New Garden: Depressing & Barren!

londonlydia

Hi all,

I have just bought my first house, attached to which is a 'garden'...a small 50ft, slightly sloping, East facing patch. But it does manage to get some afternoon sun as we're end of terrace with a gap next to us that the light finds its way round quite late. Don't know soil type yet (probably slightly acidic though as I spotetd rhodendrons locally).

Anyway the garden currently has one small patch of very poor lawn (lots of cat poo), and the rest is done in depressing concrete tiles. I'm desperate to make it into something, having been the person to look after our garden in my parental home (I especially love roses so had 8 different ones there).

I have some ideas, but whilst I'm more confident about the planting, I'm cautious about how to start the structural work i the garden. There is an awful lot of these concrete tiles and I want to get rid of them. So...

1) how do you get rid of concrete tiles? What equipment do you need? Is it worth getting someone in...whats the rough cost for that in SE London/ Kent way?

2)What's the best way to sort the patch of lawn out? I won't necessarily keep it all as lawn (some as bed)....Is it worth digging it all up and replacing? How deep would you dig?

3)The fence needs replacing on two sides, whilst doing this is it worth trying to make a 2-level terrace at the same time? There is a slope I want to get rid of...



Sorry about the long post, just the barreness of it is overwhelming and I dont know where to start with it!

Del_Astra

Why not just lift the slabs as you wish to plant? Assuming they are 2 x 2 or 2 x 3 you could just lift them as you go and plant where you have lifted a slab. It will take a while but might be easier than getting it all done in one go. Really all you need is gloves and some muscle.

As for the grass, remove the mess, rake up any dead leaves / moss as best you can. I'd probably just leave until all frost has passed. I'd be scarifying it to get some air into it, and feeding it (once risk of frost has gone).

You may of course wish a professional to assist if you go the terrace route.

annie123

Welocme to living somewhere that can't be too far from me, you'll be on London clay in south east london and rhodendrons grow fine here and roses too.

You only want to make major changes once, so spend the next couple of months planning on paper. Too cold and wet to get much done now.
Only replace the fences that are yours, not your neighbours or you'll get off to a very bad start! Your title deeds or solicitor will be able to let you know which ones are your responsibility.

Concrete tills can be listed on ebay, even as 'come and remove them yourself, but for the time being 'till you know what you want and where I'd leave them be. They are better than wet soil.

The lawn can be repaired from around April onwards.

Take time to decide if you want to grow fruit, veg and herbs, trees, low maintenance shrubs, annuals, childrens play area needed? dry washing outside? raised beds and or tubs?

Once you've decided what your priorities are and how much time, effort and money you have, pop to the library and get some gardening books to get ideas. A wander round B and Q for example can give you price guides on building/gardening stuff.

Then you'll be better prepared to ask more specific questions which are easier to answer. HTH

Helen2k8

Get some graph paper and some sharp pencils and really get some plans done - exactly where is East? Where does the sun (ha!!) rise and set now? Where should it rise and set in summer? Are there any drains to avoid with roots? Overhanging trees? Any views you want to keep or block? Are there wind tunnels or frost pockets or soggy areas? What is growing well next door and down the road?

no1catman

Do a search for Landscapers in your area on Yell - in order to gain some ideas an inspiration from their before & after galleries!
Gives you an idea what could be done, and who should you end up on that route.
With the paving slabs - if you've got a sledge hammer with or without a cold chisel you could break them up into more manageable pieces to take to the local dump!
Dig down to clear the aggregates they were sitting on, that's when you'll need top-soil and/or compost.
And if you do have clay underneath, no matter how deep you go - you'll wish you went deeper!!
As you said it was on a slope - if you could 'terrace it' with sleepers - that will enable you to have different sections, and help prevent a sodden area at the bottom in continuous rain!
Good luck.

Mrs_Huggett

If you can get the slabs up whole and you can get them to the front of your property then maybe freecycle them? It will save you several trips to the dump or the cost of a skip, keep an eye out on here for bargains from places like Lidl or Aldi, they do Roses, as do some of the pound shops, might get a couple of nice ones!!

londonlydia

Thanks everyone,

yes I suspect it is London clay, I don't know how quickly the ground changes through to be honest, so I know my family home 10miles more into London is clay (and what I can grow on it) but then there's so much chalk in Kent I didnt know if that changed it? Anyway the house is in Dartford if that helps.

Concrete tiles are on some form of aggregate, so it's not just a case of lifting them unforunately. May try the sledgehammer approach (or get the man too, I'm very clumsy and potentially probelmatic in my hands).

Randomly, there are at leats 20 sleepers behind my shed already. So this is what gave me the idea of potentially terracing. It's not a steep slope, I think 2 separate levels would be adequate. I'm guessing the sleepers were used for beds in the past, and then when the house was renovated in 2007 they made this souless empty space to appeal to low maintenance types :S

Got a bad view all round really (can see B&Q's enormous sign full on), we bought based on the house and convenient location rather than the views. So would be quite happyto block some of that out, but obviously not to lose the light.

We own all the fences, but oddly we also own the path to the rear and side of our garden (which is the one that needs doing), so hoping it will be easily chosen and erected as it doesnt border with anyone (we do have to allow access down the path to the other homeowners)?

I mainly want to use my garden for growing pretty things, with a small area to sit out on and have a BBQ in the summer. No kids (and no plans to) so no need for a big lawn or anything.

I think I'll have a sketch on some paper. If I do end up getting outside help I can always show my ideas then.

Thanks for your help!

Lydia

siwucha

I had a bit of a problem getting up stone setts and paving at home and found a slegdehammer and a crowbar by far the easiest way It's amazing what people want so you could also try listing the paving on freecycle or freegle. If the sleepers are in good nick you could use them to create raised beds on top of your paving, but that may not be the prettiest solution if the paving is ugly concrete.

re: path access; when you bought the house there should be details in there of any shared rights of access along the path in the title register that you should have been given via your solicitors. If not, the land registry could have details. If your neighbours have other outside access to their back gardens I doubt they'd have access rights along your path. We own the path of a ginnel that goes under the first floor of our house and is shared access with next door - it's never caused any problems, and most neighbours are usually quite nice about shared access if it is required.