building a grass bank in the garden

theGrinch

I am planning on building a grass bank/raised seating area in the garden. It will will be 2.5m x 1.3m x 80 cms (h).

I have 6.5 cubic metres of clay soil, hardcore and top soil (will save me about 5 skips)

I was thinking of using railway sleepers as a frame for assembly while the materials settle.

Any tips on the best way to construct a solid grass bank, materials and order?

Farway

You may find problems [and some scaremongering] regarding railway sleepers

This centres around the tar / creasote used in their previous life

Personally unless the sleepers will be in contact with humans & clothing I would ignore the scare stories you will hear

susieb

HI
If you are going to do it as a slope then some turf straight on top should hold it ok, thats all the enviroment agency do with the flood defence banks, maybe do it as a mound and then once it all settles cut the seating area out.

theGrinch

i was thinking of a cubiod/rectangle with straight lines. had thought about cutting a seating area out vs standard seating.

Davesnave

I can't see how you will get it to keep a cuboid shape once you remove the sleepers. Will you grow grass on the sides and how will it establish? The natural tendency of loose materials, rather than built forms, is to weather & slump over time. People who build cuboids from loose stuff usually do this inside galvanised wire cages called gabions:

http://www.enviromeshgabions.com/gabion-39

Sorry to sound so negative. Perhaps I'm not 'getting' this properly

theGrinch

i think I will give it a try and hopefully the grass will hold it together in time.

i think it will look good and save a small fortune on skips!

Davesnave

i think it will look good and save a small fortune on skips!

Having just spent last week filling skips, I can understand that. Seven of them cost my brother in law £1k. I seem to remember paying about £60 per 6m3 skip....probably 15 years ago now!