Front garden makeover needed on a VERY low budget

Lotus-eater

For what you get out of it, its cheap, buy the woven stuff if you can afford it, it lasts longer.

sb44

RAS wrote: »

Hi

Couple of thoughts.

Put the gravel on www.freecycle.org - free in exchange for raking it up and taking it away. Someone will want it.

Consider keeping the gravel under the window -it makes a noise when walked on and is a good burgular deterent.

If the garden faces south (the sun is in front of you at 1pm if your back is to the wall), then watering pots would be a night mare, so it would be better to plant stuff in the ground, even if you have to dig a pit and move some ahlf dent soil in.

There are a number of climbing annual plants - nasties, sweet peas,etc, that are very cheap and a 29p packet from LIdl would make a huge impact in the short term.

I went to take a look around B&Q this afternoon and came home with a couple of Laurels. They were £3.50 for the two, should have been £8 for 3 but one was missing out of the container. They are about 2' tall and I believe they grow quite quickly, does anyone know how much they grow in a year?

Gardening-girl_5

We used bark chippings in our previous garden, never again, it did stink when it started rotting down and went all sort of slimy when it got soaked in the rain!

olly300

Gardening-girl wrote: »

We used bark chippings in our previous garden, never again, it did stink when it started rotting down and went all sort of slimy when it got soaked in the rain!

Bark chippings are a good mulch on normal flower beds as they rot into the soil and so act as a soil improver. However if you don't want something that rots then you should use gravel.

I've seen quite a few front gardens covered in gravel. If it's done properly and the gravel topped up regularly it looks nice.

Gardening-girl_5

The gravel you need is called pea shingle which is a lot smaller and not stones which tends to be too big for path ways, and sounds like what the poster has on her garden?

sb44

Gardening-girl wrote: »

The gravel you need is called pea shingle which is a lot smaller and not stones which tends to be too big for path ways, and sounds like what the poster has on her garden?

I think Pea Shingle is what is down at the minute

If you get something too small then the local cats use it as cat litter which the one across the road does!

I may rething the mulch/bark then if it rots and goes slimey.

Will have to look for some cheap gravel I think.

topmum

Hi I am in the same position as the op. I am thinking concrete/tarmac or stones. But whatever goes down I know I need a good weedkiller. Can anyone recommend a good one?

:beer:

mjr600

Grass and Gravel

Clear the area, kill the remnants with a good weekiller, then use a cheap fabric weed suppressant covered with an inch of a nice looking gravel.

Through the gravel plant a variety of grasses, grow them from seed if you must, follow the link for some help

http://www.clifton.co.uk/pdf/Late_Summer_Colour.pdf

Very cheap method, looks great and low maintenance.

HelenYorkshire

If the OP doesn't want gravel or bark, I remember seeing a gorgeous garden that used "beds" of a slate-like material to great effect. Of course I've no idea of the price! I say slate-like because it was in pieces / sheets rather than lumps, but it was paler than any slate I've seen.

Another vote for freecycle by the way :beer:

olly300

mjr600 wrote: »

Grass and Gravel

Clear the area, kill the remnants with a good weekiller, then use a cheap fabric weed suppressant covered with an inch of a nice looking gravel.

Through the gravel plant a variety of grasses, grow them from seed if you must, follow the link for some help

http://www.clifton.co.uk/pdf/Late_Summer_Colour.pdf

Very cheap method, looks great and low maintenance.

If you use something like roundup (use generic glyphosate as it's much cheaper) then you need to make sure the weeds are actively growing and have all their leaves before you apply it. So you have to spray the entire area with weedkiller first leave it for about 10-14 days then clear the area.