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levelling the garden

Hi I am new and a complete novice to gardening. But our rear garden is approximately 18ft by 10ft the first half is flat and was laid with a patio by the building firm but the back half goes up by about 2ft in the back left corner and about 6" in the right corner. We would like to bring it down so it is all level and a usable garden but we need to support next doors garden in that back corner of 2ft and also the fencing already erected. My husband is wanting to create a raised bed using sleepers but I am worried it may not be strong enough. At the moment the fence is really strong and not been affected by this awful weather so it is in very good condition.
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  • Tropical SamTropical Sam Posts: 1,488

    You can use concrete paving slabs cemented in to stop the earth and fence touching. The sleepers can be used to front the terrace with rubble behind that for drainage.

  • Mrs-TMrs-T Posts: 10
    Thanks Blairs, looking at work that can be done with sleepers I can see they are pretty supportive and we would possibly back fill the sleepers around the posts with cement to give extra support.

    We dug around one this evening and you hit the concrete about 7" down but need to go about another 7" to be level with the garden.

    Not sure I am making any sense at all tbh. The fence is properly done with planks of wood all the way down rather than panels you can buy and didn't even move in these winds we had recently so I think that is my main worry of going down to below the current cement level and even with cementing in a sleeper and then adding extra cement around the post before back filling the area wouldn't be enough.
  • Mark 499Mark 499 Posts: 380

    It depends how deep the concrete is around the posts, some people put stone & rubble into the hole & only concrete the top half, any chance of a photo?

  • The first thing I'd do is talk to the neighbours beyond the fence; you might find they would have some pretty strong feelings about their garden being undermined!

  • Mrs-TMrs-T Posts: 10
    The neighbour is an idiot and doesn't talk to anyone so isn't an option unless I manage to catch him. But on a similar note he raised one corner without saying anything to us. And the corner that his side he actually only has a few pot plants rather than any kind of flower bed and has done for the past 4 years so don't think he will change it any time soon.

    I have remembered we did dig out a small part and it didn't move when we layed a patio slab, think the soil is pretty solid and is clay.

    I have a few photographs so will try work out how to load them now.

    Many thank for all your help
  • Mrs-TMrs-T Posts: 10
    Here are a few photographs taken this morning, hopefully it will give a better idea.



    http://s103.photobucket.com/user/Jemz22/library/Garden
  • Can't see the pics. The fact that the neighbour is an idiot is irrelevant in considering whether you're making his or his successor's garden unstable.

  • Mrs-TMrs-T Posts: 10

    Thanks for your help guys, we have bought a tiered raised bed for the back corner of his garden that is at the same height of where the lawn used to be and the delivery guy struggled to carry so once filled with soil and plants isn't going to be moving and then created raised beds along the edge with 10 x 5 sleepers which are cemented in to help support the only other post of his.

     

    We since found out through all the digging that except a layer of top soil and grass the rest is just solid clay and huge lumps of rock and slate which has been fun to dig over! 

    We spoke to another neighbour of ours who does building and landscaping and he has said what we are doing is fine and will look brilliant. So fingers crossed! 

    As for the neighbour next door, he didn't open his door when we knocked when we knew he was in. But that is the type of person he is, we tried and he choose to ignore it. 

  • Old thread, I know, but...

    ...your garden has some similarities with mine, but mine is/was more extreme.

    My lawn is about 3x the depth, so the sloap takes it up to ~4' in the back left corener., with the near right originally 1' below the patio height.

    I also have pretty much turf on to of red clay!

    (Aren't major house builders just great at gardens!?)

    This meant time bad drainage issues, so I've done a large amount of work by hand (1' sleeper wall at bottom [no party wall issue], perforated land drain+Clea stone [mostly mined out of the garden!], 2/3rds levelled with gentle slope for drainage [albeit more work to do on the soil structure, back right: currently a high level terrace, currently a channel for water alongside neighbour's fence to my drainage, but with quite a steep drop off from them now [it is stable though]).

    As far as I can tell, there's a big gap in legislation for neighbouring terrace gardens - I'm allowed to (but haven't) make their garden unstable by digging right up to it, without even telling them, so long as it doesn't break the party wall rules for building's foundations.  But, as soon as I build a retaining wall to get the job done correctly, then I will need to inform them, and they can object.  

    Something's a bit wrong there!

     

    p.s. in what I've done so far, the owners of next door haven't been informed as I can never get hold of them - next door's a rental property, which always complicates things.

  • Old thread, I know, & this is a bit of a hijack but...

    ... From the photos, your garden has some similarities with mine, but mine is/was more extreme.

    My lawn is about 3x the depth, so the sloap takes it up to ~4' in the back left corener., with the near right originally 1' below the patio height.

    I also have pretty much turf on to of red clay!

    (Aren't major house builders just great at gardens!?)

    This meant time bad drainage issues, so I've done a large amount of work by hand (1' sleeper wall at bottom [no party wall issue], perforated land drain+Clea stone [mostly mined out of the garden!], 2/3rds levelled with gentle slope for drainage [albeit more work to do on the soil structure, back right: currently a high level terrace, currently a channel for water alongside neighbour's fence to my drainage, but with quite a steep drop off from them now [it is stable though]).

    The drainage and lower half were easy choice (but vhard work!), and only affected me/my property. The left hand edge I'm more wary of though as there would be a 1' to 2' drop from their garden, if I remove the remaining slope this side. There's just a wooden fence on their side, the posts I'm close to are stable (though 2 other posts have long been wobbly due to the clay and previous water logging/drying cycles (+their tenants using it as a washing line post!).

     

    As far as I can tell, there's a big gap in legislation for neighbouring terrace gardens - I'm allowed to (but haven't) make their garden unstable by digging right up to it, without even telling them, so long as it doesn't break the party wall rules for building's foundations.  But, as soon as I build a retaining wall to get the job done correctly, then I will need to inform them, and they can object.  

    Unless I'm missing something, something's a bit wrong there!

     

    p.s. in what I've done so far, the owners of next door haven't been informed as I can never get hold of them - next door's a rental property, which always complicates things.

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