Our garden is a mess. So let’s fix that! In this episode I tackle two jobs that were giving me wonky nightmares – a new patio, and replacing a deck. Are they really jobs that a beginner can do themselves?
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Hi, I’m Pete. Northern Works is all about DIY furniture and home improvement projects that help us to consume less, and create more. I’ve got an ever-growing list of projects, and I’m excited to learn how to build things that I want to use, and that we’d love to see around our home.
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What I used in this video:
– Milanote moodboard: https://milanote.com/
[Music] Hey, Pete here from Gardener Question Time. We’re in the middle of redoing our whole garden. And in this episode, I need to relay the patio, plant a whole bunch of beautiful new flowers, and relay this small deck. But before I can do any of that, I need to make space in the lawn for a new seating area. The old patio was really well laid, but it had this sort of curve that actually made it really difficult to use, especially with chairs, cuz one chair would just be on the grass. So, I need to square it off and actually extend it very slightly. Now, my papers are 600 mil long. I’m going to add 150 mil gravel gap at the far end and then four 8 mil gaps between the pavers and that gives us 3,182 mil which I think we’ll just round up to 3200. [Music] No idea where I’m going to put it all. [Music] Right. So, I’ve lightly compacted this soil down. And what I’m looking for is just an even level of about 40 ms below the original screed. So, then I can level everything off all together. All right, time to lay our screed. So, I’m just making a classic patio screed, which is four parts sand, one part cement. It’ll stay fairly dry. And I’m just going to mix it in the wheelbarrow. And I’m going to lay it in two pores. the first one just to bring it up to about half depth. And I’ve got a few fairly big gaps. So, I’ll fill those in now as well. Right, that’s had a first tamp. So, now I can come back through and fill in the rest with the final screed. I need to make sure it’s proud so I can draw across a big piece of wood and make it all level before I start laying any pavers. And actually, I want to make sure my pavers are straight. So, before I lay my final screed bed, I’m going to do one more thing. Come on up. Come on. Good boy. And then the final thing I’m doing is I’m just trying to get it close to level. It’s not going to be perfect, but if I can get it close to level, then it means that the pavers will be a lot easier to get level. I think we’re ready to lay some pavers. I’m nervous. The main priority is straight. Flat is optional, but straight has to be straight. [Music] [Music] There are some jobs I’m genuinely don’t think that I’m going to be able to do. Well, this was one of them. Pretty pleased with this. Well, I still need to grout in between the pavers, but I’m really pleased with what what I’ve done. The lines are straight. I’ve got this nice sort of jaggedy edge that was inspired by one of the gardens that I’ve taken inspiration from. Now, I just need to go around, smooth the edges. I can finally get the gravel off the drive. Actually, there’s one last thing I need to do before I can lay all of the gravel, and that’s dig out the border that’s going to be right here, welcoming you in as you enter the garden. [Music] [Music] Okay, now we’re ready to lay the gravel. [Music] [Music] Cheers. All right, it’s time to stop fing about with stones and start fing about with wood. It’s time to relay this deck. Now, the joists are in really good condition, which is good. And I can reuse the pilings that were already there, which is great. But there’s a couple of things I need to fix before we can get the boards on. A couple of these joists have sagged at the office end when I’ve demolished it. So, I need to lift those back up and reinforce them. I’m going for a classic mited frame on the new deck and so I need to add a couple of extra joists just for some more support. And I can use the old joists that I took off the previous base. Annoyingly, my driver doesn’t fit in this gap. So, I’ve had to go back to more manual methods. But no issues this end. Let’s build a deck. I think the hardest part of all this is going to be the maths. Four. Seven. Okay. Okay. Okay. I’m pretty sure that at least this edge is straight. So, I’m going to start by getting that lined up. Now I know that works. I can use that board as a template for the rest of them. [Music] Right, I’m going to leave these ends slightly long and then I’ll come back and trim them off in a bit. But now I think we’re ready to get everything attached. And to make sure everything stays straight, I’m going to first of all attach this board. And I’m going to measure and attach this last board. And then fill in everything else using wedges to keep the space nice and even. At least that’s the theory. Let’s see if an idiot like me can make it work. [Music] I think that basically worked. Now we just need to go back and do like 200 screws. [Music] [Music] How the heck did that happen? I’m well chuffed with that. Time to put the frame on now. And for the frame, it’s actually two parts. It’s the bit that goes on the top. Yeah, sure. But it’s also the bit that goes on the side as well. And it’s that bit that I need to put on first so that the screws have got a little bit extra to bite into. Do you know what though? I can’t leave that other piece like that. I’m going to fix that first. [Applause] Okay. Now, now we’re ready for the frame, right? Where was I? Oh, yeah. The frame. [Applause] Right, with the lower frame on, I’m going to get the top frame on. And I’m going to start with putting the side pieces on. Uh, just lightly attach them with a couple of screws. And then I’ll lay the front piece along the top of that. Mark off where my miters need to be. Cut everything to length. And then I’ll attach everything properly. It’s the moment of truth. I am so so impressed with myself. I know that sounds dramatic, but it’s basically perfect. And I definitely didn’t think I’d be able to say that. And it’s given me loads more confidence for next week when I’m going to build a much bigger deck completely from scratch. and that will be in the next video where I’ll have a lot more tips on how I’ve approached