Hi!

I'm new to this newsgroup, so I apologise if 2 questions at once is not
allowed!

First question I have is: How do you clear soil of gravel??? The previous
owners of our house used gravel in a couple of garden paths and it has
traveled into the soil everywhere! It didn't matter much for them as they
had garden beds everywhere (they had grown up children), but as we have a
toddler & baby, we are wanting to put in gravel free grass to be more "kid"
friendly! We don't really have money to spend on our garden, so any work to
be done would have to be done without the aid of any big equipment! Is it
just a matter of digging out the current soil and replacing it with new, or
is there another way??

Second question is: I'm designing our backyard to be sort of a kids
playground (but an attractive one), I'm including a bike path around the
edge, a swing set area, and room for a trampoline and a cubby house for when
the kids are a bit older (and we have more money - hehe)! Does anyone have
any hints on putting together this sort of garden! I'm wanting it to be a
kids wonderland rather than just a play area (and I would like it to be
pretty for us to entertain out there as well!) Not asking much for my
backyard am I (hehe).

Thanks for any help!
Tania

And lo, as foretold, on Tue, 5 Aug 2003 20:29:35 +1000, "Tania Zolkos"
did write, in letters of flame, :

Hi!

I'm new to this newsgroup, so I apologise if 2 questions at once is not
allowed!

First question I have is: How do you clear soil of gravel??? The previous

Unless someone else here has a clever method, I think you'd best face
the delightful task of sifting it by hand. How much soil are you
clearing out? I sifted, with a hand sift about 50 cm wide, soil for
a deep garden bed measuing 1.5 metres by 4 metres. If you are just
looking to clear the top soil, it would be a lot quicker.

Tom

In article ,
"Tania Zolkos" wrote:

Second question is:

Yes, we do allow multiple questions :-)

I'm designing our backyard to be sort of a kids
playground (but an attractive one), I'm including a bike path around the
edge, a swing set area, and room for a trampoline and a cubby house for when
the kids are a bit older (and we have more money - hehe)! Does anyone have
any hints on putting together this sort of garden! I'm wanting it to be a
kids wonderland rather than just a play area (and I would like it to be
pretty for us to entertain out there as well!) Not asking much for my
backyard am I (hehe).

You will need tough plants as a background, and they should be thornless adn
not poisonous (obviously!). And don't forget a patch of garden for the kids
to grow their own flowers/vegies in, the sand pit, and some shade for the BBQ
eaters and for the kids in summer. Also, storage for the bikes etc.

Are the gravel paths not appropriate for the bikes?

Allow for some serendipity too. Some friends of mine had to remove a tree
from their garden. It was hollow (unsafe, hence the removal), so Colin cut
it to about 4 foot above ground, put a roof on it, gave it a door, and presto!
A fairy's house! Their daughters used to correspond with the fairies too.

My own back yard is very open and large, and small children find the space
intimidating. Putting in a sort of jungly adventure garden might be fun. As
a kid I loved edible plants, so I suggest strawberries, peas etc if you can.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"...children should continue to be breastfed... for up to two years of age
or beyond." -- Innocenti Declaration, Florence, 1 August 1990