Garden in need of restoration

iwant2asave

Hi,

My smallish garden is quite a mess.  It has loads of stones across it.  Weeds growing all over it etc.  The main things I want to do are to get rid of the stones and get grass growing nicely on it.  Wondered if anyone knows if this is something I could consider doing my own or is this a job that I need to get a landscape gardener for?  Either way, what sort of things might be involved.  Thank you,

Update : fyi most of the stones are probably from building works from an extension which wasn't cleared properly from a few years ago, so mostly on top layers.  Before that the grass was growing well and not many stones.

Brie

Are you strong and have a lot of time?  Then you could do it yourself.  If not then this is the sort of thing that a normal gardener can sort. 

I think (happy to be corrected) that first you want *someone to come along, skim the first couple of inches off and dispose which will rid you of a lot of the stones.  Once you see what's under that you might want to do the same again.  Once that's all done you want to put layers of decent quality top soil on it.  And then you can either have a plan yard, in which case just lay lots of lovely turves.  (from what I grew up to know as coming from a sod farm...)  Or you could then design something a bit nicer.  

If you know that you want a shed in one corner and decking over part of it you don't need to go through the skimming etc as you can build right on top.  But if you want it all as garden, even with some decorative bits like stepping stones and flower beds you want to sort out the mess and get it fairly even.  If you want flower beds you might even want to dig down further than when you plan on having a lawn.  

*someone = a normal gardener who alone or with one or two others goes around and cuts grass and prunes lawns and has a van full of kit - like maybe a rotatiller to loosen up the mess before clearing it.  Charges maybe around £20/person/hour rather than someone with an ipad who will talk about colour co-ordinating your vision and charges significantly more.

barnstar2077

I am in a similar position.  My plan is to dig over and level the garden, removing any weeds/roots and big stones as I go.  Then use a garden sieve if necessary to remove smaller stones from the surface.  Then use grass seed and a sprinkler attachment on the hose to water.  If the soil is of a very poor quality though, then digging in bags of compost maybe a good idea.

FreeBear

Brie said: I think (happy to be corrected) that first you want *someone to come along, skim the first couple of inches off and dispose which will rid you of a lot of the stones.  Once you see what's under that you might want to do the same again.

Dig a trial pit, and see just how deep the layer of stones is. Contact a local groundworks company and get them to scrape off the top layer with a minidigger and dispose of the spoil with a grab lorry. The grab lorry can make a return trip to deliver top soil, and the guys can spread it around before going home.

I hired a man with a minidigger for the day and did something similar - Well, taking out the top 200mm of gravel & soil from a driveway. Access was good, so didn't need a dump truck to move stuff around.

Depending on access, it might cost you £500-1000. A landscape gardener will likely charge you a lot more.

FlorayG

Are you in a new build? Because that looks like subsoil and if it is you won't get anything but weeds to grow
Then there are two options;
Buy a wildflower mix and sow that, pull out the nasty weeds but by bit and have a wildflower meadow - wild flowers LOVE dreadful soil, that's why most people struggle to grow them
Or have it mechanically scraped and buy in several tons of decent topsoil. Once that has settled, get turf laid

FlorayG

Brie said:

*someone = a normal gardener who alone or with one or two others goes around and cuts grass and prunes lawns and has a van full of kit - like maybe a rotatiller to loosen up the mess before clearing it.  Charges maybe around £20/person/hour rather than someone with an ipad who will talk about colour co-ordinating your vision and charges significantly more.

Gardeners all over the country hate this. A gardener is someone who knows plants and how they grow and how they should be looked after and understands soil. The 'someone' you are talking about is not a gardener that is a handyman who does stuff in your garden. Real gardeners do a lot of training and you're paying for that. You 'someone' is going to do what you tell him and not know or care if it's actually the correct thing to do 
I would suggest the OP pays a real gardener for advice before getting in 'someone' to do the actual work

Eldi_Dos

barnstar2077 said:

I am in a similar position.  My plan is to dig over and level the garden, removing any weeds/roots and big stones as I go.  Then use a garden sieve if necessary to remove smaller stones from the surface.  Then use grass seed and a sprinkler attachment on the hose to water.  If the soil is of a very poor quality though, then digging in bags of compost maybe a good idea.

Depending on the area you have to de-stone, it may be worthwhile buying a section of mesh,some timber and knocking up a sieve table.
Your back will thank you for it.

iwant2asave

Eldi_Dos said:

barnstar2077 said:

I am in a similar position.  My plan is to dig over and level the garden, removing any weeds/roots and big stones as I go.  Then use a garden sieve if necessary to remove smaller stones from the surface.  Then use grass seed and a sprinkler attachment on the hose to water.  If the soil is of a very poor quality though, then digging in bags of compost maybe a good idea.

Depending on the area you have to de-stone, it may be worthwhile buying a section of mesh,some timber and knocking up a sieve table.
Your back will thank you for it.

It's about 2m X 4m garden

What kind of mesh please...I had a bit of a Google and it's coming up with different types of meshe and sieves.  Thank you,

iwant2asave

FlorayG said:

Are you in a new build? Because that looks like subsoil and if it is you won't get anything but weeds to grow
Then there are two options;
Buy a wildflower mix and sow that, pull out the nasty weeds but by bit and have a wildflower meadow - wild flowers LOVE dreadful soil, that's why most people struggle to grow them
Or have it mechanically scraped and buy in several tons of decent topsoil. Once that has settled, get turf laid

Thank you.  Not a new build about 60 years old property.

The soil/weeds/stones etc are mainly a result of an extension that was done and the garden not cleared properly. 

Bigphil1474

OP - do you have kids? Buy a bucket for each kid, and the one who fills their bucket up with stones 'the best' wins a prize. Repeat until it's clear. Or try worm teasing - get them to clear a square meter of ground of all stones, and they have an hour to collect as many worms from that patch in an hour (usually involves hitting the ground repeatedly). Save the worms for later. Repeat. 

Best case scenario you can absolutely do this yourself if you've got the energy to do it. If it's just a case of clearing the stones, digging over, raking out, seeding, then job done. If it's more complicated you might need to call someone in. Either way, getting the time consuming labour intensive bit done at the start yourself will save money.

Eldi_Dos

iwant2asave said:

Eldi_Dos said:

barnstar2077 said:

I am in a similar position.  My plan is to dig over and level the garden, removing any weeds/roots and big stones as I go.  Then use a garden sieve if necessary to remove smaller stones from the surface.  Then use grass seed and a sprinkler attachment on the hose to water.  If the soil is of a very poor quality though, then digging in bags of compost maybe a good idea.

Depending on the area you have to de-stone, it may be worthwhile buying a section of mesh,some timber and knocking up a sieve table.
Your back will thank you for it.

It's about 2m X 4m garden

What kind of mesh please...I had a bit of a Google and it's coming up with different types of meshe and sieves.  Thank you,

If it just 2m X 4m you could try a 3/8" garden sieve/riddle. Around £12 in Screwfix.