What to do with garden full of rubble/hardcore?

ripplyuk

The previous tenants of my house thought it would be a good idea to extend the driveway over half of the back garden. It wasn't done professionally. So now, half is grass and half is a mix of rubble/stones/large chunks of broken tarmac.

Some weeds are growing through it but not much else. I'm wondering what would be best to do with it to make it look better. I've thought about adding more decorative stones over the top, paving it with something, adding topsoil and hopefully getting grass, or scattering a lot of alpine plant seeds and maybe something will grow.

I'd appreciate any advice as I don't have a lot of money. I've been told that if I just leave it, eventually it will cover over and look more like a garden again. But maybe this will take decades!

I_have_spoken

previous tenants of my house

Are you renting too?

TBH it'll always look bad unless you do the hard work of getting an 8yd skip, and dumping all the tarmac and hardcore then replacing with topsoil.

Cost wise, 8yd skip would be £175ish and a 1tonne dumpy-bag of topsoil maybe £80.

ripplyuk

I'm renting too, though it's a council house and secure tenancy so I hope to be here permanently.

I think it would take an awful lot of money and work to remove it. Not only does it cover half the garden, but the garden was originally on quite a steep slope and it has been built up almost level using this hardcore. There's big ruts in it with jagged chunks of tarmac. I've already fell on it and hurt my knee. It's a shame not being able to use half the garden.

Would it be easier to try to turn it into a pebble garden?

JP08

Our front garden (about 20 feet wide, 40 feet long) was something similar when we moved in - a gravel drive over hardcore (up to 18 inches deep in places). Got a local landscaping firm in in the end - as they did the block paved drive as well. If I recall correctly somewhere in the vicinity of 15 tonnes of rubble came out and 11 tonnes of topsoil in.

The whole works came in at about £6k. As I say, that included the block paved driveway and sorting all the levels for the new lawn etc. How much it was for the clearance of the hardcore I don't know.

But what I can contribute is that, if it is a fair size and a good depth then forget skips and shovels. You are going to need someone with a digger and a truck.

andrewf75

get a few packets of native wildflower seeds and throw them all over it. They will cover it up pretty quickly assuming there is some soil to grow in and it will look great and be a fantastic habitat. You may want to remove some of the jagged bits of tarmac, but wildflowers actively thrive on poor soil.

ripplyuk

My budget wouldn't stretch to spending thousands on it. A few hundred maybe. I think I'll get someone in to level it out, just to make it safe to walk on.

Do the wild flowers need much soil to grow in? There are weeds growing there so there must be something to grow in, but would it be best to add some topsoil over it first?

Dan-Dan

I think it`s a shame to not at least do the skip thing and get some mates round to help clear the garden , then start afresh in some way

throwing seeds around on top of rocks and tarmac doesnt sound like a great idea , no offence andrew

Fruittea

I would ask the Council to help you out or at least match your costs for getting it removed - worth a try.

andrewf75

Dan-Dan wrote: »

I think it`s a shame to not at least do the skip thing and get some mates round to help clear the garden , then start afresh in some way

throwing seeds around on top of rocks and tarmac doesnt sound like a great idea , no offence andrew

well it does depend on 1) how bad it is and 2) how much they want to spend!

[FONT=&quot]Totally agree, ideally I’d get a skip and remove any big chunks first.
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[FONT=&quot]As for your question ripply, ideally some topsoil would be good but mixed with gravel/sand etc is perfect for wildflowers. [/FONT]

ripplyuk

I don't think it's the council's responsibility because they didn't cause this mess. I can ask them about it but I believe they only repair/maintain things that they themselves have provided. This mess was all caused by the last tenant.

I'd love to get it all removed but all my friends are female and wouldn't be keen to help dig out hardcore 😄. It would take a team of men and machinery. The area is 14x6 meters but it's over 1 meter thick. To get grass back on it, how much topsoil would be needed? I'm wondering if I could just lay it on top, or remove a small surface layer of the rubble first.

I'd prefer grass but if it's not viable, then the wildflowers do sound like the simplest solution. I imagine it wouldn't look very tidy but at least the wildlife will enjoy it.

andrewf75

I don't think grass (as in a proper lawn) would grow well on top unless you dug at least half of it out. 50cm would probably be enough. But no reason why it couldn't look tidy with wildflowers if you did it well. You could intersperse with gravel areas and a few pots, seating area etc. Or lay some slabs.