Paul's Morecambe Nightmare

Hi everyone, here is my first project ever. To me it's big and going to be a huge learning curve but started two days ago with clearing the garden. Underneath was rubble, thin lairs of tarmac type stuff, and layer upon layer of concrete to the point that the air bricks are half covered under the patio doors.
Began last year by pulling down old extension that had subsided and had the wall re pebble dashed and fitted patio doors so inside the kitchen and dining room are now one.
And this year began with the garden. This afternoon found one section with huge bowling ball size stones underneath. Any advice from the pics attached would be appreciated.
Oh and hoping to patio the area along the width of house to begin with. The second to last picture shows at the end of today after clearing the middle section. The concrete area infront of the patio doors is to go when second skip arrives hopefully tomorrow

 

Hi and welcome to GC you will find all sorts of useful advice and guidance here from members who are very willing to share their knowledge and experience. - and a little friendly banter too.

Quite a challenge by the look at the pics, but you seem to have a good sized garden with plenty of scope. Don't skip those boulders they will certainly come in useful for some sort of feature.

Good luck and keep us posted on progress

a-a

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Fastmoobs. It looks like you've got your work cut out there, even with all the concrete and rubble you seem to be going along the right lines. I noticed in the first picture it looks like you have a nice crop of bindweed, don't bother trying to dig that out as any roots left in will re-shoot. Once you've cleared all the rubble it would probably be a good idea to use a systemic weed killer on anything that's not wanted like the bindweed. Round-up contains glyphosate and that will kill right down to the roots, be aware though that anything that contains glyphosate will kill just about anything it touches, so if you have any plants that you want to keep it's best to cover those before spraying. Don't spray on a windy day either because of 'drift'. The weed killer will neutralise on contact with soil, so when the weeds are dead you can plant almost straight away.

As Alex-Adam said, hang on to the boulders/stones for the time being as they may be of use later. When the garden is clear it would be best to dig it all over as the soil will be compacted.

I think it's best to leave you to it for the time being and once the garden is clear we can give you further advice. Meanwhile if you look in GC's Projects Forum the threads in there will give you ideas as to how you want to develop the ground you have. Good luck!

 

My wife has an idea of rather than a patio that a similar idea to the picture attached would be nicer. Can anyone tell me what the pro's/con's are of this type of flooring?
Things to consider are I have a 2.5 year old son that loves been outside and playing, cost, and up keep.....
Just a section of garden with the gravel/shale flooring with the edging stones and grass. Also how would the ground need to be prepared for this as opposed to patio ?
Thanks everyone and sorry to ask so many questions, it's just exciting to be getting started

 

Hi and welcome! I thought mine was bad when I first started, the sight of the skip made me shudder! My advice would the same as I've given previously, decide where your hard landscaping is going now, for a few reasons. 1) you don't want to clear any more area than have to, you 2) you could be digging up material which could serve well as a base for a patio etc, 3) Putting in grass, plants etc could mean they are damaged when the heavy duty work is done. You have made amazing progress already though, in a few months time you will look back on these photos and be surprised at how much you have achieved. Good luck!

 

Hi Yvonne, thank you for the advice. Unfortunately none of the material was useful, it was all broken cracked concrete layer upon layer and the advice from a builder was it was pretty useless. The previous owner was a lovely old man who was a soft touch for the travellers and allowed them to year upon year patch up and lay more layers of concrete. Sadly it had to go (hence the skip, and the second one to follow tomorrow!!!!!!)
Hard landscaping would definately be along the width of the house from the patio doors onwards. An area roughly of 20ft x 12ft. To the side of the house just beyond the skip would be a hard standing for a bike shed (motorbike) and fenced so down the length of the house is for the dog. Other than that we have no plans, just plants and some climbers for the back wall to cover the bland plane panels. Hoping to make it a lovely area for us all to enjoy and really looking forward to looking back in a few months

 

Sounds lovely, please tell us about how it's going and we love pics. so don't be mean and keep us updated !

Shame about the old guy and the travelers, I suppose it put food in the mouths of children (I hope!)

 

Is it relevant that they were travellers? I know many a cowboy 'tradesmen' that are not 'travellers'. I've known many very skilled members of the 'travelling community'. They're just people. I guess since the PC brigade banned us from judging people by their skin colour, gender or age, we have to find another group to prejudge.

 

Wow! A blank canvas. I would definitely recommend looking at garden designs by visiting your library for books, trawling the internet and, best of all, visit some open garden schemes (eg national garden scheme or local area schemes). If you haven't done this already! A nice rest from the clearing work and a great way to enjoy the summer (and you can justify the time out as 'research' ). And you can see for yourself and ask questions about how various hard surfaces work.

My experience of gravel is that it works well if its a thick enough layer to be able to rake the weeds out but not so thick that it moves about under your feet. It would likely be a temptation for toddlers to chuck it about, though, and it won't do the mower blades any good.

Hope you will continue to show us your progress. Its always inspirational to see a garden develop from scratch.


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I have read and re read my post and find in no way have I judged any group. What I have said is exactly the explanation given to me by the owners of the property and from people who have surveyed the garden area for quotes on work. I in no way singled travellers out or in anyway suggest they are 'not just people'. I gave an explanation and that's all. I thought this was a friendly helpful forum where people can come to share experiences and gain ideas but maybe it's not, or maybe Clueless you are just judging me

 

You're right. I hereby formally and publicly apologise. On re-reading the whole thing, I can see it is I who took it out of context.

You're right on the first part, and possibly, although it was not my intention, you might be right on the last point too. I certainly didn't mean to 'pass judgement'.

 

No need at all to apologise I just did not want anyone to think I was been prejudice in any way. I think so far everyone is very nice and been helpful and that includes you too clueless (although I'm sure you are indeed very very clued in) No harm done I hope

 

Welcome to the forum by the way. I never did say hello, so I'll say it now

 

Thank you for having me here