This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
decking/paved-gardens
Pat Hulme
Posts: 2
I'm thinking of moving house, but so many houses have decking and paved areas where the gardens should be. How viable is it to restore such a garden? Is the earth under decking/paving/thick plastic sheets okay once you remove the covering?
0
Posts
I'd have thought so Pat though you may need to dig it / rotavate it to get some air in to the soil as its probably very compressed. We've got a huge area of block paved patio which is going to be reduced in size as its a nightmare for weeds and upkeep.
Pat unfortunately you won't really know till you lift it. Depends what's been there beforehand. If it's a new build the soil probably won't be great anyway. Decks are sometimes built over existing patios too so it's a bit of a lottery. I think you have to accept that you'll probably need to put a bit of soil/compost/nourishment and tlc in no matter what.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
glad your turn it back to a garden,so many gardens are paved over even ones with large gardens.
Your more likely to have success removing decking than slabs. Decking tends to be raised above the ground so there are probably going to be a number of concrete pads to remove which support the bearers. A properly laid paved area will have had up to 6" of soil removed and replaced by hardcore and cement beneath the slabs themselves.
Not impossible to rectify but a lot of hard work and expense.
When I moved in my small garden was paved. Although it does restrict me a bit I grow my garden in pots.( Hence the name) In fact it is more it's size that restricts me. I did post some views around my garden on Garden gallery post pg 66.
I have a load of slabs here which will be getting removed- or most of them will. They're very well laid but on coarse sand and because the ground is very solid they don't move, so it can depend on what the underlying ground is like too.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The sate of the ground will also vary depending on how long the decking/ paved area has been down.Some will have been laid on hardcore and general rubbish,so as others have said until its lifted you won,t know,but after all the hard work you will have a living garden,and not as Verdun says a "dead area".
I removed two sheds last year, which were stood on slabs. The "soil" underneath one was clay, and the other shale, clay and sand in stripes. I added as much compost and FYM as I could lay my hands on. Its OK this year, but will be an ongoing improvement project.