Walled lawn area drainage question

Absolutely.

 

Yup. Not a reason for not doing it though If you keep it you have to live with it, and your choices are limited. We had someone nearby filling in a deep pond, they were happy to take all my rubble and some clay soil I had dug out of some footings to fill in it. Of course that needs Lady Luck to shine on you, but worth asking around maybe?

But otherwise go with Planters or some other "on top" construction that disguises, and works-with, the concrete.

 

Hi Kristen

Even if I could get someone to collect/use the rubble, the thought of using a jack hammer for hours on end is something that fills me with dread so have no option but to go for "on top" techniques like you say to create the garden.

As per usual there is nothing worth watching on the telly (how many re-runs of Topgear or QI can one watch ) so decided to use my time more constructively and make a sketch of what I intend doing, mostly based on the ideas and comments from this thread.
It will also allow me to show the wife so she can get an idea before I actually build anything and thus keep me out of the dog house.

 

If your concrete really is 6 inches thick, it would be a battle without doubt, but generally speaking, concrete is nowhere near as difficult to shift as most people imagine.

If you keep hitting the same spot with a sledgehammer, repeatedly, always the same spot, then sooner or later a crack will form. By the time a visible crack forms, many hairline cracks have already formed, and once you get that first bit to smash, the rest comes away fairly easy.

 

Look proper smart

What were you reckoning for the low hedge - to the right of the water feature?

 

That's been my experience too C1, but when I see a piece of unwanted concrete this little voice in my head starts saying "Hire more Boy's Toys"

 

@clueless1

Yep it's around 4 to 6" thick so will give it a miss.

@Kristen

Thank you.
Haven't decided yet.
Any suggestions?

 

It looked like Box in your sketch!

Do you just want an "evergreen block", or have you got other criteria? Flowering? scented?

Just having a static, well clipped "shape", would be easiest and although I don't do Contemporary its what I seem to see in the show gardens at Chelsea, for example, to add form and structure, and perhaps a divide.

 

Box would be good but I don't know enough to be sure that it would be able to handle the high summer temperatures we get.
As long as it's evergreen, preferably non flowering and does not attract bees and is pretty low maintenance except for the occasional pruning, I will be happy.

 

Ah, not sure where you are? Could you put your Location in your profile please? (it will then show below you Avatar next to your posts, which will help folk when giving advice - well ... it MAY help folk !!)

Box is not idea in high humidity situations as it can suffer from type of fungal blight. Not sure about high heat, can't remember seeing it on the continent in hot climates though.

In mentioning it earlier I was thinking about how much depth of root run it would have, as I think that might be the critical factor.

Bamboo perhaps, if you want something "different". I saw a "wall" of them, in containers, around an outdoor restaurant we ate in last summer. Blowed if I can remember where though, otherwise I might be able to find a photograph.

EDIT: remembered it, but can't find any photos, only a 360-degree thingie, so I've taken a screen-grab from that

 

Not obvious form that photo, but its growing in a container, and there is a walkway the other side of the "barrier"

 

Its used extensively in Italy and france I believe.

 

Profile updated to show my location.
Sorry about that, forgot to fill it in when I signed up.

Good points about required root depth and tolerance to high temperatures.
Summers here can be rather wet (and very hot) so it may be a problem.
In the morning whilst I go get some bricks, bags of cement and other supplies to start my build, will ask the wife to pop into a garden center and ask about the suitability of "box".

 

Quite like the bamboo, however does it not grow very rapidly requiring constant trimming?

 

If you want it two feet high then that would be a problem, unless there is a dwarf variety ("Bisetti" springs to mind, but may be completely the wrong thing). That apart, Bamboo chucks up new culms in early Summer, they grow (spear like initially, and then leafy shoots develop) and then those culms last a year or two - probably until you cut them out as being "tired". Could make quite a nice screen in a trough, but I don't know about height if you want something not very tall.