Hi Guys,

I have quite a large garden (for me anyway) which is about 8Mtrs by
5Mtrs. Its mainly grass except one side where there is white gravel
and pots.....

The big problem is that the garden dips really badly and the middle
of the garden is about 20 Inches lower than the edges, the grass
slopes down sharply at each side (the kids love rolling down it). This
causes two problems, firstly, the grass gets very water logged in
Winter and there is tree roots coming up through the grass in the
middle.

My aim is to level it off completely so that its one standard level. I
would then like to slab one half and leave one half grass for the kids
swing etc.

What is the best way of doing this. I am not a gardener and dont
relish the work involved (I get bored gardening very quickly, about
the time it takes to mow the grass

Would I be better filling it with Pete/Clay or should I use something
else like Gravel or builders rubble. If so, the garden is in the back
and you get to it by a small alleyway about a meter in width (enough
for a wheelbarrow).

So my question is, What do I need, Where do I get the stuff from, what
would a likely cost be and is there really no option but to
wheelbarrow the stuff from the road at the front to back.... I realise
there will probably need to be lots of it.

Thanks for any help or advice.

Craig

The message
from Craig contains these words:

So my question is, What do I need, Where do I get the stuff from, what
would a likely cost be and is there really no option but to
wheelbarrow the stuff from the road at the front to back.... I realise
there will probably need to be lots of it.


Depends - what soil are you on?
What is the subsoil/bedrock?
Is there any possibility that the dip in the middle could be caused by a
slowly-collapsing mineshaft?
It also depends on what is available to you for the infilling.
This in turn depends on where you are - in some areas you can't give
builders' rubble away, in others, it's like rocking-horse sh^H^manure.

However, whatever you use, it's going to mean some hard work. (Lift turf
and roll it; remove topsoil and make a heap of it; remove some subsoil
and make a heap of it; fill hole with suitable material; cover with
subsoil and lightly compact it, then loosen the surface of it with a
garden fork; replace topsoil, making sure there is a slight hump in the
middle, for it will certainly settle; replace turf and keep watered
until it takes.)

Or, a completely different approach, deepen it and make it a feature.
Bog garden in the bottom, perhaps, or make one side really steep and
turn it into a rockery, but leave a flat area in front of a bog garden
for the kids' landings...

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

Use compost if you can get it. Cant go wrong with black gold.

wrote:
Use compost if you can get it. Cant go wrong with black gold.

Well, not on its own: it needs to be mixed with soil. I'd be inclined to
use rubble for the bottom ten inches, any old soil for the next six
inches, then good stuff for the top layer. If one end is to be paved,
I'd use the turf off that, cut very thickly: two birds, as you shouldn't
lay paving on topsoil.

--
Mike.

The message
from contains these words:

Use compost if you can get it. Cant go wrong with black gold.


Yes you can - it rots down and you're left with almost as much of a hole
as you began with.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig