(Photography: Sue Ferris)
The front yard will dictate everyone’s first impression of your home, so make it count by creating something that’s beautiful on a budget.
With Charlie’s help, you’ll soon be turning heads and starting conversations with simple weekend tasks that will turn your dull front garden into something that will razzle dazzle your neighbours.
Take out a lazy lawn and put in a lovely bed of flowering plants, replace a poor excuse for a hedge with one that grows lush under any conditions, plant a feature tree, and then tidy up.
These are simple tasks that won’t break the bank and are easy for anyone to tackle.
Project 1: Replace the lawn with a garden bed
Gather your supplies:
- Plants
- Compost
- Mulch
- Grass marking paint
- Square-edged spade
- Metal rake
- Garden fork
- Post-hole digger
- Buckets
Step 1
Mark out where lawn is to be removed with grass marking spray paint. Remove turf and all roots by digging squares with a square-edged spade, then lifting it – but keep as much soil as you can.
Step 2
Rake soil to ensure all roots are moved.
Step 3
Turn over soil with fork to aerate it, add compost and rake it in.
Step 4
Set out plants where you want them to go, ensuring that those that grow tall are at the back of the bed.
Step 5
Dig holes with a post-hole digger as deep as pots and twice as wide. Pour water in holes. Soak plants in buckets of water. When water has drained, add plants and backfill holes.
Step 6
Spread mulch over soil of the garden bed.
Project 2: Replace a struggling hedge
Gather your supplies
- Hedging plants
- Compost
- Mulch
- Square-edged spade
- Garden fork
- Metal rake
- Tape measure
- Post-hole digger
- Buckets
Step 1
Dig out the old hedge.
Step 2
Dig out and lift squares of turf with spade.
Step 3
Turn soil over with fork to aerate it.
Step 4
Add compost to soil and rake in.
Step 5
Set out new hedge plants 50cm-80cm apart.
Step 6
Dig holes as deep as pots and twice as wide, pour water in holes. Soak plants in buckets of water. When water has drained, add plants and backfill holes.
Step 7
Spread mulch.
Project 3: Finishing touches
1. Paint your porch
The porch is your entrance and bare concrete is a dull grey. Brighten it up with a coat of paint in a deeper, richer grey.
2. Pressure clean your driveway
A gleaming driveway vastly improves the look of your home and costs you nothing more than the hire of a pressure washer.
3. Replace letterbox
A letterbox is essential for any home, but it need not be just a box. It can be architectural and smart too, but not cost a bomb.
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