Most cost effective way to level a garden

gazfocus

Ok, so leading on from this thread...

We bought our first house in the summer of last year but we weren't able to use the garden much because it's on a slope (granted, we were so busy that we didn't really have time for it). The garden slopes down away from the house so house is higher than bottom of then garden.

Anyway, the neighbors garden on one side slopes exactly the same as ours does and there are no neighbors on the other side, but a piece of land we are trying to get the council to rent to us (this land also slopes). Also, the fence slopes at the same rate as the ground.

So, what we want is basically to level the entire garden but unsure of the best way to do it.

If we raise the garden to be level with the house, end up higher than the neighbors garden and not sure how that would look. If we lower the garden, we'll end up lower than the neighbors and get the rain water from both sides.

So...can anyone make any recommendations as we're truly stumped?

tonyh66

google terraced garden

rum1

Depends on how big the slope is but have you thought of staggering the garden into 2 or more levels

Furts

If you end up with a retaining wall get it designed or built by someone who knows what they are doing.

keystone

What is the length of the garden and what is the drop from one end to the other? BTW making it perfectly level is a little daft TBH as it'll never drain properly.

Cheers

cyclonebri1

The key to cheap in this context lies in NOT paying for skips to take waste earth/subsoil away. Skips run at about £150 for a standard 8/10 jobby and are quickly filled.

As said terraced or stepped is the way to go, what you dig out you use elsewhere to level.

Keep the good stuff, the top soil on the top.

Many ways of stepping but give me either a dry stone or reclaimed masonry built wall every time, any form of timber is temporary unless you use quality reclaimed sleepers at about £20 plus each.
If you do use sleepers and you want plants, have kids around etc, ensure they are not preservative treated for toxic reasons. Untreated are equally easily found.

Get digging, ie, the labour is where you can save most;);)