My garden.... help!!

Hi, as I posted in to intro section, I've lived at my current home for 6 years and have basically ignored the garden, well apart from weedkilling with roundup and strimming once a year.

Any how, I now want to get it sorted out for the kids (1 -5yrs and 1 - 4months!), nothing spectacular but somewhere safe for them to play about in.

This is how it looks at the moment....





Now before you all scream at my laziness!! lol, let me explain that before I lived here the woman who owned the house was apparently a 'gardener' in as much as she had 3 green houses down the right side of the garden with brick bases as well as at on time shed on the left at the bottom and in between everything a path made from bricks. :( Did I mention the bricks?? lol

Never met the lady in question as the house was vacant before we moved in, but from what I've been told, she was older and the garden became neglected and overgrown when she couldnt look after it anymore, so by the time we got there it was 8ft weeds top to bottom.

Initially, like everybody I guess, I set about it with gusto, however after 2 builders skips of bricks, enough garden fires to convince to neighbours I'm an arsonist :eek: I became unmotivated to the point where I didnt care that next door were tipping their garden rubble over the fence!

Now I think its time to get it sorted....

This is what I want to do...

New fence all around..... was thinking of coming in about 6inches either side of the neighbours with new posts/panels - would there be any issue with this?

Garden levelled... not sure if it obvious from the pic, but garden runs down from the bottom step that you see to the rear fence, see the neighbours fence. Dont actually want it 'flat' just want it to run down evenly, its got dips and mounds all over the place. (does that make sense?)

The concrete bit!.... Just want rid of that completely, back to the building line, you can just about see it on the left of the pic. Bit concerned that this may affect next doors fence as whoever put up her fence 'stitched' it to my old chain link fence, so its not at all secure! lol

Turf on the main 'lower' bit with a paved border, what should I do with the rubble thats left in the soil? Cover it with top soil or try and remove it bit by bit?

Then a deck back from the building line.

So, what the best way and in what order shall I tackle it?

Sorry for the long post! :o Any advice welcome.


edited because my grammer is truly terrible!

 

Wow Legoman0,
I thought that my garden was a challenge but I take off my hat to you. First of all clear the rubble and dig up all bricks. Any good ones might be useful for edging etc. Next tackle all the remain weeds and level as best you can. Sort out the fence, why do you want to come in 6"? The fence on the r.h.side looks good and I am sure you could attach a new fence to the concrete uprights at the bottom. Can't see the l.h.side what's there?
This is enough to be getting on with, small bites.
G.man:thumb:

 

Hi Legoman no quick fix here but then you already knew that didn't you?:(

My side and back garden has quite a bit of a slope as well so I know just what you have to deal with (not as bad as G.Man's but still not easy) but your neighbours being so cheeky to dump stuff on your side of the fence is disgusting you really shouln't have had to put up with that!

Regarding the concrete that's left do you think it would be easier just to build the deck area over the top of this ? I mean it will save you trying to get rid of it as well as saving your poor back the strain too.

What I can recommend you on is making a very cheap sandpit for your kiddies we made one for our two boys a huge 10ft x 6ft jobby (although you can make any size of one) and covered it with a tarpaulin cover so no local cats etc. could do their 'thing' when the sandpit was not in use, we just used some cheap planks and filled it with sand and away you go!
My boys had many years of fun out of that sandpit and once they were finished with it I turned it into an Alpine bed so just like any good garden the sandpit evolved along with the kids!

Also how about having a herb corner? it's brilliant for the kiddies to touch and smell and maybe 'mum' can use them in her cooking.

I always think that if you have children the garden must be safe for them to play in and enjoy, it doesn't matter if plants get knocked down or trodden on they will always grow back kids need to play and there's no better place than in their own back garden.

I just wanted to add although my boys have now grown-up (although still at home) we are making sure that our 'new' gardens are child friendly and fun for future grandkids to enjoy when they come along as I think there is nothing nicer to see and hear little'uns playing in the gardens. Good luck with your plot.Hel.xxx.

 

Thanks for the replies, although having seen the your 'sloping' garden gman I feel a bit embarassed at my pathetic wimpiness! lol

The fence on the right that you can see is all over the place tbh, theres no way I could attatch a new fence to it with out taking it down and resetting the posts. Its only been up about a year and its been down twice! Anyway I think I'll need bigger deeper posts as I want 6ft panels but maybe with a 12 inch gravel board below, how deep would you recommend I put the posts 12/18/24 inches?

The 'concrete thing' really needs to go seems to be a nest for snails and ants, and its not safe, its been built with old broken paving slabs
stacked on top of each other, then back filled with rubble, hence the snails love it! and then concrete/cement poured over the top, again I think it was the base for yet another out house or shed!

Anyway the plan is to strim it all down and roundup it, wait a week or so until the weeds die down.
Then hire a rotovator give it the once over, give it a good rake to get the bulk of the rubble/stones/rubbish out, rotovate it again and roundup it again.

Not planning to far ahead but will see how I get on after that.

 

Good luck with it legoman. Slow & steady wins the race with a job this big. there are many projects are here, take a look at them.

cheers

 

OK, its been a while but it's been cleared, rotovated, and turfed. No pic's atm, but the problem now is the turf's patchy, yellow in places. I have watered regularly but i'm thinking after 5/6 years of 'roundup-ing', I've stripped the soil of nutrients.

Is there anything I can feed it with?? The fertilizer's in B&Q all state that you shouldnt use them on new lawns.... Is a turfed lawn a new lawn or do they mean lawns grown from seed?

Any idea?

Thanks

 

Did you put any fresh topsoil down before the new lawn?

 

I agree with Granny. A good layer of topsoil and also compost tiled in will ensure success for planting.

 

Hi legoman. Not sure from the posts if you have attended to the fencing as yet? If not, the first thing to do is to ascertain which fencing is your responsibility. That should be on your deeds or if you rent, info from the owners required. On that side you can uproot the existing and put your new fence in on the border line. Even then, it's a good idea to tell the neighbour, what you are intending to do Secondly, whatever fencing that you decide on, you want to make sure that it will not shade out the garden too much, or you will be restricted in what you can grow well.

hope this helps
stony

 

Have u got any new pics? Well done on clearing it all