Someone i know has a 12 foot long front garden with a very wide shrub
bed (no grass) and a hard surface wide enough for 1 car. She has a very
small car herself so would like to pinch a bit of the soil to park her
car next to her husband's as they live near to a corner and it's a bit
of a hazard to park on the actual road ..
She only needs about an additional width of five feet at most for her
car.

Could she put down some sort of weed suppressant and gravel just to get
the extra parking surface or would that not take the weight of a car?
I'm no DIY expert when it comes to hard landscaping etc. so i wasn't
sure what to advise her.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

On Mar 28, 12:07*am, Janet Tweedy wrote:
Someone i know has a 12 foot long front garden with a very wide shrub
bed (no grass) and *a hard surface wide enough for 1 car. She has a very
small car herself so would like to pinch a bit of the soil to park her
car next to her husband's as they live near to a corner and it's a bit
of a hazard to park on the actual road ..
She only needs about an additional width of five feet at most for her
car.

Could she put down some sort of weed suppressant and gravel just to get
the extra parking surface or would that not take the weight of a car?
I'm no DIY expert when it comes to hard landscaping etc. so i wasn't
sure what to advise her.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraphhttp://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

No. In wet weather the gravel will be pushed into the ground & it
would end up a muddy mess.
The topsoil would need to be removed and the hole filled with
scalpings (small stone/dustmixed).When that had consoldated you could
put down gravel or the pierced paviours.

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
Someone i know has a 12 foot long front garden with a very wide shrub bed
(no grass) and a hard surface wide enough for 1 car. She has a very small
car herself so would like to pinch a bit of the soil to park her car next
to her husband's as they live near to a corner and it's a bit of a hazard
to park on the actual road ..
She only needs about an additional width of five feet at most for her car.

Could she put down some sort of weed suppressant and gravel just to get
the extra parking surface or would that not take the weight of a car?
I'm no DIY expert when it comes to hard landscaping etc. so i wasn't sure
what to advise her.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

You say it's a shrub border with no grass. Assuming some of the shrubs are
to be removed to make room, that will disturb the soil and make it soft and
unstable. Drive a car onto that and only a little rain will cause untold
problems.

Clear the shrubs disturbing the soil as little as possible.

If working to a budget, level the soil and pack it down by heeling it in all
over. Compact it as much as possible.

(I had to do all of this when I moved into my present house where the garden
goes through to the next road)

If you can, or your friend can, access small hardcore, I had a plentiful
supply of bricks etc which I broke down to nothing bigger than chicken egg
size, and stamp all of this in.

For a quick and 'attractive' finish, two rows of paving slabs laid on this
hard base with gravel between, OR, just gravel. Not Pea Gravel or she will
have all the cats in the neighbourhood.

The secret is the hard base to start with. Don't just drive on the earth
:-((

Been there. Done that. Had the hard standing.

Mike

--

....................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
....................................

"'Mike'" wrote in message
...

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
Someone i know has a 12 foot long front garden with a very wide shrub bed
(no grass) and a hard surface wide enough for 1 car. She has a very
small car herself so would like to pinch a bit of the soil to park her
car next to her husband's as they live near to a corner and it's a bit of
a hazard to park on the actual road ..
She only needs about an additional width of five feet at most for her
car.

Could she put down some sort of weed suppressant and gravel just to get
the extra parking surface or would that not take the weight of a car?
I'm no DIY expert when it comes to hard landscaping etc. so i wasn't sure
what to advise her.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

You say it's a shrub border with no grass. Assuming some of the shrubs are
to be removed to make room, that will disturb the soil and make it soft
and unstable. Drive a car onto that and only a little rain will cause
untold problems.

Clear the shrubs disturbing the soil as little as possible.

If working to a budget, level the soil and pack it down by heeling it in
all over. Compact it as much as possible.

(I had to do all of this when I moved into my present house where the
garden goes through to the next road)

If you can, or your friend can, access small hardcore, I had a plentiful
supply of bricks etc which I broke down to nothing bigger than chicken egg
size, and stamp all of this in.

For a quick and 'attractive' finish, two rows of paving slabs laid on this
hard base with gravel between, OR, just gravel. Not Pea Gravel or she will
have all the cats in the neighbourhood.

The secret is the hard base to start with. Don't just drive on the earth
:-((

Been there. Done that. Had the hard standing.

Mike


Found this photo. Nothing but hardcore and pea gravel in this case which was
very very shallow. Sprayed with a weed killer when required. Lasted 20 years
with no problems.

http://www.myalbum.com/Album-HQUHRRW...-of-Other.html

--

....................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
....................................

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
Someone i know has a 12 foot long front garden with a very wide shrub bed
(no grass) and a hard surface wide enough for 1 car. She has a very small
car herself so would like to pinch a bit of the soil to park her car next
to her husband's as they live near to a corner and it's a bit of a hazard
to park on the actual road ..
She only needs about an additional width of five feet at most for her car.

Could she put down some sort of weed suppressant and gravel just to get
the extra parking surface or would that not take the weight of a car?
I'm no DIY expert when it comes to hard landscaping etc. so i wasn't sure
what to advise her.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

I has a small front lawn (maily moss) and a verty unruly small hedge. I
removed the hedge and all the lawn then laid an impenetrable membrane and
covered the lot with 2 tons of slate chips. No further weeds and looks
great. now the my wife has it "dressed" with Blue pots filled with grasses
and other attractive plants.


It would be advisable to "punture" the membrane to allow water to disperse.


Bill

In article , Martin
writes
or better still a plastic matrix through which grass can grow.

It is sad to see a garden full of spring flowers converted to a paved
area, as happened in our street last week. My wife managed to salvage
some of the bulbs from the rubbish skip but not many.
--

Martin



There's no grass there at the moment just a very, very big bed of shrubs
and bulbs, About 12 - 15 foot wide. So to actually put grass down would
be taking away from the plants and they'd have to cut it , that's why i
was trying to go with gravel maybe.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk