Turning a patio in to a lawn, Ashford, Middlesex

To create the courtyard lawn in this little sun trap I had to remove the patio slabs, discover what was underneath it, remove what was underneath it and create a garden suitable to take a lawn.


Luckily the slabs were easy to remove, however since this was the site of an old primary school (now turned in to houses) there was no end to the layers of concrete, bricks, tarmac, more concrete underneath the original slabs. All of this was to be removed taking into account proximity to next doors lounge adjoining the lawn area.

I picked up a pick axe for the very first time and soon mastered the art of taking aim at whatever materials were to be removed including my ankles. Although affective at breaking up some parts of the surface we would need days of hard labour to take up this area which was about 3m x 3m. It was time to hire in the concrete breaker, but being 3 o'clock on an Easter Saturday, everything was to go on hold until Tuesday. 

Tuesday came and within half a day we had taken up and removed just about everything down to the top soil. With the preparation complete now came the fun part. Bringing in the soil to bring it up to the required level, compacting it and readying it for the lawns to be laid. 

Knowing we would be finished within the day I set off back to the nursery for the 4th time today to get the turfs and with the aid of a Stanley knife to cut them in. The new courtyard lawn was laid ready for a summer of outdoor entertainment for family friends and especially Jacob, Joe and Hannah's 4 year old son.

Patio slabs removed, lets get this concrete up with these picks. We should have this laid before tea!

Closer inspection reveals layer upon layer of bricks, concrete, tarmac and... concrete

This should do it!

The finished article.

Home sweet home!

REFLECTIVE COMMENTS
This was no easy task but any means but reasonably quick to complete and with practice with the required tooling can be completed in a day by two people.


I was shown how to level the land and apply mulch and sharp sand to break the soil level to give it a more even finish. The lawn rolls butted right up to each other to leave no gaps, access planks we laid to walk over the lawn. I was shown how and why to butt the edges of the lawn down with  the back of the rake. I witnessed and practiced cutting the turfs to fit the more awkward spaces. This all helped in my development and I feel I could now do this alone and shown others how it should be done the best way.


The results were perfect and I look forward to being invited to the first garden warming party!!

Clearing the marsh garden

Another sunny, autumnal day! The dappled light comes in through the dense canopies of the trees overhead which make this part of the garden very shady and with the presence of a natural spring here in the garden, the land is marshy and the soil is rich. The spring was once made in to a design feature of this part of the garden but after some years of neglect it has caused the garden to get boggy and overgrown. It was up to me to start the clearance of the marsh garden to get it back in to a habitable state.

Garden path - before

Garden path - after

Garden bench - before

Garden bench - after

Bottom of the garden - before

Bottom of the garden - after

REFLECTIVE COMMENTS
A great week with various jobs and different gardens including this marsh garden. I further developed my skills in seasonal clearing which is critical to keep the gardens pristine and clear of leaves and weeds at this time of year. We talked about issues with the marsh clearance where a French drain is required to be installed to take the water away from the natural spring in the garden to dry out the marsh land in the garden. 


My competence in all areas is developing to a level where I will be able to advise others on all areas of clearing, tidying gardens, the importance of leaf mould piles to create a compost, and edging to a professional level. All this is important to me starting my own business which will include garden maintenance contracts.

Building a small retaining wall and patio area

To assist building these small hard landscaping features my role entailed mixing the mortar to the correct consistency and laying bricks and slabs correctly given the right guidance. The mortar was thoroughly mixed to a 1:4 mix until the correct consistency was achieved and then was ready to lay the slabs with a slight slope away from the back fence.


The slabs were laid on a mortar bed and with blobs to the corners and middle to aid with knocking them down and all went very smoothly. A four square slab patio area laid reasonably quickly. Similarly, the retaining wall was laid to hold a slightly raised border and once again this was laid in good time and was witnessed by John who dryly put it down to 'beginners luck'!

1:4 Mortar mix

Small Patio area

Retaining wall

REFLECTIVE COMMENTS

After a lot of hard work to get rid of any unwanted rubble, hard core and existing turfs came the fun part of laying some of the small hard landscaping areas in the garden. First of all, my first pracical experience of mixing the mortar mix to 1:4 to lay the slabs and then the actual laying of the patio seating area at the back of the garden.

