Help needed with this strange addition!
Mattie_
Posts: 1
Hello
hopefully someone will be able to give me some advise.
we have moved into our new home and are now tasked with the back garden...
however, the previous owners used to have a trampoline at the end of the garden and have built a makeshift retaining wall out of breeze blocks and as the ground was sloped, they added extra soil/clay/hard mud to help level it out. The breeze blocks are along the length of the fence..
Ideally I want to re-turf the garden and try to level then garden out even more, so the height between the ground and top of the breeze blocks are shorter, so I can possibly lay some beds with raised sleepers In the back where the breeze blocks are, but before I do, I need to know how I should do it....
so the first question is, how would you disguise or remove the top layer Of the breeze blocks?
secondly, if I were to build the flower beds to the height of the breeze block, how do I stop the soil from going over the other side and in between the fence and breeze blocks?
thirdly, does this soil/clay/hard mud look ok to prepare ready so I can turf over?
Any help of advise would be great!
Posts
I'll just cover the clay for now Mattie. It's every bit as horrible and grim as my own clay. What you'll find is it will bake hard and crack in the warm weather, then be waterlogged all winter. It is heavily compacted and that is never good with clay.
To improve it add, course horticultural grit (lots and lots of it) and 'long' manure, that is manure with the straw still showing in it. This will need all thoroughly mixing together with a rotavator. It will sit high for a bit so you'll need to let it settle and lightly roll it, but it will improve that drainage of the clay no end and help prevent it compacting again, in the end it will produce a much better base for turfs.
Breeze blocks are easy to knock out with a sledge hammer and the concrete below probably won't be that deep, you'll probably be able to get a fork underneath it and just lift it. As for the clay, that needs breaking up, a pick, or mattock may be needed to get into it. It's a tough job but you have to get the basics right in order to get the lawned area you want.