We are currently in the process of sorting our garden out as our little boy
will soon be at the age where he wants to play in the garden. Its a very
small garden, but it is covered in gravel. We want to clear that and put
down some grass seed.
The gravel has obviously been there a few years (We've lived here four!) and
underneath the gravel is quite hard and alot of the stones are now about
half an inch down into the ground. What would be the best way to get most of
the stones out and moved to the front garden (which is also gravel) Is it
worth seiving? (probably spelt that wrong!) The wife seems to think we need
a "special" rake.

Any help or advice much appreciated!

Pete

"PeteIvy" wrote in message
...
We are currently in the process of sorting our garden out as our little
boy will soon be at the age where he wants to play in the garden. Its a
very small garden, but it is covered in gravel. We want to clear that and
put down some grass seed.
The gravel has obviously been there a few years (We've lived here four!)
and underneath the gravel is quite hard and alot of the stones are now
about half an inch down into the ground. What would be the best way to get
most of the stones out and moved to the front garden (which is also
gravel) Is it worth seiving? (probably spelt that wrong!) The wife seems
to think we need a "special" rake.

Any help or advice much appreciated!


Weed thoroughly.
Sharp sand over the top 2" deep.
Cover with 2" quality soil, tamp lightly after levelling as best as possible
using a scaffold board and a spirit level.
Seed or Turf using best turf you can afford.

If you have time and enough money install a herringbone drain arrangement to
allow suitable drainage to the lowest point in the garden.

As for the front garden a builders bag (1 tonne bag) of Pea Shingle will
give an instant result on the frontage while providing an indicator of
people on your property from the crunching sound as they walk and nice
drainage.

In article ,
"PeteIvy" writes:
| We are currently in the process of sorting our garden out as our little boy
| will soon be at the age where he wants to play in the garden. Its a very
| small garden, but it is covered in gravel. We want to clear that and put
| down some grass seed.
| The gravel has obviously been there a few years (We've lived here four!) and
| underneath the gravel is quite hard and alot of the stones are now about
| half an inch down into the ground. What would be the best way to get most of
| the stones out and moved to the front garden (which is also gravel) Is it
| worth seiving? (probably spelt that wrong!) The wife seems to think we need
| a "special" rake.

You can certainly sieve gravel out, but it is doubtfully worth it.
Grass grows very happily in gravel with some earth, but it does
need the soil loosened to a reasonable depth (6-12", depending on
conditions). If you do that, level it, and put 1" of sieved soil
on top, the grass will be fine.

You can do it without the sieved soil on top, but a little of the
gravel will work through for a few years, which is a pain for people
who fall on it.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"PeteIvy" wrote:
snip
We are currently in the process of sorting our garden out as our little
boy will soon be at the age where he wants to play in the garden. Its a
very small garden, but it is covered in gravel. We want to clear that and
put down some grass seed.
---
My wife and I had the same problem with our open plan front garden. The
previous house owners had covered half the area with hard core and gravel,
then used the area for extra car parking. We decided to return it to a full
garden with grass. The landscaping was a horrendous job, especially as the
hard core had been machine rolled. We used a pickaxe, shovels and sieves to
collect most of the gravel and hard core, leaving some of it for growing
alpines.
We grass seeded part of the area early spring 2005, now the lawn is looking
good and it doesn't appear to have suffered in the sandy soil.
We wish you success with your garden.

MikeCT