Replacing the lawn..........

Hello,

I have a small driveway in front of my house. It has a lawn plus several different plants planted all over the place on top. The problem is, maintaining all this. Ideally I would like to replace this lawn and all the other sundry plants with something which is easily maintainable.
Someone suggested that I could get rid of the lawn and replace it with wood chips. It seems they are available cheap and also they look clean.
well........i do like the idea but then how do I go about doing it ? Where do I start ? I want to get rid of all the plants. and also the lawn. Lets assume I do that. by digging up or whatever. what else do I do next ?

Could someone suggest some good tips ?

I would be extremely grateful.

Thanks

 

if you have cats anywhere near your house be prepared for your bark chippings to be turned into kitty litter. oh yes, those furry little monsters make absolutely no distinction whatsoever between chippings and Katsan.
And then there are the blackbirds and thrushes. Don't they just love to flick your chippings everywhere while they rootle around for food.

Go for granite chippings, over a weed suppressing mat. Or cotswold chippings - i've got them and they look lovely!

 

Cotswold chips did look good when I first put them down but soon became green and very dull.
Ended up covering them with 1/2" washed pebbles.
Bought from local building supplies,small or large loads no problem.

 

I covered the edges of my front garden with a black mat and covered the mat with stone chips. It looked lovely. Unfortunately I didnt dig deep enough /or put enough chips on to stop the weeds. I have horsetail coming through the matting. I will have to redo. Another lesson learned!!
John

 

JPB - ah yes...
Need to put a good thick covering of whatever you choose over the matting, whether it's bark chippings, or stones.
Paladin - my chippings look really good even after 3 years - are yours near trees or anything?
Mine have not gone dull at all, and there's no sign of any green muck either - how odd!
I suspect that your building supplies washed pebbles were a blimmin sight cheaper than my sand and gravel merchants chippings - it was almost a second mortgage job :eek:

 

lynne.
The stone I had came from a quarry about a mile away from me.
I live at the foot of the Cotswolds and the stone is very cheap.
No, there are no trees overhead. Perhaps the quality was poor, as there are many grades, I understand.
Cost of stone,�£16 a ton and the pebbles �£26. .

 

I removed my grotty front lawn and replaced it with a weed suppressant membrane covered with plum coloured slate chippings. You can just about see it in my avatar. They've been there about four years now and no sign of weed breakthrough (yet!). And neither my three cats nor the neighbouring ones have shown any interest in it litter-wise!

On the other hand, a neighbour had his front garden covered with pea shingle - BIG mistake!!! :rolleyes: