Help planting over concreate area

chrish_01 · June 2018

Hi all

we have an extra strip of garden to the side of our house which is covered in several inches of concreate.

We are looking to do something with this area short of trying to dig it all up or paving over it, I would prefer some greenery.

would anything grow if we simply dumped a couple of inches of soil over the top. I don’t mind letting it get a bit wild, not after an ornate flower bed.

The pic shows the area in question, east north east facing.

Thanks
chris.

Bagpuss57 · June 2018

I shouldn't think it'd be a good idea to just dump soil on top of concrete and expect anything to grow well. There will be no drainage and roots wont really have anywhere to go. Could you break up the concrete? A big job but you might find soil underneath. But then you might just find builders rubble! You could get a raised bed and plant stuff in that? If it were mine and I could afford it I'd get someone in to do the job and either get a patio space or turn it back to lawn and borders. Big jobs cost money though so depends if you would rather go it alone. I'd definitely not put soil on top of concrete though.

Jason-3 · June 2018

2-3 days work tops. Hire a kanga and builders skip it will come up easily with right equipment. If you can 2-3 of you on the job it would be even quicker. Just be mindful of any utilities running underneath. As bagpuss states nothing will grow well with a concrete base unless you grow some herbs/lavenders/south African or north American pararie types in large planters with excellent drains he.

I would suggest that 3-4 large planters with good drainage would be more costly than digging the site out. With latter been less effective in the long run

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Help planting over concreate area

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