Advice on play area preparation

[user1471530109]

Hi everyone. I have really got into gardening the past 12 months and have spent a fortune on plants and trees recently. I've had some great advice!
Has anybody laid something like bark down under a climbing frame and trampoline?

I have an area at the back of the garden that used to be a veg bed. It needs clearing of weeds etc first. Roughly 6m x 6m (a bit bigger actually). I'd like to put a secondhand climbing frame (it's a metal TP one in pretty good condition) and our old 10ft trampoline there. Both pretty ugly and will be hidden partially by a shed. I hate the trampoline! But the kids still love it (11 and 8). I'm lucky that I have a long back garden (about 120ft) so want to stick it at the end and hide it with plants from the house. I'm guessing it will have another 4ish year worth of use then I can get rid and have a nice patio at the end instead. By then my lovely climbers for my back fence will have matured and the trees I've planted will be bigger too.

Anyway. What do I do with the ground? If there was grass down there already, I'd just plonk them on top. But as it will be bare soil, I'm thinking, do I want to add new turf that will need mowing etc and have to move trampoline. Would bark chippings be better? Or something else?

I'm just musing and planning in my head! But wondered if anyone has done similar or has some pitfalls they can tell me. I'm also hoping to put a new greenhouse (plastic and cheap but I've never had one before!) at the very back behind kids equipment. I'm hoping the trampoline will shelter it a little from the sun as it is the hottest and sunniest part of the garden.

If I haven't bored you with my ramblings....any advice?

We have just done this. We put down membrane and bark on top. It is better than the grass we had previously which used to get muddy. The bark does get stuck to shoes sometimes and small amounts get on the patio but it much easier than mud to sweep up.

Thanks that's helpful. I e just been reading about cats using it as a giant litter tray? I have to say they don't use my gravel front garden (which is twice the size as this area) so I'm not too worried. I'm liking the idea of once the kids are outgrown the stuff in a few years I can reuse it all as mulch for the borders.

Our neighbours have cats and I have not noticed any cat poo. However it had only been down a week so there is still time...

We have shredded car tyres under ours. They've been dyed green so mix in well.

The trouble with bark is it will rot and need topping up. The car tyres won't. Ours have been down for four years now and haven't needed any attention since.

Raggie, if my kids were younger and the play area was going to have to last at lot longer than the 4ish years I think they will still be interested in it (youngest is 8), I'd be looking for something that was going to last longer. I do like the fact you've got something recycled though. Which is another reason I'm leaning towards bark as I can reuse it once the kids have finished with it.

I've just priced it up and with the membrane I'm looking at around £200. I'm assuming I don't need hardcore under the membrane like a patio? Will the trampoline be stable? It's 10 years old and I was going to get rid of it after the last house move. But it was used daily during the lockdown last year.

I should be out in the garden knocking the old half a greenhouse down to make space for my new one...but it's so cold so busying myself with this research

That's a fair comment. Our youngest is 7 now so we will get the wear out of it. It was expensive too. About £550 iirc.

We dug down about 4 inches or so to ensure the covering was deep. No hardcore. Trampoline has always been really stable on top of it.

I wouldn't bother with grass, I had it under a trampoline for a few years, thankfully kids have outgrown it now, but nothing grew under it. If it's hidden from view, I'd just leave it as bare earth. That's how mine ended up anyway.

I'd definitely leave it as earth if it wouldn't get covered in weeds! It's an overgrown nightmare down there. I'm not too worried about making it really soft as they currently just have it on grass. But I'm thinking membrane then a layer of bark. I have some bricks I can use to edge it a bit. I'm not really up for digging. It took me all afternoon to plant a tree !

I'd put bark down. If you use the plastic chippings you'll have to find a way to recycle them when the kids grow out of the frame/trampoline. Bark rots down or can be spread over borders.