Renovating a neglected garden..

looks like alot of hard work ray,, is this a garden your doing for someone else, i didnt realise this is what you did for a living, looks quite a big garden to, are you going to keep doing this garden , planning etc

I enjoyed seeing your garden what a lot of hedging you have. It will be interesting to see the grass become a lawn again. 5 years is a long time for a garden to be left nature takes over very quickly.

What a Difference Ray its must give u so much pleasure to see the End Results :) x

That looks like a lot of hard work, BB. Hope the householders appreciate all your efforts. Keep taking the photos so that we can see all your progress.

~well done Ray~i certainly hope they are pleased~looks like a lot of hard work has been done!

Yes Sandra when joined Goy a little anxious about the professional tag self taught learnt a lot from family to me professional suggests Rhs qualifications etc and there are those here who have them but dont work as gardeners full time.

Think I do a professional job but they always say self praise no recommendation ..so never too happy talking about what I do .

This house belongs to a wealthy client who has several homes he has forgotten about ..can you imagine that ?

Sorry Drc my fault didnt make it clear this one of the gardens I work in.

Thanks Jacque Gee Arlene submitted as you replied so hope comments explain ..

how can you forget you have a place, if only ray lol, well if you know what your doing and you enjoy what your doing you are professional, ive been doing hairdressing for over 33 years i was trained by my boss, i hated college so gave it up, all that science and no hands on hairdressing, but i call myself a professional hairdresser because i learned and i enjoy what i do, i know woman who went to college but are not that good at doing the job, if its in you its in you and no paper work can do that

Bonkers it looks like you are doing a briliiant job......By the time that lawn has some rain on it and maybe some weed treatment it should bring it back a treat. Well done you......I shall look forward to seeing other photos of your work in progress...........

What a great job you're doing there, Bb! I'm glad you're taking photos of the progress you're making. It'll be interesting to watch as you carry on the work. Any flowerbeds on the horizon - or isn't this rich owner interested in them?

What is professional, my son moved next door to a lady that knew all the plants names, in latin, could tell you how and what should go for each plant and where and what to plant, my sons garden looked like a 10ft tip in the middle of an over grown field, by the time he and I had finished with clearing designing and a lot of digging and slabbing for his children to play and his wife in a wheel chair for her to get up the garden , errecting fences to section of the garden as it was so large. The neighbour she and her husband was green with envy and he continued to state how flat the lawn was and would keep climbing up to look over the fence when he thought that my son could not see, in which I was very tempted to chop his head off with the spade as I was stood right underneath him, I could of said I slipped :o) , him not realising, soon as we had finished, from then on in he harrassed my son and his kids so they could nt play in the garden unless I was there, cause I would have him, now you know why I was tempted. You have done a proffesional job there BB and it looks great.

Gosh what a difference BB , will anybody live there or will you be expected to keeep it in trim indefinitely .. my hubby has one of those scarifyers ..the roller thing with the spikes sticking out have broken off and he can,t find anyone to replace the roller , it's only one year old and is now useless :o(

Thanks Sandra really means a lot ..33 years ? must ve started at primary school then lol

Yes agree got called to a garden where a designer had drawn a border and left 4 Mahonias for someone else to dig the border then plant up ..£250 for a drawing of a kidney shaped border .

Thanks Milky have you ever seen such a bald lawn .. now if it works perhaps I ll scarify my head next..

lol you will never get dandruff if you do hehe

lol i wish ray,, heheh, 50 in jan and looking forward to it,, PARTY! :o)

Hi Spritz feel embarrassed using that tag when see your garden .. no I also maintain his main home which is huge with a cottage bigger than ours at the end of the garden.

Totally agree with you Morgana the term professional does not necessarily mean you know what your doing Spritz not a professional as such but look at that garden !

Have seen some dreadful standards of work from so called professionals - the cut and run merchants I call them who leave their engines running as they fly round the garden faster than a window cleaner !

The scarifier I use has a 5 year guarantee Amy and although electric has had some heavy abuse as pics demonstrate .Qualcast with Bosch motor brilliant.

Hi Ray a lot of hard work has gone into that garden, when you say your arms were blistered by Hogwood sap, what is hogwood? and is the sap that potent?
I class myself as a professional Jack-of-all-trades master-of-none Love DIY-ing even though some projects end in disasters. ;o)))

Hi Bob its giant hogweed you will have seen it growing wild all over hedge rows and waste areas with flower heads like delicate cauliflower heads.

The sap is very potent and causes blistering that then bursts and scabs over it is sensitive to heat and light so a hot bath or working on a hot day makes the itching worse.

It looks awful and can last for months eye protection is essential as sap in your eye can cause permanent damage.

It dies back in autumn to a woody stem and sap not rising this the best time to clear and regular strimming mowing prevents it from re- establishing.

An awful lot of work there Ray! I'll bet you're glad its a flat lawn!! And you SHOULD call yourself professional! It IS your profession, and you're obviously good at it!
I didnt realise hogweed was so dangerous! Are you recovered now??

Bb you are making a grand job there but do hope the owner lets you plant something........

