Creating a new veggie bed but need to dig up driveway

pukeko

Hi there,

New to boards so i'm not sure whether this is the correct place for this as it's construction/excavation/gardening but here's my question for anyone out there.
We have south facing front garden and want to make use of a section of our drive to create a bed for veggies. The concrete driveway was width extended on both sides to fit two cars on it before we bought the place and we now want to dig up one of the extensions to put in a veggie patch. The bed we want to make would be approx 20ft by 4ft and, i imagine 4in concrete that we would be digging up.
So my questions are:
Would this be a job for a landscape gardener or a builder or both?
How long should this take?
How much should it cost us? (living in east cork)

I'm also thinking i'll just do it myself but would need to hire kango/concrete saw and skip so not sure really.

Anyway, yere thoughts would be greatly appreciated...

Limerick Bandit

How big is the section of concrete?
A skip bag might be big enough to hold it

pukeko

About 20ft long by 4ft wide

Any idea how much a job like this would cost me?

ta

Antiquo

pukeko wrote: »

Hi there,

New to boards so i'm not sure whether this is the correct place for this as it's construction/excavation/gardening but here's my question for anyone out there.
We have south facing front garden and want to make use of a section of our drive to create a bed for veggies. The concrete driveway was width extended on both sides to fit two cars on it before we bought the place and we now want to dig up one of the extensions to put in a veggie patch. The bed we want to make would be approx 20ft by 4ft and, i imagine 4in concrete that we would be digging up.
So my questions are:
Would this be a job for a landscape gardener or a builder or both?
How long should this take?
How much should it cost us? (living in east cork)

I'm also thinking i'll just do it myself but would need to hire kango/concrete saw and skip so not sure really.

Anyway, yere thoughts would be greatly appreciated...

If you want someone else to do it get a gardener/someone who knows about soil. A builder will not be concerned about drainage or improving the sub soil prior to throwing a bit of top soil on it.

Any decent guy will do it in a day no problem and cost approx €300 inc top soil and concrete/hardcore removal.

If you are reasonably fit do it yourself its a small enough patch. Get a sledge hammer and give the drive a few smacks you may not have anywhere near 4" of concrete most DIY'ers skimp on the concrete depth and strength. It may come apart quite easy with just a sledge and a pick. If the previous owner was an engineer and designed the drive to take the weight of a Jumbo then hire a Kango out for a day it'll soon come apart once you get into it. Get one of the big skip bags as mentioned and clear all rubble/hardcore you should only have about 1m3

Next dig the subsoil and see what its like, i.e. if very heavy clay you will need to break it up and incorporate grit/sharp sand to at least spade depth. Any well composted material also needs to be added to this layer and thoroughly forked over and broken up.

Next get some quality top soil aprox. 1m3 (check it for couch grass) delivered unless you have some elsewhere in the garden that you can use to backfill and top off the bed. Again incorporate well composted material into this rake level don't walk on it and decide what you want to grow. If it was mine I'd also be scrounging a few scaffold planks and bordering the bed also.

IMO get some first early spuds in you'll have some of the best spuds you've ever tasted in a couple of months and the earthing up, etc will break up the bed even more and leave you space to get more veg in later in the season.

paddy147

1st of all,before you dig up any front garden or concrete,you need tyo know exactly where the likes of mains gas and water pipes would be.

You dont want to hit these services and then be hit with a big repair bill for the repair or replacements of any pipework that maybe underneath your front garden.

Gas is usually yellow plastic pipe
Water is usually black palstic pipe or old reusty and corroded metal pipe..

Sonnenblumen

pukeko wrote: »

Hi there,

New to boards so i'm not sure whether this is the correct place for this as it's construction/excavation/gardening but here's my question for anyone out there.
We have south facing front garden and want to make use of a section of our drive to create a bed for veggies. The concrete driveway was width extended on both sides to fit two cars on it before we bought the place and we now want to dig up one of the extensions to put in a veggie patch. The bed we want to make would be approx 20ft by 4ft and, i imagine 4in concrete that we would be digging up.
So my questions are:
Would this be a job for a landscape gardener or a builder or both?
How long should this take?
How much should it cost us? (living in east cork)

I'm also thinking i'll just do it myself but would need to hire kango/concrete saw and skip so not sure really.

Anyway, yere thoughts would be greatly appreciated...

Would it not be more prudent to simply build Raised Beds (300mm min but 450-600mm) which would be more than adequate for growing most veg. This way you spend less, be readt sooner and always have the option to revert to Driveway, eg if you ever decide to change property etc.

It isn't necessary 'to re-invent the wheel' to simply grow veg.

pukeko

Many thanks for the replies and suggestions folks. Good call on checking for services paddy and thanks for the detailed advice Antiquo.

We did think about the raised bed option (directly on the concrete) and might indeed raise the beds slightly anyway but we do intend to dig up the concrete and create a permanent bed. We've had to give up an allotment afters years of happy gardening and want some permanent beds at the sunny south side of our house instead.

There is just too much concrete drive and not enough soil on show!