This was a great experience in helping develop my skills required to be able to carry out these tasks in my own company and it went a long way to giving me the confidence and ability to accept this type of contract. The mortar mix is tricky and for all my listening to the given instructions, will take a couple of practice runs to get the consistency correct. However, I completed this on my own and the consistency was "spot on!" As was the first slab I laid without any readjustment with the mallet! Beginners luck?

With some supervision the rest of the slabs went down well and the seating area looks great! Can't wait for it to be surrounded by some planting!

Again, with a 1:4 mortar mix is best for the block course to make the small retaining wall and once this was done correctly the blocks went in to place quite easily. It was important though to put a wetter mix into the pointing so it isn't crumbly and once this is done right, the finished product looked great!

My experiences have come on leaps and bounds over the past few weeks!

Creating a soak away and French drain

In order to better the drainage from the patio area I had to create a soak away and French drain from the patio. Luckily in this lawn there was a lot of rubble underneath the ground and amongst the overgrowth that existed in the back garden before it was cleared. This made for some perfect material to create the soak away. First a hole was hug about 18-24" deep and I filled it with as much of the larger rubble as was possible. Then some of the smaller rubble and then it was back filled with the excess soil before the top soil was laid and levelled with the aid of sand. For the french drain some existing old tiles would fit perfectly to aid the draining to the soak away.

Soakaway from the patio area

Hardcore for the soak away

Back fill with soil

Porous materials

Top soil over the top of the soak away and level off.

REFLECTIVE COMMENTS

This was a simple task to perform although without the aid of any machinery (for which there was no access to the rear garden), it was done with some hard graft!!

Client brief and drawing for design of back garden, Sheen, Richmond.

December, and to break the monotony of the winter clearances, we have won a contract to redesign the rear garden for a private house in Sheen, Richmond. The brief was to create a garden for entertainment from a space that has been left to overgrow for the last 3-4 years, which has bramble and overgrowth up to 6 feet tall. Once we cleared this, we found the ground to be very uneven and the top soil, although 18 inches to 2 foot deep in places was a mix of bramble and grass rootage. 

The client wanted a garden which was to be a spacious, relaxing area to be mostly lawn for their young daughter to play in, but also aesthetically pleasing enough to enjoy barbeques  and to entertain guests in. They wanted to make the most of the sunshine that hit the garden and this would incorporate two seating areas, the patio which would remain largely unchanged and a seating area up the back to catch the morning sun on the east facing back wall. It was also to have a raised bed, for herbs and vegetables to be grown in, by the kitchen window and curved borders and access to the summer house in the corner (which would eventually be replaced). The size of the garden is approximately 18 metres long by 12 metres wide and the budget was about £7000.

My design incorporates all these requirements and access to the fruit trees at the back of the garden has been left for picking the fruit in the autumn.

Rear garden after clearance

Design drawing

Plants to be planted today

Marked out border

Raised herb and vegetable bed

Planted borders

REFLECTIVE COMMENTS
It was important to come away from the client brief having fully understood the clients requirements and this was achieved in the first visit. On presentation of my final design the client was excited for us to get under way and create the garden so it had the entirety of spring to mature enough to show off their garden to their friends by the time summer comes around.
This was a good first experience of a client facing project that would involve me designing and drawing the final design for presentation to the client. The only downside was the very tight budget to which we had to work but the transformation of the garden is incredible. 

Building a Gothic archway

My first hard landscaping work - the start of a brick archway, which was like none I've seen before. An antique looking archway to be decorated with tile and stone and even moss added in to the wet mortar mix. This lent itself for having a slightly hap hazard finish and did not require the preciseness of laying a standard brick or stone feature.

Start of a gothic archway

Brick piers

Moss added for oldy-woldy look

Terracota tiles added in places

Gothic archway

REFLECTIVE COMMENTS
I feel I can take most of these landscaping skills in to the work place myself and feel more confident in building brick features, but theres still some way to go before laying professional looking brick work!!

More autumn leaf clearance

A very large house in Oxshott which I am trying to get looking presentable despite the relentless fall of the Oak leaves. Certainly getting better with practice!! I've also turned the bed over and edged it, making it a very presentable feature from the gated entrance!

Before

After

REFLECTIVE COMMENTS
Had a good few days in some super autumnal weather, clearing the gardens and "putting them to bed" for the winter. The leaf clearing skills are certainly coming up to scratch after a prolonged mild autumn and with the berries in full colour and even the odd spring flower coming in to bloom (!!) the gardens are looking very colourful for this time of year. My skills are quickly coming up to scratch to get these gardens cleared quickly and the professional border finishes are looking... professional!!