Calling anyone out there with engineering, building or gardening knowledge or in fact, anyone who can come up with a solution to this problem

[Zog]

I have a huge hole in my garden. Filling it would be very expensive as it's so deep but I was wondering about the feasibility of building something in or across the hole that I could then turf on top of.

Is this possible? Can anyone think of any other solution, however left field ?

TIA

decking

I thought about decking but it's under some big trees so would be a nightmare to keep clear and non-slimey.

why is there a hole there? what is stopping the trees falling into it? and the trees will stop the grass growing too

Stick a hot tub in it

I don't know - our neighbours' gardens are fairly level (although sloping as we live on the side of a hill) but ours has a socking great hole in it with really steep sides. The trees are up the top so no danger of falling in .

bubblerock. We're talking a B-I-G hole though.

Could you not fill it with soil that people are trying to get rid of (eg. soil dug out when people get footings dug for an extension).

I'm not sure how you find someone getting rid though other than posting a wanted on Freecycle. I've certainly seen people offering it there on a few occasions.

How long do you think it would take me and my wheelbarrow to trundle ten lorryloads of soil from the front to the back? That would be the best solution but it would just take so long. Hence my grass covered platform idea.

swimming pool?

otherwise i'd get a gardening service in to see if they can fill it with soil. wouldn't want to fill it with rubble. you could plant a tree at the same time and offset your carbon emissions from lugging the soil in on huge trucks

Swimming pool lovely idea but see earlier post re leaves etc under the trees - would be a bugger to keep clean.

oo - grass covered platform not a good idea. quite conceivable that over time the sides might collapse in due to normal erosion leaving a hole and some kid could get stuck. too risky. you'll need to fill it and seriously compress it, then fill again. then wait a couple of months for rain etc. to depress it further, then plant grass / tree.

Roughly how big is this hole Zog? I have visions of something visible from outer space now

Sunken garden? Like one of those Italian gardens you see when you go round stately homes? Shore up the sides, chuck in a bit of paving and some plants and Bob is your mother's brother. Maybe.

I'm having trouble visualising this

pond? a sunken waterlogged wildlife area, for frogs etc. fence around it so the dc don't fall in, or if your dc are older, build a wooden bridge across the pond.

Oh it's big - probably about 30ft across and 20ft deep. We have a tiddly bit of lawn and then this crater which is no use to anyone. If it was filled or covered in some way we'd have a decent sized garden .

You don't think a metal platform would be a goer then? I had visions of a big metal structure with drainage holes and covered in turf.

turf won't grow on top of metal I'm sure it would be a thin crispy crust of broken bits

So how do roof gardens work then? It must be possible to grow grass on surfaces other than the ground IYKWIM?

The only way round it that I can think of is to get someone to advise on drainage in the hole to avoid problems with it filling up or caving in and then build a structure/frame over it and use astroturf or similar.

At least then its green and usable.

I would be concerned about the stability of the sides of the hole though and would seek advice on that.

Thanks everyone for your advice. Who would I ask - a builder? Structural engineer? Anyone else? Is this advice liable to cost me lots and lots of money??

it's a rare roof garden that has grass

sedum is used on roofs might be a possibility

Hmm OK, back to the "filling it in" option then

Does anyone know how much soil is and how much I'd need to fill a hole 30ft x 30ft x 20ft??

Any more bright ideas?

Get in touch with a landscape gardening firm, and offer them your hole, so to speak, for when they're taking stuff out of someone's garden? Maybe first a building firm, to get some hardcore in the bottom, to fill it up a bit, then soil on top - they supply, they fill it in, and then you finish off the top layer with some good topsoil?

A Heffalump trap?

It does sound as if it will be best to get it filled in (professionally) or else use it as a sunken garden. I would have thought anything else could be quite dangerous and end up as a genuine heffalump trap!

How did it get there?