The Back Garden takes shape

This post could just as easily be entitled "The Beginning of the End for the Builder's Yard", which is what my side and back garden has been for the last two years since we moved in.  At last I have made some significant progress to making it look right; I previously reported the completion of the paving here - that was a bit premature as actually there were five left to do, which I wanted to do at the same time as the little back wall. 

As I've said before, this wall is just four courses high but fills several important functions: firstly it provides a good edge for the limestone paving laid on sand; secondly it retains a foot of earth at the base of the stone wall where we had lowered the ground level (this was essential for drainage but I was worried about whether we had gone down too far and that the foundation of the wall might erode); thirdly, it's a home for a good amount of spare earth which I had acquired whilst laying the flagstones and finally, it looks good!

At the far end you can see the foundation for the brick barbeque which I hope to do soon.  The last five flagstones are the ones at the top, beside the wall and the barbeque.

The other major task just completed is that yesterday we collected 20 sq m of turf, which I have laid today. 

This is what now permits me to say that it is now more of a garden than a builder's yard (although you can still see a pallet, my mixer and various plastic tubs in the above photo! Here's a photo of the lawn, (left) with the steps and the unfinished stone wall beside the house (which is just out of picture on the right), and you can just see a bit of the low brick wall which runs across the back of the house (on the extreme right).

Top tip for turfing: buy good turf! It should be consistently thin but strong; if not it's a nightmare (I learned that a long time ago; these were great).

I think you will agree that it's a large change from what we bought almost three years ago:

I reckon the above photo is taken from almost exactly the same place as the one of the lawn above it; the ivy covered apple tree is in the middle at the top of the lawn photo (I just pointed the camera down at the lawn a bit more). In fact this overgrown photo was taken in March 2011 after five months work - the "as purchased" condition was so bad that you couldn't even walk there due to the vegetation.