Bought a house - what now?

-K2- · 30-07-2013 5:34pm #1

I've just purchased a 2nd hand suburban house. The house requires lots of work, including building work, which should be started in mid-September but I won't move in until the late winter. In the meantime I'd like to keep the garden in reasonable condition.

The front is in lawn which isn't in great condition but is servicable for the time being. There is a large bushy hedge which is beginning to spill out over the front wall. In the remainder of the front garden there are a few rough beds.

Prior to putting the house on the market the previous owner ran a rotovator over most of the back garden so it's a complete mess with generally bare soil apart from where weeds are starting to take root. Around the edges there are weeds and scraggly bushes.

Eventually I'd like to have both front and back with decent lawn, a neat hedge in the front and raised beds around the back.

Bearing in mind I won't be living there for a while, but can visit it once/twice per week until then, what would be the best approach to the back garden? I'd like to avoid having a bare look in winter or allow it to become overgrown so should I complete the clearance of the weeds/shrubs now and plant grass? How about the front - what would be lowest maintainence option for keeping it as-is for the remainder of year? I don't want the current edges/beds to become overgrown with weeds during the autumn.

Thanks.

paddy147 · 30-07-2013 6:42pm

-K2- wrote: »

I've just purchased a 2nd hand suburban house. The house requires lots of work, including building work, which should be started in mid-September but I won't move in until the late winter. In the meantime I'd like to keep the garden in reasonable condition.

The front is in lawn which isn't in great condition but is servicable for the time being. There is a large bushy hedge which is beginning to spill out over the front wall. In the remainder of the front garden there are a few rough beds.

Prior to putting the house on the market the previous owner ran a rotovator over most of the back garden so it's a complete mess with generally bare soil apart from where weeds are starting to take root. Around the edges there are weeds and scraggly bushes.

Eventually I'd like to have both front and back with decent lawn, a neat hedge in the front and raised beds around the back.

Bearing in mind I won't be living there for a while, but can visit it once/twice per week until then, what would be the best approach to the back garden? I'd like to avoid having a bare look in winter or allow it to become overgrown so should I complete the clearance of the weeds/shrubs now and plant grass? How about the front - what would be lowest maintainence option for keeping it as-is for the remainder of year? I don't want the current edges/beds to become overgrown with weeds during the autumn.

Thanks.

I would wait till all the building/renovation work is done and then I would start on the garden.

Building work usually means that building materials like sand/blocks and cement will end up mixed into the ground.Heavy/bulky materials and plant machinery on site will also heavily compact the ground around the house.

You can dig out all the building crap and prep the ground after the builders have left,build your raised beds and then you can plant bare root or rootball hedging during the wintertime....(hedging will be cheaper at this time too)

The above advice is based on our personal experience of builders,materials and digging out our own gardensand building them from scratch after the builders had left.

rje66 · 30-07-2013 7:24pm

paddy147 wrote: »

I would wait till all the building/renovation work is done and then I would start on the garden.

Building work usually means that building materials like sand/blocks and cement will end up mixed into the ground.

You can prep the ground after the builders have left,build your raised beds and then you can plant bare root hedging during the wintertime.

The above advice is based on our personal experience of builders,materials and gardens.

+1

magicbastarder · 30-07-2013 8:10pm

i'd suggest getting cheap plywood, if you can find it, and cover the soil with it. that way the soil will compact slightly less, and you'll have less spillage of the likes of cement and plaster and general muck like that into the soil. forget about maintaining a lawn where the builders will be storing stuff.

Jeju · 30-07-2013 8:40pm

It might be worth looking to see if there is any drainage requirements over this period and if needed lay some land drainage pipe.
It may depending on budget be a good time to consider rain water harvesting which is placed in the ground in your garden.
Best of luck.

homer911 · 31-07-2013 9:33am

If you wait until the builders are on site, you can throw the old plants into their skip

In relation to hedging, if you are not fussy on the variety and could wait until April/May, there are usually fetes/car boot sales or similar with garden plants. I got a load of hedge plants at one of these for half nothing, and continue to pick up the odd good plant at these events

paddy147 · 31-07-2013 9:58am

magicbastarder wrote: »

i'd suggest getting cheap plywood, if you can find it, and cover the soil with it. that way the soil will compact slightly less, and you'll have less spillage of the likes of cement and plaster and general muck like that into the soil. forget about maintaining a lawn where the builders will be storing stuff.

Thats actually a good idea.

An 8 x 4 sheet of 15mm ply or osb board is around 18-20 euro in a builders providers.

Handy to have where pallets of bricks and the likes of a cement mixer will be located in/on the garden site.Also where a mini digger or dumper might be driving in and out off of site.

And as you say,it will prevent alot of materials being spilled/mixed and compacted into the existing soil

-K2- · 31-07-2013 1:12pm

Thanks for the suggestions. At least this makes my life easier for the rest of the year!

paddy147 · 31-07-2013 1:49pm

-K2- wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions. At least this makes my life easier for the rest of the year!

Can I make a suggestion to you......

Try to keep as much of the building materials in the area where the building/extension work will be getting done....(less chance of the rest of the land getting compacted and made sh1t of).

Also try your best to make sure that building materials and their location are secured from easy entry by joe public.

There has been a recent spate of building material robberies of late.

People with vans comming along at night to take away good and expensive building materials,so they can be used elsewhere or sold off on various websites and ad magazines.

I know of 1 couple who had their new upvc windows robbed out of their large ground floor extension one night.

Gardai said to them that most likely a person or persons involved had staked out the place and then chosen the right time to nick the windows,quite a few concrete blocks and lengths of plumbing pipe too.:eek::mad:

So try best to secure your house/site and keep material out of sight of joe public.

If you can afford it,then have tall hoarding or security fencing placed around the house/site to keeep everything out of view to joe public.;)

paddy147 · 31-07-2013 1:58pm

Oh and Congratts on the house purchase.

Hope you have many happy years living in it and enjoy your new gardens too.:)

Bought a house - what now?

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