What to replace chippings with?

TomsMom

Not sure if this should be here or in the In My Home forum but I thought some experienced gardeners might have some ideas.

This is how my small garden is





I live at the seaside and every winter a lot of sand gets blown into the garden, this year being the worst, and the chippings get covered with sand. I have to sweep them up, riddle them, wash them off, dispose of the sand, sweep underneath where they were (which is some chippings cemented in) then replace the chippings and topping up with new ones if necessary.

I've got to the stage where this job is just too physically demanding for me and I'd like to have the chippings removed and the cemented in ones underneath and replaced with something requiring a lot less maintenance but will still complement the indian stone paving.

Any ideas? My garden is no more than about 30' long and probably 20' at it's widest point (including borders).

lostinrates

TomsMom wrote: »

Not sure if this should be here or in the In My Home forum but I thought some experienced gardeners might have some ideas.

This is how my small garden is





I live at the seaside and every winter a lot of sand gets blown into the garden, this year being the worst, and the chippings get covered with sand. I have to sweep them up, riddle them, wash them off, dispose of the sand, sweep underneath where they were (which is some chippings cemented in) then replace the chippings and topping up with new ones if necessary.

I've got to the stage where this job is just too physically demanding for me and I'd like to have the chippings removed and the cemented in ones underneath and replaced with something requiring a lot less maintenance but will still complement the indian stone paving.

Any ideas? My garden is no more than about 30' long and probably 20' at it's widest point (including borders).

What a lovely garden.


Do you need the chipping area to be hard standing? I am wondering if something like a prostate thyme might suit you? Not sure how that would cope by the sea.....but it would cope with a little traffic if you went off the path, and give you a little more green without requiring mowing?

Would be labour intensive to establish mind you......

PasturesNew

What about a seashell aggregate .... I like the crushed scallop shells
http://www.decorativeaggregate-uk.co.uk/products.htm

TomsMom

Thank you Lostinrates. That was how it was 3.5 years ago, the borders have changed a bit plant wise and I'm still working on filling them up with suitable plants. I was thinking I would prefer hard landscaping purely because it could be swept and washed down if necessary but any ideas are welcome. The borders are enough work for me. I'm on my own now and there's a limit to how much physical effort I can put in (I have COPD).

TomsMom

PasturesNew wrote: »

What about a seashell aggregate .... I like the crushed scallop shells
http://www.decorativeaggregate-uk.co.uk/products.htm

Oh wow! Those are lovely, I've never seen them before. Trouble is I think they would end up the same as the chippings. I live very close to the beach and when we get the strong winds in the winter my garden gets covered in sand. We had 100mph winds in February and the whole of my garden was covered, you couldn't see any soil and you couldn't see any chippings, plus all the paving slabs were covered to, about 1" deep everywhere. Took an awful lot of time and effort to sweep it away and dispose of it. I've only just got around to sorting the borders out, I couldn't remove the sand from them so have had to get some extra compost and mix it in.

I_have_spoken

What about resin-bonded aggregate, then the sand would brush off as with the paving - http://www.resinbondedaggregates.com/resin-bonded-questions-and-answers.php

TomsMom

I_have_spoken wrote: »

What about resin-bonded aggregate, then the sand would brush off as with the paving - http://www.resinbondedaggregates.com/resin-bonded-questions-and-answers.php

Thank you! That looks like it could be an answer. I'll have a good read through and see if there's anyone available to do it where I live, I'm quite rural so sometimes difficult to get things done that people in other areas can get done easily.