Hi,

My garden is 43 foot long and 19 foot wide and at the moment is cover in
grass and a vast amount of weeds.

Because of health problems suffered by my wife and myself, we are unable to
tend it as one should, so we thought of putting pebble down.

Now I understand that you are supposed to put a permeable membrane down
first and then 10mm pebble on top.

Question is after the grass has been cutt, do I have to kill all the grass
and weeds (I've got a tub of sodium clorate) and then level the ground or
will the sheer volume of pebble on top of the membrane do this for me.

Any advice, tips, offers of saomeone to come and do it for me :-)) would be
most appreciated.
--
troubleinstore

In article ,
troubleinstore wrote:

My garden is 43 foot long and 19 foot wide and at the moment is cover in
grass and a vast amount of weeds.

Because of health problems suffered by my wife and myself, we are unable to
tend it as one should, so we thought of putting pebble down.

Now I understand that you are supposed to put a permeable membrane down
first and then 10mm pebble on top.

I find it unbelievable that you are contemplating doing this yourself
if you aren't well enough to mow grass. I suggest thinking again.
You might find it more effective to pay someone to mow the grass
than to pay someone to gravel the area over and maintain it thereafter
(no, gravel is NOT maintenance-free).

Question is after the grass has been cutt, do I have to kill all the grass
and weeds (I've got a tub of sodium clorate) and then level the ground or
will the sheer volume of pebble on top of the membrane do this for me.

If it is seriously uneven, then it will have to be levelled. If any
of the weeds are woody (e.g. brambles) or there are sharp stones,
they will have to be removed or they will cut the membrane. You
would also have to do this before mowing, of course.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

troubleinstore muttered:

Question is after the grass has been cutt, do I have to kill all the grass
and weeds (I've got a tub of sodium clorate) and then level the ground or
will the sheer volume of pebble on top of the membrane do this for me.

Sodium chlorate would not be suitable anyway as it reduces your options for
any future planting in the soil, glyphosate would be a better idea... but
even so it would be a heavy job and might need several applications.

One way would be to tackle it bit by bit starting with the area furthest
away from your access point (for any machinery you might need to hire) so
you don't trash anything that's finished.

Or how about a compromise by gravelling the major part and putting in some
raised beds using sleepers? I think you'd have to get _some_ help at some
point though.

"Magwitch" wrote in message
...
troubleinstore muttered:

Question is after the grass has been cutt, do I have to kill all the
grass
and weeds (I've got a tub of sodium clorate) and then level the ground or
will the sheer volume of pebble on top of the membrane do this for me.

Sodium chlorate would not be suitable anyway as it reduces your options
for
any future planting in the soil, glyphosate would be a better idea... but
even so it would be a heavy job and might need several applications.

One way would be to tackle it bit by bit starting with the area furthest
away from your access point (for any machinery you might need to hire) so
you don't trash anything that's finished.

Or how about a compromise by gravelling the major part and putting in some
raised beds using sleepers? I think you'd have to get _some_ help at some
point though.


warning to OP ..if you have a large gravelled area, you'll get lots of local
cats shitting in it and an even more unpleasant chore than cutting the
grass. To borrow N McC's idea, why not work out cost of gravelling (really
you need to get it all cleared & leveled before the membrane goes down so
that should include turf removal), then see how many weeks of getting your
lawn cut you'd get from that. I would think it would be a lot.
I'm assuming you'll have to pay someone to do it all since by definition if
you cant mow a lawn then removing turf , levelling the soil, and carting
lots of gravel about will not be an option for you.

--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

On 28/4/05 9:40, in article ,
"troubleinstore" wrote:

Hi,

My garden is 43 foot long and 19 foot wide and at the moment is cover in
grass and a vast amount of weeds.

Because of health problems suffered by my wife and myself, we are unable to
tend it as one should, so we thought of putting pebble down.

Now I understand that you are supposed to put a permeable membrane down
first and then 10mm pebble on top.

Question is after the grass has been cutt, do I have to kill all the grass
and weeds (I've got a tub of sodium clorate) and then level the ground or
will the sheer volume of pebble on top of the membrane do this for me.

Any advice, tips, offers of saomeone to come and do it for me :-)) would be
most appreciated.
--
troubleinstore


If you can, pave it, leaving small areas in which to plant some shrubs and
putting a little fountain in the middle, perhaps - very soothing. You could
place shrubs around the edge in pots or group them here and there. If you
have pebbles they will be very dangerous for you to walk on and you won't be
able to move garden furniture to where you want it at any given time of day
or year. Can you get someone to do this for you and is it an affordable
option? I do think pebbles are going to give you some headaches.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)