Garden Clearance

AmberStripes

I've just moved house and my back garden is a mess. There are dozens of stacked, chipped paving stones. The flower beds are overgrown with brambles. It's a mess and is sucking the enjoyment out of our new home.

Is it possible to get a company to come round and clear my back garden of all this mess and just leave me with a level canvas to work on in 2025? If so what do you call them?

If not, is it best to get a skip or a grab?

Has anyone else had a similar issue?

Farway

AmberStripes said:

I've just moved house and my back garden is a mess. There are dozens of stacked, chipped paving stones. The flower beds are overgrown with brambles. It's a mess and is sucking the enjoyment out of our new home.

Is it possible to get a company to come round and clear my back garden of all this mess and just leave me with a level canvas to work on in 2025? If so what do you call them?

If not, is it best to get a skip or a grab?

Has anyone else had a similar issue?

It is possible, at a price. Cost will depend on area & what is there. Time & knowledge is money. 

Removing lots of bramble root takes time, just chopping tops of to “look nice” is quicker but leaves problems for 2025

Cost will also impinge on skill level of the people doing the job, jobbing labourers are cheaper than qualified horticulturists / landscapers / builders

Search for Garden Clearance, landscape gardener, or just gardener

My local FB is full of them

Alderbank

My local FB is also full of people who describe themselves as gardeners.

You might want to check that by asking for names of people local to you who they have done work for.

Access is very important both for powered machinery and for removing waste. If it's a terraced house and everything has to go through the property it will be more expensive.

Ensure that all waste is disposed of properly and legally, especially if you get someone off FB. It is your waste and your responsibility to ensure they either are or use a licenced waste contractor and fly tipping carries heavy fines.

CliveOfIndia

An alternative thought - are you able to tackle it yourself?

Stuff like that is hard work, but not particularly difficult.

Advertise the old paving slabs "free to collect" on your local Facebook group, Gumtree or whatever - someone might be glad of it to break up and use as hardcore.

For the brambles, spray them with one of the "tough" weedkillers (there are several that are specially marketed as good for brambles), then you can cut them away.  You'll need to dig out the roots to do a proper job, and there's no denying that's time-consuming and hard physical work - that's where a "man" with the proper power tools can seem like a worthwhile investment.  In fact, if you don't want to use weedkiller, you can do the whole lot by hand.

Yes, of course you've then got the problem of disposing of the waste.  Burning it is one option, once it's dried (if you have the space to do so safely, and can pick a time when you won't annoy the hell out of your neighbours).  Or most council tips/recycling centres have a skip for garden waste.  Or you can just hire a skip.

So yes, it's time-consuming and it's hard work, but you could potentially save yourself quite a tidy chunk of money, which you can put towards the "new" garden.  Just a thought.

twopenny

I'd definitely go for getting rid of the paving slabs though they are useful for veg garden paths and such.

The brambles, use a brushwood killer on the freshly cut ones and chop the rest or use a shredder. You can hire those for quick disposal.

I just took my time and dealt with them, stacked them chopped with long handled loppers doing a bag at a time or using a free massive bag from the builders merchant depending on your transport.

It's not fun, but it's fairly quick and then you can sit back in the winter and plan you garden

henry24

When you do a job like this yourself you'll always have the pleasure of looking out and saying I did that 

Dustyevsky

Buyer's regret manifests itself in many ways. Some take a dislike to the bathroom, where the acres of green tiles make them look permanently ill. Others hate the wood burner that won't draw, so it fills the living room with smoke when the wind's in the west. Still more abhor the road, which surely wasn't this busy when they viewed. And so on...

The garden is just doing what it was doing when you decided to buy. You probably had a plan for it, but now there are half a dozen other things that also need doing, and it's getting worse by the day! 

But fear not, we're into September now, and soon the garden will go to sleep. All that mad growth will stop. You will have time to plan, while also dealing with those other pressing matters. You'll be able to get rid of those damaged slabs via Freecycle, if that's what you want to do. Or maybe, when you have a plan, you'll see they could make a path in the veg garden, largely out of sight.

We don't know how large this garden is, what your experience and fitness is, or even what interest you have in gardening. However, if you want to do something now, in the next week or so, a good dose of glyphosate weedkiller on the brambles will have some effect. It won't kill them, but they'll come back weaker.

And don't think I'm being nasty, talking about buyer's regret. We all feel it, even with the £1m+ properties. It's reality, and that's not what estate agents deal in! 

FlorayG

I did mine myself and counted 27 trailer loads of debris to the tip! You do feel great having done it yourself, but it takes ages

Katiehound

My thoughts would be, as things are still growing (especially those brambles!) I would much of it down, then let them get new growth and spray that (rather than the monsters that are there now- uses less killer) You also need a brushwood killer 'cos those things are tough. the one I know of is SBK.

greenbee

I'm with you on the buyer's remorse Dusty! I have it about almost eveyrthing here Even the cats some days...

If you have room to store them, the slabs may come in handy - I kept mine and have used them for a path down the greenhouse and paving round the outside of it where I store sand/compost/grit, have additional staging, waterbutts and the tomato plants that don't fit in the greenhouse. 

Get yourself some long leather gardening gloves and loppers and cut the brambles back. Cut them up small and they can go in the bin/garden waste if you have a collection/to the tip in small batches. It can be very therapeutic. Then dig out the bramble roots - if you do it yourself, you'll probably do a better job than someone you pay. It'll take longer, but you'll know it's done properly. And you'll get to know the space and get a feel for your garden. 

Dustyevsky

Katiehound said:

 You also need a brushwood killer 'cos those things are tough. the one I know of is SBK.

I shouldn't say this, but the one most effective weedkiller on blackberry is Grazon Pro. It's expensive and not supposed to be sold to amateurs, but available on the Internet. It'll do lawn weeds too. I use it in a limited way on my fields, and on the blackberries, blackthorn and quickthorn which creep into them. A bottle lasts me for years.