A good clearance there. It will be interesting to watch how it develops

Good blog Bb, very satisfying to see the improvements isn't it ?
Just looking at all that work though makes me ache !

that's an amazing amount of work you've done already BB, great job, look forward to seeing it all develope :))))

We can only imagine what it was like before but it's certainly been knocked into shape now! I do hope the owner will keep it looking good once you've finished, or maybe you'll get that job too! Well done, great things electric scarifiers, aren't they? :o))

yikes Ray , that is a lot of work for you to do.
will you get to do some of the other houses your client has forgotten about.
im alwaysssssss doing that too mind, forgetting to come home that is lol

What a boring garden, though - no flowers, just a beautiful lawn (when Bb has sorted it - which he will!).

Does he have flowers at his other home? I can't imagine why anyone would want two houses like this! Greed? Too much money? It beats me! Especially when there are people crying out for a home...selfish, that's the word!

The owners of that garden are so lucky to have found such a competent Professional gardener. Yes you are a professional gardener because you do it for a living. You are obviously a real hardworking gardener too. I know what you mean by not wanting to call yourself a professional on this website though, cos we'd all start asking you all kinds of questions ..... bet you could answer a good proportion of them too. It will be so interesting to see the final result, but of course you are constrained by the owners decisions or do you have a free hand? You should have by the look of it.

Well done Ray!

The time and care you take and the effort you put into these things is obviously rewarding in itself. Sometimes it can be frustrating when you don't see immediate results but when you get to a certain point, you stand back, wipe your brow and feel immense pride in what YOU have done.

As for professional......well, half these 'so-called' professional 'think' they know it all because they have 'qualifications' but often, the professionalism comes from the experience gained over many years - but not so many, obviously, as you're just a pup, aren't you! lol! - which in most cases, you just cannot buy!!

Keep up the good work son, tha's doing a grand job!! :0)

Thanks Ray, I google'd it too and got a picture it's a nasty looking beastie, that has now gone into my 'watch out for' file. I have seen these but not (thankfully) in my garden.

you have done a good job.....i love taking on a wild garden its so satisfying when you tame it.. we have the dreaded hog weed here. its horrible when you get it on your skin.

Thanks for all the supportive comments very kind ..I do go to some lovely gardens too just never removed so much moss and dead thatch filled 6 of those builders bags ..

Not sure about the lovely lawn Spritz lol ..no grass to be seen yet ! There were borders but only a hebe and honeysuckle worth saving moss and weeds had choked everything else.

Lol Eileen cant imagine you d be gone for long - too many would miss you .

Erm Mad too many here with much broader knowledge than me ..thats my point really earning my living from gardening dont make me an expert .

A pup OB ? More like a mongrel certainly left my scent all over this garden well and truly marked my territory lol

Aye Sandra .. yes very satisfying eventually not nice having to wrap up on a hot day but if you dont cover up when cutting hogweed its really nasty .

LOL Ray! You're still a professional! A modest one, but thats not a bad thing! :~)))

Thanks Mp .

You're welcome! :~)

Well done Bonkers. I've seen some of the results of invasions by so called professionals and would not give them the time of day. I would much rather have a keen and proficient person anyday. You obviously work hard and get good results so you deserve all the support you get.
As for Sandra. Well what can I say. Do we really want fibbers here on GOY. No-one who looks that good is anywhere near fifty. I may believe 25 but.............

Good job done there BB.........

Thanks for the insight into your work Ray and lots of hard work you've done too. I hope your client appreciates what graft is involved - though I doubt it, you can only understand work like this when you've had a go yourself.

Thanks Toto ..me too and can never understand why anyone would do a poor job and rip someone off too esp older folks who often have a more trusting approach really riles me ..even heard of customers being taken to cash machine to ensure payment as these rogues dont want cheques ..

Anyone reading and considering garden work always get written quotes ..if being charged VAT they should have headed paper with VAT no. ( and old ruse to charge customer an extra 17 .5 % when not Vat registered ) .

If a large job like landscaping agree stage payments as work progresses ( whilst obviously working to a final sum )so if unhappy you have only paid for whats been done - or not done - and never pay large sums up front for ' materials '.esp before any groundworks done.

Sorry rant over ..

Thanks Hollyeves ..aye Dawn but this kind of thing ensures I get year round work and winter months I find are only time you can really get into those big herbaceous borders for a real good tidy.

Thanks BB for the wonderful blog and pictures of all your hard work at Campion Close, I now have a picture of where you are working which reminds you of Polly. Perhaps when you eventually start planting it up you put a little Campion and Polyanthus just in case you forget! Lol
You are doing a great job and have certainly put in a lot of hours and hard labour, didnt think it would be as big , the hedges are looking good now and Polly would have loved a roll in all that moss you raked off. Will you be designing the planting scheme in the future? look forward to seeing how it all progresses.
"Keep on Digging"

Thanks PP ..would love to plant some of this esp as been so neglected as you can probably tell from what was once a lawn.

Have other gardens to do and dont get here as much as would like ..hopefully someone will move in as planned and this will make beds and borders worthwhile.

Really needs someone to love it as their home .

Looks a nice house shouldnt be too difficult to find someone who woll love it!

BB what a mammoth task, well done for making such an excellent job, please carry on with the pics.

Thanks DD ..rather boring just included this to provide details of renovating a lawn ..at least some green shoots appearing , hope its not the weeds again .