tackling a jungle garden

robwend

hi. we brought a house with a small 30ft garden but is totally over grown ,has 3 trees at the back that need cutting down , is raised at the back with rocks and stone plus tons of mud and very bad concrete paths, I DONT KNOW WHERE TO START!!the house next door is stagered to ours to is raised higher, which means on there side we have to have a raised flower bed, so i need to do a small wall. how do i build a small wall? what cement ect do i need?or is this a job for poffesionals?

tawnyowls

What exactly is 'small'? If it's only a couple of feet, you should be able to do that yourself. There is a rather dinky product on the market that keeps all the bricks in line for you - forget what it's called. Various 'recipes' for mortar - think Tommy Walsh used to use 1 part cement to 2 parts soft sand.

robwend

just 2 bricks high<a planting border wall. ty hun thats helps loads

unsure

If you are not sure about bricklaying you could always make a railway sleeper wall...it would only take a single sleeper to achieve the height you are talking about. They make a good-looking feature in many gardens and their weight means they won't shift easil if they kids run aorund on them.

Lord_Gardener

robwend wrote:

hi. we brought a house with a small 30ft garden but is totally over grown ,has 3 trees at the back that need cutting down , is raised at the back with rocks and stone plus tons of mud and very bad concrete paths, I DONT KNOW WHERE TO START!!the house next door is stagered to ours to is raised higher, which means on there side we have to have a raised flower bed, so i need to do a small wall. how do i build a small wall? what cement ect do i need?or is this a job for poffesionals?

To get your garden into order, make a plan!

Draw a sketch of the garden and see what you've really got!

Check the condition of your boundry fences/walls - do they need repairing/replacing/painting/etc.
Check condition of any patio/paths - repair/remove/replace?
Note down position of beds and major plants - Trees/shrubs/hedges - prune/remove/replace?

When you know what you've got, decide what you want and make an action plan.

Soft work - which will improve your garden dramatically!

Strim/cut down any overgrown lawn areas.
Clear obvious weeds away from beds (you'll then know most of the plants you really have)/paths/patio.
Prune trees/shrubs.

Hard landscaping

Plan and take action on paths/walls/patio areas.

Don't try and do it all at once, it's going to take time - start with the soft work first.

Good luck!