Changing lawn to gravel - some advice please

Bean_Counter

Hi,

I have decided that I am going to do away with the back lawn and go for a covering of stones / gravel - a nice easy, to maintain solution. I was hoping to do it all myself to keep the cost down and was looking for some advice.

My plan was to leave the grass where it is, cover with plastic then apply the layer of stones. So my questions so far are:

1. The anything intrinsically flawed in my plan?

2. Can anyone recommend a plastic covering to use?

3. What depth of stones should I have?

4. At present the lawn comes flush to the edge of the patio. Would I need to dig out a depth at the edge so that the top of the stones layer is flush with the patio?

5. If the garden is on a slight slope does this matter?

6. Can anyone recommend a stone supplier where we can see some samples first?

My next stage is as follows. As mentioned above, most of the garden is on a slight slope, sloping down from the fence at the back, down to the patio. There is a slight plateau at the far right hand side where we used to site the previous trampoline. We have purchased a larger trampoline where part of one leg is on the slope and hence not level. (We knew this before purchasing the trampoline but were planning on adjusting the garden anyway.) So I need to level up this section of the garden before putting down the plastic and the stones. My questions here are:

1. Can I realistically use any of the garden that I might need to dig out to make room for the stones to help level out the trampoline or will it just slide down the slope?

2. Should I just go and do the job properly and extend the plateau area and shore up with a retaining edging? If so, what is the most cost effective way to do this?

3. Should I just level out the trampoline by digging down the legs at the uphill section?

Many thanks in advance of your input.

societys_child

1. That's what I did.

2.You can get a fabric know as weedstop or similar but it's a bit fragile, no use under an area used for parking etc I used that cheap nylon weave covered in plastic, often sold as trailer covers. Thin, lightweight stuff, usually pale green or blue. Lidl had some last week week but not very big sizes. You need to use a garden fork to put some holes in for drainage.Peg it down to stop it slipping.

3. I used my pick-up and a trailer to get 2 tonnes at a time from local builders yard, can't remember how much I needed, just made a few trips until I'd covered the sheeting.

4. yes dig down a couple of inches to bury the edge of the sheet.

5. depends on the slope. you may get some slippage. Might just need raking back occasionally.

6. just went to local builders and bought the cheapest gravel. It had quite a good mix of colours. I could have bought some really fancy stuff in white/ blue / pink/ green but it was small and I think the local cats would have though it was a giant litter tray.

I can't answer the next 3 questions . .. you could probably peg some builders laths over the plastic sheet at meter intervals, may help stop things sliding. Not sure what it would look like.

Get digging, good luck . .