Ok so good questions. Here goes, no burning down in flames, its been a learning experience. 🤣 * Moved to property during 1st lockdown. Small garden not great, full of weeds, ugly patio and huge shed with a gap behind it. * House was going through building work and builders dumped all sorts on the lawn which resulted in terrible soil quality
* Got a sandstone patio built which then resulted in a 15cm drop to the grass. Decided to remove shed for a smaller one to be positioned at the back of the garden. * During this i was hit with a bad situation i.e. marestail, dont know where it came from. Took me a while to identify it. Kurtail was used to kill it. Left the lawn for a few months. * In November bought and placed 10 tonnes of soil on existing and cleaned lawn. Got a slight slope designed deliberately * Seeded grass, got a base built and shed is imminent. Im getting there. Marestail is definitely in the back of my mind but i have read improving soil quality and growing grass can control this. Ill have to deal with it as it comes. The garden is small. Just looking for a nice place to sit in summer. Ill post some pics. Field behind is amazing and better in summer. There is a family of deer that we see regularly.
Lovely to have the newts @m_tariqs, and a very nice backdrop to your plot. Thanks for those extra pix. It certainly is a small area, and it also looks like it could be quite shady? That isn't the best for grass. However, I think you just need to wait and see how it goes in spring, and into summer. Builders have a habit of dumping stuff [been there many times] and if you can't get the plot broken up again, the compacted ground will tend to keep causing problems, regardless of what you do to it on top. If the drainage isn't good, and it's a shady site, and you get a fair bit of rain [I'm sure you do in Preston!] you'll have to accept that it may never be great. You'll have to aerate later on, and you can add the gritty sand to the holes, which will help a bit, but it probably won't stand up to lots of wear and tear. When I had a lawn in my south facing back garden, it was saturated in winter, and I just avoided being on it [ north facing front garden is worse] I created that lawn with loads of drainage to counteract our weather, and it was fine in summer, but the front one isn't even great in summer here most years. There's a limit to what you can do
The marestail will be difficult - virtually impossible- to get rid of, no matter what you do. At least when it's in the grass, the mowing helps to keep it at bay, but it'll creep back in from wherever it's coming from, because it just travel underground - for huge distances. Again, it's just one of those things. An ongoing battle unfortunately.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I would try to 'borrow' that lovely hill at the back by painting the wall/fence? to blend in, and plant a few taller shrubs or trees in front of it. Actually, I would remove it, and use a wire fence that opens up the view so that it looks as if there is no boundary.
I'd agree with that @Balgay.Hill. I'd go with the first option though. The shrubs - and any planting, wouldn't need to be very big - just around the height of the wall, or slightly more. Too big and they'll cause more shade in that small space. Had a similar situation in a previous garden, but there was a reasonable drop on the other side of the wire fence, so it was more of a ha-ha, although it wasn't a completely vertical drop. A little bit of greenery just meant the coos didn't get in too easily
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'd agree with that @Balgay.Hill. I'd go with the first option though. The shrubs - and any planting, wouldn't need to be very big - just around the height of the wall, or slightly more. Too big and they'll cause more shade in that small space. Had a similar situation in a previous garden, but there was a reasonable drop on the other side of the wire fence, so it was more of a ha-ha, although it wasn't a completely vertical drop. A little bit of greenery just meant the coos didn't get in too easily
I was thinking of one of the fastigiate Rowans that have an open nature, so not too much shade, and like you say, a couple of airy shrubs about the same height of the wall. Maybe a couple of Cornus with bright stems.
