Any ideas for my garden?

katiemaloe

H alli,
I'm having a gardening problem and as I am not at all green-fingered, I haven't a clue what to do about it!
My garden is totally paved. Over time I have seen that it wasn't layed well at all. Its just slabs on top of sharp gravel material and no sand or cement between or underneath.. The last couple of years have also shown a big problem with a weed that I think might be horsetail.
Basically I'm wondering how to make it pretty. Either by somehow getting rid of the weed and then sanding and sealing the whole patio.
Or I am also considering lifting the whole thing and growing a lawn. Is there much needed to do this? Top soil etc...?
Whatever I decide to do, it will be a diy job with the help of some friends because I can't afford to do anything too fancy.
Any suggestions or tips would be much appreciated.
Thanks for your time

looksee

Yes, that is horsetail. I have never had to deal with it but there is another thread about getting rid of it.

How much time do you want to put in to caring for your garden? I would suggest you take up flagstones maybe two wide down the fence side, or wherever else would look good. Choose somewhere that will get lots of sun most of the day.

Treat the whole area with a weedkiller like Roundup - look for a systemic weedkiller, it will get to the roots. Apparently with horsetail you need to crush the plants by walking on them to allow the weedkiller to penetrate. It will take two or three weeks for the weedkiller to work. You won't really see anything happening until the roots are dead.

You can clean up the paving with a pressure hose. Either get some one to do it or (preferably) buy one for about €40 in Woodies or similar, and do it yourself (you will also need a hosepipe and access to a tap.) The small ones will do a good job on small areas - mine has paid for itself several times over by unclogging drains and cleaning paving.

Dig the area where the paving has been taken up, if there is a lot of gravel you might remove some of it. Add topsoil to create a slightly raised bed.

Then its up to you, you could put in shrubs, weedproof membrane and woodchips. Or membrane and pebbles and plant things through the membrane. Or leave it bare and grow herbaceous plants or annuals, vegetables, what ever you want.

If you do decide to strip the paving remember you are going to have to get rid of a fair bit of material from under the paving, you would probably be able to give away the paving or get a few bob for it, and buy some topsoil.

slowburner

There's not a lot anyone could add to Looksee's recommendations except perhaps to add something to retain the soil of the new raised bed.
If all the slabs were laid in the same way as the one you have lifted, then you will not be needing to get rid of much material. Less digging =

katiemaloe

Thanks to both of ye for the help and suggestions. I really appreciate it very much.
I was reading that other thread about horsetail and I see that someone suggested diesel to kill it. Though I would only try that if I was keeping the full patio because I'm sure you couldn't plant anything after spraying the ground with diesel! Pressure cleaner sounds like a good investment too.

If I decided to lay a lawn, would I need to take out much of that gravel stuff? Or just some and then mix in lots of top soil? I'm presuming you can buy top soil in big bags like the way you buy compost. Though it would probably need 50 bags or something!!? My house is terraced so couldn't order a truck load. Mmmm ... what to do??

slowburner

katiemaloe wrote: »

Thanks to both of ye for the help and suggestions. I really appreciate it very much.
I was reading that other thread about horsetail and I see that someone suggested diesel to kill it. Though I would only try that if I was keeping the full patio because I'm sure you couldn't plant anything after spraying the ground with diesel! Pressure cleaner sounds like a good investment too.

If I decided to lay a lawn, would I need to take out much of that gravel stuff? Or just some and then mix in lots of top soil? I'm presuming you can buy top soil in big bags like the way you buy compost. Though it would probably need 50 bags or something!!? My house is terraced so couldn't order a truck load. Mmmm ... what to do??

Laying a lawn would be a fair bit of work, logistically difficult and could turn out to be a good deal more expensive than you would expect. The slabs were quite probably laid because the soil underneath required too much input to lay a decent lawn - you would not believe some of the things that get buried in gardens by builders. Have a look at this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72425498 to see what could be involved.
A lawn is also very high maintenance - the highest maintenance there is in gardening. There might also be issues with the partial shade from the house too - lawns need maximum sunlight.
Looksee's recommendations would definitely be worth following, especially if you would prefer not to invest heavily.

Another detail you could add would be to lift a few slabs here and there to create 'islands' with plants in some and perhaps decorative beach stones in others, so that you have walkways through and around them.
If you don't want to try selling/donating excess slabs you can break them up (not too small) and build a dry stone wall out of the pieces to retain the soil in your new raised bed. It works really well if you make sure to face the rough edges outwards.

I would not be too enthusiastic about using diesel in this situation either.:eek: