6 Garden Jobs You Could Knock Over in a Weekend

Weekends are precious for the avid DIY enthusiast and there is nothing worse than approaching stumps at 5PM Sunday with plenty of project still to complete.

So here’s 6 great projects your could knock over in just one weekend! Just remember you only have a weekend, so don’t get in over your head. If the project is going to take more than a weekend, divide it up into manageable chunks.

1. Liven Up Your Space With Potted Plants

One of the easiest, fastest and most impactful weekend jobs is planting some colour or perhaps a feature plant. And why not use pots? Using pots rather than planting into a garden bed usually means everything can be purchased in more manageable amounts. Take a large feature specimen like a Dracaena Marginata, planted in a pot on the patio will only require 1-2 bags of a premium potting mixture, a nice feature pot, such as a brightly coloured Todd Square and a small bag of decorative pebble or mulch to finish it off.

The great news is, the whole project can be picked up in one car load! With potting mix, mulch, pebble, pots and plants all bagged up or nice and clean.

Why not plant a range of plant types in a range of pot styles. An eclectic collection of sizes, colours and textures mixed with a broad range of plant species makes for a striking feature. Use colourful pots in varying sizes, placed in mass to create the feeling of a deep lush garden bed. Using the same methods employed in garden beds, you can underplant larger shrubs all placed around a larger feature tree/plant. Plant with a theme in mind, like country cottage, formal or tropical.

 

 

2. Plant a Veggie Garden

Save money on fresh groceries, eat healthy, educate and entertain the kids all at the same time. What magical contraption offers all this you ask? A home made and cared for Vegetable Garden! Start small and grow your space as required.

The 10 best beginner veggies & herbs are mint, silver beat, leafy greens, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, radish, squash, cucumber, spring onions and hardy and perennial herbs. As your garden grows you can get creative and start eating and cooking with the season and your crop yield. If you’ve got cucumber, make cucumbers sandwiches!

Veggies can be planted in just about any container or garden bed, so you don’t need any special equipment to get started. Get a decent veggie soil mix like our Ultima Organic, Sugar Cane Mulch, gardening tools, a warm corner of earth and you’re away. Once again, if you’re short of garden space, try fabricated raised gardens or large pots.

3. Seal Your Pavers

Just like cleaning your hardwood floors, vacuuming your carpets or painting your bedroom walls, cleaning and sealing your pavers can add an instant lift to an area. Beg, borrow or steal yourself (or maybe just hire one if it gets that desperate) a high pressure cleaner, treat your pavers with a specialised cleaning solution, let them dry and paint on your sealer the next day. It’s as easy as that!

Depending on the size of your area, it can cost less that $250 and take you a total of 2 hours of work time for a undeniably fresh result. You’ll only wish every outdoor project was that simple!

4. Oil Your Deck

Similar to sealing your pavers, a new coat of oil on the old deck can give instant impact. Depending on what the current state of the deck is, a good clean and a couple of coats of oil may be all you need! Cabot’s do a great range of water based products which makes for easy clean up. Start with Cabot’s Deck Clean and scrub it clean removing all dirt and oils. Once dry, apply two coats of oil and Robert’s your mothers brother!

Of course, if you’ve let your deck fall into various states of disrepair, there might be a smidgen more work in it for you. So make sure you allow enough time to complete the job at hand. Jobs like sanding, nail head flattening and board replacement will add time to your project and could easily push it over until the next weekend. For best results, do all the hard work like sanding and nails first then apply your cleaner the day before you plan to oil. That way there is a greater chance your deck will stay clean. You don’t want to clean your deck and run out of time coming back weeks later. You’ll just need to start all over again!

5. Build a Small Retaining Wall

So this one’s a bit bigger. But with proper planning you should be able to get a small retaining wall knocked over in a weekend. Best to focus on the simpler methods of retaining like using link wall retaining blocks which require no specific engineering, concrete, mortar or glue. That being said, if you’re planning a large wall (long or high), take your time and DON’T attempt it in one weekend!

Order your gear in advance! We recommend having everything delivered on the Thursday. This allows for a little wiggle room incase something doesn’t go to plan. There’s always the Friday to get it sorted. There’s nothing worse than looking for something first thing Saturday morning and realising it hasn’t been delivered or you forgot to order it!

We would suggest a retaining wall between 5-8 square metres on solid level ground could be thrown up over a weekend. Invite your mates around, and tell them to bring beer.

 

6. Pave Your Patio

Like retaining, paving is a slightly larger job and only small areas should be attempted over the course of one weekend. An area up to 6 metres by 6 metres is achievable depending on the condition of the area you’re starting with.

If your area is level and clear you should be good to go. Once again, plan ahead. Order your gear for earlier in the week and write yourself a checklist. Go through and make sure everything large or heavy like sand, base and the pavers are onsite ready to go. Tools and small accessories can always be picked up over the weekend.

If you’re starting with an existing paved area that will need clearing always allow more time. Perhaps clear the first weekend and pave over the next. Likewise, if there is plenty of ground work to be done in getting level, sorting drainage or reconfiguring the space add an extra weekend to ease the stress.

So there you have it, 6 great projects your could knock over yourself or with a friend this weekend!  Remember the 6 P’s… proper preparation prevents p*#% poor performance! So plan ahead, map out your jobs and conquer a DIY project this weekend!