise you could see the potential in the space. There were many beautiful specimens of trees & shrubs either side giving the space a lovely balance.

I sat down again with the client to work out a wishlist. This is what we came up with:

• Complete the job charging a weekly rate
• Basic scaled design
• Add in features to the design as we progressed
• Removal of macrocarpas & any unwanted plants I deemed unusful
• Clearing of all rubbish within garden including old compost heap
• Builder to clear site of all his materials and equipment before we came on site
• Thinning/pruning of existing plants
• Clearing of Ivy & weed infested beds
• Removal of old existing railway sleeper raised bed
• Sealing of polished concrete parterre created by builder
• Planting of parterre by early may for house warming party, making part of the garden presentable
• Garden room for entertaining & drying clothes
• Continue & extend cladding from front driveway, along the side of the house & past proposed area for garden room
• Plenty of space for kids
• Plenty of space for football, as the client coaches the local team
• New 12’x10’ Custom built Baumanns garden shed
• Installation of slab of concrete to take shed
• Re-use of stored Natural stone
• Repair & painting of existing gazebo
• Low maintenance as much as possible
• Synthetic grass lawn suitable for football but also natural in appearence
• Repair existing meandering raised beds on the West side
• Paint existing wall extension behind Macrocarpas
• Planting of new raised bed where Macrocarpas used to be, filling & planting around rest of beds

Although I was not looking forward to taking on this job it turned out one of my most enjoyable. The design was very basic, working within the parameters already in place. I had great rapport with the client & we worked out the job as we went. This allowed the garden talk to us and we had a great time together working out solutions and creating ideas. As we had a large amount of materials on site we just re-purposed everything, and I mean everything. The old cobbles saved from the front driveway were used to create a lovely up-and-down raised edge along the East & West side. The existing natural stone was used for our new raised bed at the back.

 

 

 

The stone was also used to repair the existing raised beds on the West side. The existing Gazebo was sanded down and painted in a bright primary pink which looked deadly (Not my choice). The base for the garden room was created using old stored grey sandstone. The stone was treated with a Chlorine based cleaner and came up almost new. We used existing yellow sandstone site to create base for Gazebo. Two weathered copper ornamental crane sculptures were placed either side of the Gazebo creating balance (Also on site). The big granite stones were used within the raised beds as focal points and used as an edge for a bed on the West side. The old sleepers from the original raised bed were used as a retainer around the Custom built Baumanns Garden Shed. Adding to the above we purchased yellow limestone cobble edging for the synthetic grass lawn/football pitch. The synthetic grass lawn/football pitch was created using 45mm’Colleseum’. The grass looked both natural and was suitable for playing football.

 

 

 

Planed pressure-treated Scandinavian Spruce was used for cladding the walls and creating the outdoor room. I went with the client to the Nursery to advise and choose plants. The plants were used to fill in gaps around the garden and within the raised bed. A Low Voltage Garden Lighting system was installed using 150 watt transformer, Dusk till dawn sensor/timer, 150M cable & 18 spike lights. This system works independently, turning on and off automatically. All the operator has to do is set the no. of hours. The garden looked fantastic at night.

 

 

This job truly was a complete up-cycle of materials on site. It also took half the time I expected to complete as all materials were right there. The weather was great throughout the whole process. I was getting paid weekly so zero stress, the client became a friend and I can safely say this turned out to be one of the best landscaping contracts I have ever completed.

Work to be carried out included:

• Removal of 5 Mature Macrocarpa at end of garden (King tree services)
• Spray existing lawn with translocated herbicide
• Remove unwanted plants & cart to dump
• Remove Ivy, weeds and rubbish within beds & cart to dump
• Cut back any plants/Ivy, cart to dump
• Remove existing sleeper retainer
• Re-use sleepers for retainers either side of shed
• Dis-mantle natural stone wall at end of new patio & store
• Re-use sleepers for retainer here also
• Clad old boundary wall, continueing from driveway, all the way along side of house, past area for proposed garden room using 150x25mm planed pressure treated Scandinavian spruce, organise Swa left by builder at key points along cladding for future downlighters
• Supply and install concrete foundation for Natural stone wall, to right of shed & end of garden
• Build meandering stone wall using existing natural stone where sleeper wall used to be )
• Create raised edge to left side bed, using existing cobbles saved from front apron & 200x100x100mm imported tumbled/split oatmeal and silver granite granite cobbles
• Supply and install mowing edge around entire lawn area using 200x100x50mm yellow Limestone cobbles
• Fill new raised bed at back of garden with topsoil covering stumps left from Macrocarpas
• Fill lower beds with topsoil for planting & mulching to suppress future weeds/Ivy
• Supply and lay cabling for low voltage garden lighting
• Supply and spread & compact 50mm layer of screened quarry dust over entire lawn area
• Supply and install synthetic grass lawn using 45mm ‘Colleseum’ synthetic grass
• Supply and install patio for garden room using 900x600mm grey indian sandstone slabs, include 3x 200x200mm treated structural posts
• Point grey Indian sandstone patio using 3:1 concrete mix
• Supply and install 4.8×4.2M Garden room using (2) 150x75mm beams(11) 150x50mm Joists, (2) 100x75mm posts, (16) 150x25mm shiplap boards, (8) 50x50mm framing, (4) 50x25mm felt slips, (9) 1.8×1.2 sheets of ply, and (6) 10M Rolls of torch on felt
• Create window within side wall of room giving view of garden beyond
• Cover roof of outdoor room with 45mm Colleseum synthetic grass disguising felt
• Supply and paint side wall of Garden room using Ronseal ‘Slate’, also paint wall extension, left side of patio
• Meet client at Garden World Nurseries, advise & choose plants
• Plant plants (Labour only)
• Supply and install Low voltage Garden lighting system, including (1) 150 Watt Transformer, (1) Dusk till Dawn sensor, (3) Downlighters within Garden room, (18) Spike lights strategically placed within beds around garden
• Remove all rubbish & cart to dump

 

 

 

 

 

The client was kind enough to post the following review:

‘We hired Kevin of Landscaping.ie to work on our garden post house renovation. Very professional from the outset providing a clear path to completion of a beautiful garden. Always reliable, working hard and completing the project on time. Good communication and consultation throughout with any changes to design taken on with gusto. Transparent in everything financial including extras. End result is a transformed front & back garden that we couldn’t be happier with. A Master Craftsman, highly recommended & a pleasure to deal with’ John Broderick.