building a deck for the very first time. Now, there are a couple of things that I need to do to finish that off. And there’s a couple of things I need to do to finish the patio off. But before I do those things, there’s one more big job that I definitely want to get done this week. [Music] The patio’s good and the deck. Well, the deck’s just a step to get into the office. But the real point of doing all of this gardening was to actually have a garden to sit in. So, the only thing left to do is dig. [Music] [Music] I’ll be honest, I actually know very little about gardening and plants, but I planted a few things in this garden and most of them are still alive. So, I’m just going to use the same technique as always, which is dig a hole that’s slightly wider and slightly deeper than the pot. Take it out of the pot, stick it in the ground, put some soil on it, and then water it. I guess uh I guess we’ll have to check next year whether that works. Well, that’s enough with the plants for now. I just got one more job on my to-do list after walking around on them for a couple of days. There’s just a couple of these slabs that are moving around a bit more than I would like. So, going to take them up and get them leveled off. Now, I’m going to fill in all the joints with this self setting jointing compound. And that should just make everything nice and crispy. This stuff’s well impressive. Literally just brush it into the gaps and then it’s weed proof. And I can only assume that it works by some kind of black magic. Although I’m pretty sure the last time I thought something was voodoo or black magic, it turned out just to be a very simple scientific explanation. So, if you know how this stuff works, stick it in the comments. We can all learn something. Bloody hell, I’ve done absolutely loads this week. And if you only look at that end of the garden, be easy to think that the transformation is almost complete. But you only have to have a quick look at this end of the garden to see I’ve still got so much to do. Although we should make a lot of progress in the next episode when I put in the big deck. See you again.
26 Comments
Hopefully better than the first episode can anyone have found that good to watch
W T F
Hey Pete….well thats a fair amount of work for a week…..every job is moving forward toward completion…… going to be good. Looking forward to next edition
Looks absolutely awesome! Digging and laying blocks is hard work! Whew, I get tired watching you 😂! Its going to be gorgeous when you're finished! Excited to see what you do next!
It's a shame your less particular about the paving, it was looking good, then you laid them down so uneven, would really be a trip hazard. then you added all that gravel without a border between the flower beds and gravel and it looks so meh. hopefully once the grass has grown back in and the decking is down it looks better.
Nice work Pete and another well presented video. Thanks for sharing.
Great to see you posting videos again,
Can't wait for next week.
Why did you install the decking upside down?
Good to watch this developing Pete. Patio looks excellent. The plants towards the end looked a bit dry, I trust they have got plenty of water as filming progressed
Pretty sure you don't just brush that joint compound. You have to compress it for it to work properly
Always put a handfull of horn shavings into the hole before setting up the plant: works like magic, long-term and best is: you can't overdose.
I know how work jointing compound. It's just good old black magic
Top Job Pete..!! Looking good so far mate! Keep it going!! 👍🏾
Thanks for your support, team! It’s great to be back.
A couple of clarifications from this episode:
– @danludlam1562 is right, you do have to compress the jointing compound with a pointing trowel to get it to work properly. Always read the instructions, folks.
– Just in case it’s not clear, the garden IS NOT FINISHED YET.
Love you.
👍👍👍
Very nice , coming along !
Great work Pete, and it’s definitely magic.
Good progress so far, looking forward to your next video
Some really great progress! 👊. Your planting technique is pretty much what’s required in most cases, but definitely do a bit of root ball fluffing in future. Breaking up the hard edges and releasing some roots helps to get them going much faster. Also, really soak them when you’re giving them their first watering in. One other thing that I’d highly recommend would be to define your bed/grass border by using some edging pieces – depending on preference and budget, metal or plastic lengths are easily fitted and contain the soil and give you an edge for mowing up to/over.
Great job, but the scene stealer was your faithful pal. What a beauty, he was so happy to ‘work’ with you. 😊
Hello Pete , well done ! That's how I started gardening many years ago ! best wishes !
Your videos have gotten so good! I love the editing, and the creative decisions you've made.
Also, really thrilled to see how the garden is coming along. It's going to look great when it's done.
You've achieved so much fair play to you. We've been working on a small area of our garden for the entire summer. We had workmen in to replace the fence and they left a path of destruction and mess in their wake so we spent over 5 weeks fixing that which slowed us down immensely. We have heavy clay soil which wasn't accepting water so we dug it up, added a load of manure and compost and the last of the plants went in at 10 pm last night by headlight. Now to finish off the bench for out there (hip bursitis stopped that in it's tracks 2 weeks ago!) and we're done. Looking forward to seeing the deck build as that's on our list of things to do too except we're making paving stones for ours.
Perhaps a power-washer for the fencing? Your garden is going to be lovely. Hello from Virginia!!
Just another little tip , dig the hole for your things you are planting and put some water in first so the roots have something to drink after been in a pot for some time , then put your plant into the hole add soil if needed and water again the top and you should have a good growth in the next season. If you want to treat them a bit more give them fertiliser before the winter and again that boost them for the next season . Have fun Pete ,say hello to Audrey and Archie from me !
Pete, you're smashing it mate!!!!!! Sooooo looking forward to the next update😊 👍
Super