Can anyone give me a ballpark figure per sq. mt. to clear plants/lawn,
level, membrane and then gravel the area? Ta.
--
ßôyþëtë

BoyPete wrote:
Can anyone give me a ballpark figure per sq. mt. to clear plants/lawn,
level, membrane and then gravel the area? Ta.

This is something we considered doing to our front garden. We didn't
actually price it but we did take a walk around the village and had a
look at other people's gardens. The gravelled ones were pretty horrible.
The gravel spilt out onto the pavement and roads. Weeds were growing
through one of them and the gravel seemed to be a cat-litter tray for
one unfortunate house. We grassed over the front in the end and haven't
regretted it.

--
John Kelly

remove dimspam if replying by email

"John Kelly" wrote in message news:l-
the gravel seemed to be a cat-litter tray for John Kelly

Gravel can look good when done properly with a membrane underneath it and
appropriate plants set through it.
It is also important not to have it too deep either for two reasons:
1) It is like wading through snow.
2) As you commented - You make the neighbourhoods largest cat litter tray!
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

In reply to David (in Normandy) )
who wrote this in , I, Marvo, say :

"John Kelly" wrote in message
news:l-
the gravel seemed to be a cat-litter tray for John Kelly

Gravel can look good when done properly with a membrane underneath it
and appropriate plants set through it.
It is also important not to have it too deep either for two reasons:
1) It is like wading through snow.
2) As you commented - You make the neighbourhoods largest cat litter
tray!

One way to combat this would be to make it out of quicksand instead of
gravel :-)

On 14/9/06 16:08, in article , "David
(in Normandy)" wrote:

"John Kelly" wrote in message news:l-
the gravel seemed to be a cat-litter tray for John Kelly

Gravel can look good when done properly with a membrane underneath it and
appropriate plants set through it.
It is also important not to have it too deep either for two reasons:
1) It is like wading through snow.
2) As you commented - You make the neighbourhoods largest cat litter tray!

Just a note on this - it's worth remembering that it's the devil to put
chairs and tables on, so paving a small area for that purpose might be an
idea.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

David (in Normandy) wrote:
"John Kelly" wrote in message
news:l-
the gravel seemed to be a cat-litter tray for John Kelly

Gravel can look good when done properly with a membrane underneath it
and appropriate plants set through it.
It is also important not to have it too deep either for two reasons:
1) It is like wading through snow.
2) As you commented - You make the neighbourhoods largest cat litter
tray!

I prefer not to use a mambreane if the area is to be planted.

With a mambreane 50mm & planting through slits: Dust, grit & general muck
settle on the membrane, form a perfect seed bed and the seedlings grip the
membrane like limpets

Without: weedlings are easily hoed out. Approx 100mm of gravel works well.

If using the area as path, membrane, hard base and 25mm gravel is best

pk

pk

"David (in Normandy)" wrote in
message ...
"John Kelly" wrote in message news:l-
the gravel seemed to be a cat-litter tray for John Kelly

Gravel can look good when done properly with a membrane underneath it and
appropriate plants set through it.
It is also important not to have it too deep either for two reasons:
1) It is like wading through snow.
2) As you commented - You make the neighbourhoods largest cat litter tray!
--
David

You might want to take a browse around this site for possible other ideas:
http://www.pavingexpert.com

Jenny

"BoyPete" wrote in message
...
Can anyone give me a ballpark figure per sq. mt. to clear plants/lawn,
level, membrane and then gravel the area? Ta.

A porous membrane might prevent weeds growing upwards but it soes not stop
the roots of weeds from windblown seeds from growing downwards. Imagine a
clump of grass growing near the edge of a membrane and hanging on for dear
life when you try to uproot it. You would certainly lift the membrane
allowing lots of gravel to get under it or it might tear!

The cost of a porous membrane would be a significant proportion of the
overall cost so use that money to buy enough gravel CHIPPINGS to cover to a
depth of 10 cms (about 10 sq metres/tonne) and forget a membrane - do not
use nice rounded gravel or pea gravel. If you see a weed, a drop of "size
10" or whatever, soon puts paid to it!

Stack the removed grass turves upside down in a corner somewhere and cover
with black polythene (thick refuse bags cut open are ideal) and in a few
years time they'll be very useful potting compost for planters' pots on the
gravel. The soil under the grass can be used on other parts of the garden
or in raised beds in the gravelled area.

All this advice is given from personal experience not theory.

Regards

Geoff

"BoyPete" wrote in message
...
Can anyone give me a ballpark figure per sq. mt. to clear plants/lawn,
level, membrane and then gravel the area? Ta.
--
ßôyþëtë

Can anyone comment on the reverse process?
I've just moved into a house where 36 square metres of the front garden have
been butchered into a poor quality "parking area" consisting of membrane
plus 5cm of gravel. The weeds love it. It looks like I'm going to have to
spend about £500 on topsoil and grass-seed to replace the gravel, presumably
the people who did the work were able to sell the topsoil they removed.

Simon wrote:
"BoyPete" wrote in message
...
Can anyone give me a ballpark figure per sq. mt. to clear
plants/lawn, level, membrane and then gravel the area? Ta.
--
ßôyþëtë

Can anyone comment on the reverse process?
I've just moved into a house where 36 square metres of the front
garden have been butchered into a poor quality "parking area"
consisting of membrane plus 5cm of gravel. The weeds love it. It
looks like I'm going to have to spend about £500 on topsoil and
grass-seed to replace the gravel, presumably the people who did the
work were able to sell the topsoil they removed.

Thanks for the confirmation that membrane plus gravel is a bad idea!

Simply take up the membrane, rotovate the gravel into the existing soil -
several deep passes with a good rotovator. Leave to settle for a fwe months.

That may well be enough to provide a rakeable seed bed, depending on the
soil quality and type. If not, *good quality* loam/sieved topsoil will do
the job.

the turf or seed in the spring.


OR

Take up the membrane and add another 50mm gravel and plant!

pk