Lovely to have the newts @m_tariqs, and a very nice backdrop to your plot. Thanks for those extra pix. It certainly is a small area, and it also looks like it could be quite shady? That isn't the best for grass. However, I think you just need to wait and see how it goes in spring, and into summer. Builders have a habit of dumping stuff [been there many times] and if you can't get the plot broken up again, the compacted ground will tend to keep causing problems, regardless of what you do to it on top. If the drainage isn't good, and it's a shady site, and you get a fair bit of rain [I'm sure you do in Preston!] you'll have to accept that it may never be great. You'll have to aerate later on, and you can add the gritty sand to the holes, which will help a bit, but it probably won't stand up to lots of wear and tear. When I had a lawn in my south facing back garden, it was saturated in winter, and I just avoided being on it [ north facing front garden is worse] I created that lawn with loads of drainage to counteract our weather, and it was fine in summer, but the front one isn't even great in summer here most years. There's a limit to what you can do
The marestail will be difficult - virtually impossible- to get rid of, no matter what you do. At least when it's in the grass, the mowing helps to keep it at bay, but it'll creep back in from wherever it's coming from, because it just travel underground - for huge distances. Again, it's just one of those things. An ongoing battle unfortunately.
Thanks for the info. So I made sure ground was cleared as much as possible before putting in top soil. The only thing left were very small stones which i hear is good for drainage. My neighbours grass is very dense and before the building work commenced I had very green thick grass, visible in the pic with the lizard. You are right, just going to see how it goes in spring. The fact that grass has grown in December does give me encouragement though....:)
I would try to 'borrow' that lovely hill at the back by painting the wall/fence? to blend in, and plant a few taller shrubs or trees in front of it. Actually, I would remove it, and use a wire fence that opens up the view so that it looks as if there is no boundary.
Snap. Back fence painted, next job is border and am thinking some hebe, hydrangea and the like. I have seen glass fences but they come with a cost. Reason why I havent changed the fence is because there are blackberry bushes behind the fence and they encroach aggressively in summer so the concrete fence does a good job of keeping them back.
Posts
* Moved to property during 1st lockdown. Small garden not great, full of weeds, ugly patio and huge shed with a gap behind it.
* House was going through building work and builders dumped all sorts on the lawn which resulted in terrible soil quality
* During this i was hit with a bad situation i.e. marestail, dont know where it came from. Took me a while to identify it. Kurtail was used to kill it. Left the lawn for a few months.
* In November bought and placed 10 tonnes of soil on existing and cleaned lawn. Got a slight slope designed deliberately
* Seeded grass, got a base built and shed is imminent.
Im getting there. Marestail is definitely in the back of my mind but i have read improving soil quality and growing grass can control this. Ill have to deal with it as it comes. The garden is small. Just looking for a nice place to sit in summer. Ill post some pics. Field behind is amazing and better in summer. There is a family of deer that we see regularly.
Thanks for those extra pix. It certainly is a small area, and it also looks like it could be quite shady? That isn't the best for grass.
However, I think you just need to wait and see how it goes in spring, and into summer. Builders have a habit of dumping stuff [been there many times] and if you can't get the plot broken up again, the compacted ground will tend to keep causing problems, regardless of what you do to it on top.
If the drainage isn't good, and it's a shady site, and you get a fair bit of rain [I'm sure you do in Preston!] you'll have to accept that it may never be great. You'll have to aerate later on, and you can add the gritty sand to the holes, which will help a bit, but it probably won't stand up to lots of wear and tear.
When I had a lawn in my south facing back garden, it was saturated in winter, and I just avoided being on it [ north facing front garden is worse]
I created that lawn with loads of drainage to counteract our weather, and it was fine in summer, but the front one isn't even great in summer here most years. There's a limit to what you can do
The marestail will be difficult - virtually impossible- to get rid of, no matter what you do. At least when it's in the grass, the mowing helps to keep it at bay, but it'll creep back in from wherever it's coming from, because it just travel underground - for huge distances. Again, it's just one of those things. An ongoing battle unfortunately.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Actually, I would remove it, and use a wire fence that opens up the view so that it looks as if there is no boundary.
Too big and they'll cause more shade in that small space.
Had a similar situation in a previous garden, but there was a reasonable drop on the other side of the wire fence, so it was more of a ha-ha, although it wasn't a completely vertical drop. A little bit of greenery just meant the coos didn't get in too easily
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...