Recovering a rubble filled flower bed

At the moment this side of the garden looks like a building site. As you can see there is a pile of rubble and tree stumps near the drain cover. There is another mixture of rubble, bricks, stones etc further down. There is also an assortment of broken paving slabs and concrete fencing posts hidden behind the sheds. My wife is anxious to get rid of it which is fare but the theory and the practise are two separate things.

We have been quoted a reasonable price for a skip but this comes with issues. It's very unlikely that it would be brought into our yard. If it did it would probably be dropped right in the middle and block all access. If it didn't fit in the yard it would have to be left on the road for which we would need to obtain a permit.

The other issue is the physical aspect. I am not strong enough or fit enough to carry the heavy stuff all that way. Some of it is really, really heavy. There is somebody who might be willing to help me but he is not always the easiest person to peg down.

The removal of the rubbish is not the end of the story. The flower beds along that fence are now full of debris. The surface would need to dredged in order to get back to any kind of usefullnes. Once the rubble/soil mix has been removed a fresh mix of topsoil and organic matter can be added.

At the moment I don't have the financial resources but hopefully next year I will. The rubble will have to go soon of course as it's an eye sore.

I am going to give this post a break as it's quite a lot of reading in one go. I will post again soon and get to what help/advice it is I'm asking for. Thanks for your patience.

G.

 

Right, one step at a time. Dont rush to the end before you even start.

Many of us have had similar hurdles to overcome so yours is manageable

Get your permit for the skip. Should be ok. Tie your mate down, or somebody else, to a day when the job needs to be done

The flower beds can be tackled over the winter. When you get to that stage you will be on a high and keen to keep going; funny how much energy you can get with momentum

Not minimising the work you have to do....yes, some hard graft but worth it

 

Another idea for getting rid of the rubble, free of charge: offer it on your local freecycle/ gumtree, making it clear the buyer will need to come and collect. You never know, someone might be needing hardcore for a patio or whatever. You would need to give them access to your garden, of course.

 

Somebody did come to look at it once. Apparently there wasn't enough. I don't know what that means. I offered it to my local landscaper. He wasn't interested either.

I will look into both options properly. I agree with the one step at a time rule. I'm prone to putting the cart before the horse. On the opposite side of the coin though I am also prone to missing opportunities to combine tasks to make them simpler.If I hired a skip for the rubbish now I would have to hire another one in 6 months time to take the soil etc. That in theory would mean twice the expense.

Yes my priority is the big stuff and yes I can do the other later. I wouldnt be looking to do anything with that land anytime soon anyway. I'll deal with the big stuff and then come back with a progress report. I can't promise it will be anytime soon.



G.

 

Good thinking Gary

 

The bulk of the rubble has gone.



G.

 

Excellent news! Did you get help with that?

 

My neighbour did it for me. My wife casually mentioned it and he offered to do it. It didn't take that long to clear. I'm not asking him where he took it.



G.

 

I have been quoted £1000 to lay a hard area at the end by the shed and to dig out and replace the rubble strewn soil. That is more than I can afford. On reflection I think I might be able to manage if I organise myself properly.

This morning I had a go at braking up the old concrete path. It broke up a lot easier than expected. If I can take that out and replace it with slabs (or whatever) then that will be one job done.

The soil removal I can do in stages. If I filter out the rubble, I can keep it and use it as pot drainage. The soil can then go back in. Job done, nothing wasted, no visits to the tip.



G

 

Sounds good to me and a whole lot more satisfying too Gary

 

Hi Gary just a word of caution re the rubble. If there is a lot of mortar in it, it might not be suitable for pot drainage. It's great that you've got rid of most of the big stuff, but you might be better off filtering out the smaller stuff from the soil to use under the slabs when you get around to putting them down. Otherwise you might even be asking for hardcore from others when you lay your slabs!

 

I have broken up the old concrete path. It is now in big lumps. I am going to try to brake it all into small enough pieces to use as ballast for under my slabs. (@CarolineL ). I have bought a new hammer especially for this purpose. If I dont have enough concrete, there are plenty of spare bricks and broken pieces of slabs laying about that I can add into the mix. Today I found somebody local selling off slabs. I paid £30 for 62 450sq slabs and about a dozen cut off bits. It couldn't have worked out any better for me. I managed to collect 3 car loads today. The last few I hope to pick up tomorrow after work. For the job I'm doing I need 45 slabs (maybe 50 if I decide to go one row deeper.) There are one or two jobs I am contemplating for the future so the extra slabs might come in handy yet.

The next thing I'll need is sand. Last time I bought a bulk bag. It was left by the side of the road and I had to wheelbarrow it all to the end of the garden. I dont want to have to do that again. Last time I dug the trench far too deep. The sand was several inches deep in places. That is just wasteful. This time I will try to more diligent with my measurements. Anyway. I'm not up to that stage yet.

Happy days ahead.



G.

 

Well done @Jack Sparrow , I'm impressed with all the hard work you've been putting in . You will get there in the end and be proud of everything you've achieved.

 

Agree with that...it will look good there Gary. Plus the hard work makes it all the more satisfying afterward