Family Goes DIY On ‘Jungle Hell’ Garden After £7000 Quote And MAKES £1500
- A family who inherited a wild garden went DIY after rejecting a £7000 professional quote
- The garden hadn’t been touched for 30 YEARS
- It had caused £1000s in damage to neighbouring properties
- Mum Leeann managed to MAKE £1500 during the renovation by creating log slices and reindeer from the excess
- The family moved 1 ton of metal, 4 tons of rock and rubble and 7 tons of compost
- They were burning rotten wood every night for a solid YEAR
Many of us inherit something we don’t like after buying or renting a property, whether it’s outdated wallpaper, faulty plumbing or creaky floorboards.
However, one family had to contend with the garden from hell, which had been causing damage to neighbours’ properties for years and would require two years of hard work to clear.
Leeann Sigournay, aged 40 from Scunthorpe who is a carer with three sons, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk about the gigantic project she took on with her family.
‘The garden was my little slice of Hell. We inherited an absolute jungle when we bought the house.
‘The property itself needed a lot done to it, but structurally it’s perfect. It’s got big family rooms and a separate dining room, which I liked.
‘The garden is huge, and we knew it had potential, but it hadn’t been touched for 30 years! Because the property ticked every other box, we had to buy it.
‘The garden was the first job we tackled after moving in. That being said, we had to wait a couple of months as we didn’t have the money right away.
‘I’m not a big gardener but I don’t understand how people could get an outdoor space into such a dreadful state. It was like living in a dump!
‘Overall, we ended up moving 7 tons of compost out, over 4 tons of rock and rubble and one ton of metal. What’s more, we were burning scrap wood, weeds, brambles, rotten wood, dead trees, sticks and more for a solid YEAR every single night, just to clear it.
‘The main focus of this project was clearing out, but I wanted to work with what the garden already had. My inspiration came from cottage gardens - I like pretty gardens but also working gardens, which grow fruits and vegetables. I also wanted to create a space for my two sons to play safely.
‘We got a professional quote, and the guy said that just to clear it - based on what he could see only (there was more at the back of the sheds) - it would cost £7000. This is because he said we would need skips, diggers and a team of workers. This was well outside of our budget so we decided to go DIY.
‘We got many supplies from Facebook Marketplace for free. We didn’t have to pay for the pallets, building bricks, slabs and shrubs. The sleepers were £20 each. We already had a pond as we have rescue turtles we brought from our previous home.
‘To build out the plants, we spent £30 on pots over time, £20 on pond area plants and we got a cherry tree from Aldi for £9.99.
‘The areas where we spent the most were when we got lengths of wood for £80, stripped down pallet wood for £350 and two pergolas for £680 so we could create the decking space.
‘However we were able to fund this expense as we made £1500 during this project!
‘The garden came with a lot of disability equipment such as a wheelchair ramp, and we sold these cheaply to the community to help both us and them.
‘I made 32 reindeer figures from the spare wood and sold them across the country to friends and loved ones. We also made thousands of log slices and sold those.
‘We were able to easily fund our bigger expenses for this project as well as give our children treats as they were also working very hard on the garden with us.
‘The first, and most important part, of the process was CLEAR CLEAR CLEAR. The garden was a complete mess! It was also dangerous for my autistic son, so we had to work hard to make it a safe space for him to play in.
‘I literally have the best neighbours in the world on both sides. The girls to the left of me have been there 30 years and have grown up there. When I had the trees at the back taken down she called me over and gave me £100 towards the tree surgeon! She’s wanted the trees taken down for years - they have never had sunshine in their garden before.
‘The house backs onto five neighbours and the trees have destroyed summerhouses, fences and all sorts. They have caused THOUSANDS in damage over the years. My neighbour had all the rendering on her house cracked and her house was damp due to getting no sunshine as the trees blocked it.
‘Plus, an elderly neighbour in her 90s had these trees hanging over the back of her house. The sap and all the bird poo made her decking very slippery and she went outside, slipped and broke her hip! Her son came around to our house and was helping us to cut the trees down.
‘All our neighbours love us now that we have tackled this garden. During the job, I said to them all they would have to put up with fires as we burned the wood and branches and they welcomed it!
‘My two sons worked so well with us during the project. They did plenty of digging, filled planters and painted them, and even used the JCB mini digger we hired to do some excavating work.
‘When they first saw the digger they were so excited - they just thought I’d hired them a big toy! The eldest, who was 12 at the time, was amazing at it - he would have demolished the garden if we’d let him!
‘To build the decking, we used the free pallets from Marketplace for the woodwork underneath and then picked up the decking itself from B&Q. We then asked my good friend from school who lives in the area to lay it for us.
‘The bar/barn was made by my partner. He used the supplies we got for free from Marketplace and built it using a mitre saw, screws and pallet wood. My children stained and painted the wood prior to the project.
‘We got a chicken run as my son asked for one for his birthday. It cost £200 and it is a galvanised steel welded dog cage so that our staffie can’t get to them. That being said, our staffie is very friendly and he is great with the chickens.
‘The garden also has a hot tub now. My mum and stepfather bought it for us as a new home gift to enjoy after long days of work in the garden.
‘When the garden is complete there will be a summer house, once we can afford it, so that my son can have a sensory area to chill.
‘The main challenge during this project was mainly the amount of clearance we had to do. We had three 90-foot conifers and a dead one which was rotten in the ground to process ourselves as we didn’t have the money to get the work done. Plus, with conifers comes compost, and there was 7 tons of it under the trees.
‘The previous owner had treated the garden like a dumping ground so we had to pull several tons of rubble, metal and wood. You name it, we’ve pulled it out of the garden! We are still clearing even today. All in all it took us just under two years to get the bulk of the work done.
‘I wouldn’t change anything about how this project panned out. Even though it was extremely hard work, it kept us all busy and we are very much outdoor people. It bonded us to get this huge project done together.
‘I’m so glad we took pictures during every step, as on my days when I got sick of doing it, felt I was getting nowhere or didn’t have any patience, I could look back and feel great about what I’d achieved.’
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘Leeann and her family's dedication to transforming their garden from a wild jungle into a beautiful space is truly inspiring.
‘By taking on the challenge themselves, they not only acquired valuable skills but also made meaningful memories and strengthened their bond as a family.’
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Fantastic job. I love that everyone help and can all feel proud of their hard work. Well done, its beautiful.
Leeann and family have done a tremendous job clearing all the back garden. It looks so much different with lots the hard work you've put in over the last year. Congrats on such a lovely garden and making new friendships with your neighbours.