Now we need something nice to look at.....

10 comments

Well, after much toil and moving of gravel and dirt, we sat back on the decking and looked down on all our hard work. We were feeling somewhat pleased with ourselves as we had started things moving and would soon have fresh, home-grown veggies to eat. We discussed what else we would like to do with the garden and felt it best to break it up into 4-5 sections. One of those sections would be the decking from where we could sit and survey our land.

However, the decking was relatively bare with no plants except Fatsia and the Sweet Pea tubs…oh, and a small Aser. So, that’s when my desire to fill it with colour and make it worth sitting on, became my mission. Everytime we went out, I suggested nipping into a garden centre and inevitably always came out with either new pots or plants or both!! As time went on, we started to fill the area and cover the nakedness of the deck. I even made a 3-tub planter out of the timber left over from the veg patch!

Things were starting to take shape…..

We talked about having a water feature on the decking but couldn’t decide on one we both liked. We knew we wanted trickling water and looked at several online and in garden centres but we always disagreed and they were, in some cases, extortionate.

Anyway, we both like the idea of the wooden half-barrel look, especially if we could drink the contents of the barrel first – alas, no such luck. But, on our more frequent journeys around the garden centre’s, we picked up some bargain pieces towards making our own water feature. So, I’ll try to explain as best I can how it came to be:-

First thing we bought was the half barrel. When I asked the assistant to seperate a stack of them, he siad they were now half price. Happy days I thought – £9.99 was a bargain for the size. Alas, I was wrong, he hadn’t got round to marking them down so it was actually £4.99! Oh dear….better take 2 then coz we can plant in the other one!

We also bought some small, white, rounded pebbles to place around the top. We rushed across the road to another, not-so-nice centre and found a plastic lid used inside of water features. It has a hole in the middle for the water to run back down into the tank. We took it to the counter and asked how much….‘Oh, they been knocking round out there for ages and there’s only a few left. Give us a pound!’ As I tried in vain to release my wallet from my back pocket, the kind gentleman said, ’Don’t worry, just take it. No charge!’ Now we were on a roll.

We got to the car and decided to go back in for the pump we had seen but alas again, we didn’t get this for nowt! £19.95 to be exact! We got home and Ali placed an old ‘Fat Ball’ tub inside the barrel and placed the pump inside of that. She found some chicken wire in the shed that we’d bought for something else and moulded that around the plastic lid.

Once we had got the flow of the pump as we wanted, I intricately placed the white stones around the pump nozzle and added the little frog – cost of £1 – before the grand turning on.

It’s very simple, very relaxing and ALL for less than £40!! Bargain!

Sat out on the decking at the new round table with a Pear cider and the sound of the water and birds in the trees is enough to spend a hazy, lazy day at home…..

• 26 Jul, 2009
• 9 likes

More blog posts by oddbillie