New garden landscaping ideas

[BooseysMom]

We have a new-build garden which is just turfed. It's heavy clay and holds alot of water and if you walk in it you just sink in the mud! In the summer it's the complete opposite. We really need to landscape it but are reluctant to pave. We are thinking of a path from the top where the patio is to the bottom and a pond and rockery. It is sloped and we could build terraces into it but are constrained by budget. We got a quote to extend the measly patio out by about 50 small slabs and were shocked at the cost..well over a grand. Apparently it's the removal of soil that costs so we thought is there a way to re-use it by building a rockery and adding bags of sand.
So what I was wondering was has anyone had any work done on a new garden and what sort of cost did it come to?
I'd love to hear any experiences and ideas.
Thanks x

Garden landscaping is very expensive, a grand isn't bad, I wonder how much they would charge if you moved the soil? Could you make a rockery elsewhere with it? For landscaping ideas I think the new bbc show my garden made perfect looks promising. There is a lot to garden landscaping though for an amateur to learn. I just know I don't know a lot!

I don't know if you'd be able to/interested in doing it yourselves but I have heard that of all home and garden renovations, landscaping is one of the most cost effective to DIY

@MrsJamin...thank you for the advice. Yes we were wondering about using the soil that's removed to build a rockery and adding a tonne of sand. I have recorded My Garden Made Perfect. I thought it looked promising too.

@TiddleTaddleTat.. we were thinking we might have to have a go ourselves but we have so little time so thought we'd get a loan and get it all done in one go. I wish we could get one one of those progs like Garden Rescue. Thanks for your post.

Could you build a raised bed from railway sleepers and put the soil into that?

Also your Turk is probably compacted from the heavy machinery used to build the house. You could try aerating it by sticking a garden fork into it all over the turf, see if that helps.

79andnotout.. thank you so much for the advice. You're right about the compacted turf. We do the fork thing but it never seems to do anything and we end up with blistered hands! The problem is the soil itself is the most unworkable type being heavy clay. I'm just not strong enough to dig it all up.
Good idea about the railway sleepers

Better gloves needed then. But if you want to grow anything, you'll need to work on improving the soil, a small section at a time with sand and organic matter (COMPOST)

@Harrysmummy246.. yes that sounds about right. I need to get digging!
Thanks for the post.

How big is the garden? Rough rules for a brand new space is the hard landscaping, then trees, then borders and flowers etc. Do the big stuff first.

If you have poorly draining clay you may need to think about how to put in drainage. At least find out about plants that will grow and help to break down the clay. Add compost, mulch etc every time you put in something new. If the garden is big enough for trees, find ones that will cope with the soil and put them in first.

Get someone to deliver you some well rotted manure, builder's bags full and get it down now so the worms have a chance to drag it down where your beds will be. Keep doing that and after a few years, you'll have much improved soil.

Clay is good.

@KickAssAngel.. thank you for your post and the great advice you give. The garden is roughly 10x12m. It's a sort of right angled shape and wider at the top end. I'll post a photo when I can. It's a big size for a new-build and it's a shame to not be able to use it. We couldn't resist planting a tree so planted a pear and dug through a spade's depth of soil and turf to find stones and not much else. There was a sink hole which filled with water and soaked up the compost we added. The pear is growing but very slowly and it gets black leaf rust every year. It's been in 3 years. We were told by the garden centre it would be fine in the soil we have but I'm not sure.

There must be so many people in the same boat with new-build gardens.

I think the whole lot needs removing and a tonne of top soil adding.

@MaryIsA..thank you for the advice. That's a great idea. I did try and dig into the turf to add some shrubs but it was hard going. I added compost but prob not enough and I didn't dig widely around the plants. Some things grow but we have lost a raspberry and a rhubarb which both rotted over the winter.

You can add mulch any time. One thing you can do is layers of cardboards, them covered by wood chips. You can put that down in the autumn and by spring you should have a new bed ready for planting. Worms eat the cardboard and it rots down into the earth to improve the soil. Tea and coffee grounds also help, even if you don't do compost. Where you've already put in plants, add mulch all around them but not actually touching the trunk.

Yeah, you don't need to dig the compost, mulch, manure in - just let the worms do the job for you.

I found spent mushroom compost very good, we had a local mushroom farm that delivered and its much lighter to deal with and you get bonus mushrooms popping up

Ah ok thank you . I like the sound of getting the worms to do it!.. the no-dig method. There's a whole book on this isn't there? I think the structural work will need an expert though. I hope it won't be too expensive