Landscaping project

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Landscaping project
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jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 20 6:18 pm Post subject: Landscaping project

I think I will start posting photos of progress in 2020.
The challenge is to landscape the far corner of the garden that currently consists of raised beds made out of sleepers on a slightly slope, that then steepens down to a decaying deck raised above a marsh by a rather unknown amount. We have no sane and safe access to marsh to quickly find out, even getting on to the deck is precarious now.
I'm guessing it's about 4 foot or so.
A lot of the rest of the garden I have decided to "beat" the marsh with some pretty structural stuff, but I think the best approach in the corner is to give in, in stages!
So the idea will be to make a terraced 3.6M2 raised bed greenhouse area, enclosed mainly with chicken wire, that will be a "step" down from the main garden, then at the edge of that I will terrace down again with a retaining wall creating a drop of a few feet with the idea that that will at least get close to putting the collapsing deck at much less of a drop.
Not sure where it goes from there right now, as the whole areas such a mess and the weathers so awful as to make it hard to make a start and really measure things.
Priority is to at least get some of the new raised beds ready. The sleepers from the existing ones will become the retaining wall.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 20 9:59 pm Post subject:
Need some weather first!

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 20 11:05 pm Post subject:
less weather? nah different weather take care slippery slopes can be moody to work on if possible do all the clearing first and if needs be use bits of deck as duck boards for any barrow work.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 20 8:01 am Post subject:
Sounds a major project. When there is a break in the weather, let us see what it is like now.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 20 11:48 am Post subject:

Will do, just popped out and shivered looking at it, and it is striking me that whilst there is a lot of earth to shovel. Going down to the level or even a little lower than the collapsing deck creates the potential for a really quite large usable space.
Something like 12m2 or more of totally unusable garden could become something quite decent.

https://goo.gl/maps/yHparWrLfQ3dxgVC7

Can't make out to much in that, you can see a green house and two sheds on a deck along the left wall of the garden, the boundaries are a bit vague, but extend out rightwards from the shed, but the existing stuff is more in line with them.
Quite how far and who would care is debatable, an oak tree is beyond the fence but either on or in the boundary which is also diagonally outwards from the visible stuff.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 20 12:58 pm Post subject:
if it were me i would establish the exact boundary from the land registry before planning and doing. 6" over the line could get expensive if (when)somebody does take notice. the last time i had a boundary issue, i had to mend the wall (at considerable cost) but they lost 8" they thought was theirs

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 20 2:01 pm Post subject:

I do have an A4 copy of the title plan at a scale of 1:1250 and to quote:

Quote:

The Land Registry follows a rule of ‘general boundaries’. This means that the exact boundary line of a property is undetermined and the Land Registry Title Plan only indicates the general location of the property boundary. The exact boundary will be within the vicinity of the red line, but it is not guaranteed to be in the exact position of the red line.

This is unhelpful when boundary disputes arise, for example over the position of a fence which one party argues is only a number of inches or feet away from the ‘correct’ position.

It is possible to fix a boundary for certainty, however the costs involved in doing so fall on the applicant wishing to determine the exact boundary position.

Given the thickness of the pencil lines, it does not really pin things down within 1m I estimate. I'd also figure that given this is inaccessible marsh no one is bothered. Heck last time anyone was beyond the boundary it was the fire brigade using our garden as the access point to rescue some idiot!
If we do infringe at all, it would be something like a gabion plonked where it would work.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 20 4:01 pm Post subject:
go for it. if you have that much earth to move is a mini digger ok , can you get it in and is the ground solid enough to work off? 12 cu m by hand is quite a dig even for a youngster and a barrowman it might be a couple of days if all went well, longer if etc. a few hours with a machine and driver.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 20 4:11 pm Post subject:
Problem with a minidigger is a lot of steps down to the work area involved. I tend to take the attitude on digging that if it does not kill me or Sean then its good for us. It is not like its 12m2 to actually dig anyway. As a very good chunk of it is the collapsing deck. So what needs digging initially is "just" trenches and post holes for the retaining wall.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 20 4:29 pm Post subject:
ok if doing it all by hand access matters, make sure you have established an easy, safe route for everything that needs to come out or go in. fettle the barrow pace yerselves.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16004

Posted: Sat Feb 22, 20 7:51 am Post subject:
I would agree with Dpack on that. Pace yourselves and don't overdo it. I tore muscles in my back by mixing and lifting 'just one more bucket of concrete' once, many years ago when I was supposedly young and fit.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sat Feb 22, 20 8:29 am Post subject:

Appreciate the advice.
The garden was one long slide down to the marsh when we moved in.
On the marsh edge for most of it things have been raised several foot, all by shovel and wheelbarrow, as we both bought in earth and excavated a pit in the middle to create a slightly sheltered patio/bbq area.
Last years get fit job was a big retaining wall of sleepers between the "pit" and the marsh.
There was a distinct curve of how many shovels does it take before collapsing in a blistered heap

I expect the same this year.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Feb 22, 20 3:27 pm Post subject:

re stuff to come out, the old decking:

depending how old it might have the tributyl tin /copper arsenate and maybe lindane combo as preservative.

burn it is an option but i would make sure the wind is over the marsh and the ashes are properly collected for safe disposal.

iirc the correct procedure is to bag it and pay for it as low level toxic waste

if any can be reused tis a bonus, old timber work often has pretty decent bits even if some is rotted beyond function.

watch out for wildlife, chances are plenty of things have taken up residence under an old deck.

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Mon Feb 24, 20 8:53 am Post subject:
On a totally different note, Mrs C went to Testwood.

Shane

Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 3467
Location: Doha. Is hot.

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 20 3:31 am Post subject:
Did the wood pass?

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