Soooo much junk in a garden
 

Hi all

I popped in a while ago for advice re clearing a section of garden, about
90sq yards.

I have been stunned how much rubbish came out of a mound of mud....

1 caravan chassis
2 wheelbarrow loads of broken glass (builders wheel barrow)
6 wheelbarrow loads of bricks and general rubble
1 wheelbarrow load of smashed floor tiles
3 caravan wheels
2 beds and mattresses, rotted so the springs had burst out.
1 caravan roof
assorted old tools

I have (below) some before photos and some shots of how far I have got,
The oak/chestnut furniture I made at the weekend ready for when I have finished the great garden clearout.

At the back right of the garden thre are a few sheets of roof material, 3ft out of the ground and 5ft buried in the ground, I am tempted to leave them there and put pland of fencing in front of them.

Sorry, cant't post photos?
so a link to a gallery instead

Mark Baigent Photography | New Gallery

Mark

What is the roofing material? Check it's not asbestos.

You can't post pics because you're not actually posting to gardenbanter, you're posting to a newsgroup, uk.rec.gardening.

Soooo much junk in a garden
 

"Mark Baigent" wrote in message
...

Hi all

I popped in a while ago for advice re clearing a section of garden,
about
90sq yards.

I have been stunned how much rubbish came out of a mound of mud....

1 caravan chassis
2 wheelbarrow loads of broken glass (builders wheel barrow)
6 wheelbarrow loads of bricks and general rubble
1 wheelbarrow load of smashed floor tiles
3 caravan wheels
2 beds and mattresses, rotted so the springs had burst out.
1 caravan roof
assorted old tools


whew - well done you. how did it all get there - please excuse no upper
case, i have a broken shoulder so can only use one hand to type atm.

Our garden is a little bigger than that, say about 3/4 of an acre. We worked it out that we have removed over 30 tons of assorted rubbish from the land over the last 15 years. AND we are still finding stuff. For instance today I found a mole hill, on top of the soil was part of a toy gun, some broken glass and a Shipham's Salmon paste jar.
Keep up the work and be sure to keep taking pictures of your progress. We did not have a camera when we began and regret it a lot that we have no real record of what we did.

Hiya

I think the roofing is the concrete asbestos

Ah, t

Hiya

Bummer about the shoulder :-(

We are not sure how it all got there, the house is a hundred years old so I suspect generations of owners used the back of the long garden (150ft) as a dump, sadly. Still we are nearly there :-)

Mark

Hiya

30 tons!!! blimey, our garden is 150ft long which is probably why the far end had been misused for so long. Oh and it was hidden by shrubs so easy to ignore.

Salmon paste.... yummy

Mark

The Concrete asbestos should be bagged (usually double bagged) and taken to your nearest recycling yard. Not sure about all of them, but ours here has a dedicated skip for such material.
The worst form of rubbish we have had to contend with is the batteries. There were (still are) hundreds of them from pre-war accumulator types to modern torch batteries. The heavy metals contained in them do not bear thinking about. We had to put our Veg patch in the only part of the garden where there were none.
When we dug the Lily pond I went down over a metre and still did not find the original soil level. There was an old pushchair in it, upright (sans enfant) to give you some idea of the depth.
There was no refuse collection here until quite recently so all rubbish was burned and the residue buried in the garden. You can imagine how much there is when you discover that the earliest house here was in the early 1600's and then 1804 and finally ours from 1900. Oh and of course the Army Field hospital from the First World War in the fields behind us.

Soooo much junk in a garden
 

On Sat, 07 May 2011 15:58:28 +0000, Mark Baigent wrote:

At the back right of the garden thre are a few sheets of roof material,
3ft out of the ground and 5ft buried in the ground, I am tempted to
leave them there and put pland of fencing in front of them.

Looks like asbestos. If so then check for its breaking down. If it's
sound then leave it alone. If it's breaking down then you have a
potentially expensive toxic-waste removal job. Generally speaking
asbestos is harmless until you do something to create dust (e.g. sawing,
drilling, breaking).

Soooo much junk in a garden
 

On Sun, 8 May 2011 11:39:17 +0000, Owdboggy
wrote:


Mark Baigent;920362 Wrote:
Hiya



30 tons!!! blimey, our garden is 150ft long which is probably why the
far end had been misused for so long. Oh and it was hidden by shrubs so
easy to ignore.

Salmon paste.... yummy

Mark

The Concrete asbestos should be bagged (usually double bagged) and taken
to your nearest recycling yard. Not sure about all of them, but ours
here has a dedicated skip for such material.
The worst form of rubbish we have had to contend with is the batteries.
There were (still are) hundreds of them from pre-war accumulator types
to modern torch batteries. The heavy metals contained in them do not
bear thinking about. We had to put our Veg patch in the only part of the
garden where there were none.
When we dug the Lily pond I went down over a metre and still did not
find the original soil level. There was an old pushchair in it, upright
(sans enfant) to give you some idea of the depth.
There was no refuse collection here until quite recently so all rubbish
was burned and the residue buried in the garden. You can imagine how
much there is when you discover that the earliest house here was in the
early 1600's and then 1804 and finally ours from 1900. Oh and of course
the Army Field hospital from the First World War in the fields behind
us.

A pity it's such a superhumanly big job: a more manageable size would
make it a wonderful DIY Time Team. Sacha's bottles should encourage
you, though.

--
Mike.

Soooo much junk in a garden
 

On Sun, 8 May 2011 19:11:23 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2011-05-08 17:40:13 +0100, Mike Lyle said:

On Sun, 8 May 2011 11:39:17 +0000, Owdboggy
wrote:
[...]
You can imagine how
much there is when you discover that the earliest house here was in the
early 1600's and then 1804 and finally ours from 1900. Oh and of course
the Army Field hospital from the First World War in the fields behind
us.

A pity it's such a superhumanly big job: a more manageable size would
make it a wonderful DIY Time Team. Sacha's bottles should encourage
you, though.

Ahem - could have phrased that last sentence better - am I now
officially Old Soak? ;-))

Oh dear! No, not even Old Spice for many years yet: but you've got
lots of bottle.

--
Mike.

Soooo much junk in a garden
 

Owdboggy wrote:

from pre-war
accumulator types to modern torch batteries.

My Dad used to breed tropical fish in accumulator jars! I believe they're
quite sought after now!

L

Soooo much junk in a garden
 

"Les Hemmings" wrote in message
...
Owdboggy wrote:

from pre-war
accumulator types to modern torch batteries.

My Dad used to breed tropical fish in accumulator jars! I believe they're
quite sought after now!

L


I can remember taking the Accumulator down to the local Radio shop each
Saturday to have it charged up. Years later when I was in the Royal Navy, I
learnt what it was for. Does anyone else know? ;-))

Mike

--

....................................
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
....................................

Soooo much junk in a garden
 

"Les Hemmings" wrote in message
...
Owdboggy wrote:

from pre-war
accumulator types to modern torch batteries.

My Dad used to breed tropical fish in accumulator jars! I believe they're
quite sought after now!

The accumulator jars or the fish?

Alan



L

Soooo much junk in a garden
 

alan.holmes wrote:

from pre-war
accumulator types to modern torch batteries.

My Dad used to breed tropical fish in accumulator jars! I believe
they're quite sought after now!

The accumulator jars or the fish?

Alan



Both! 1960's guppies would blow the socks off the current drab little
things!

L