Advice on gravel needed

[Tom]

clapped out rusty old land rovers make great garden ornaments.

Absolutely!! Look how mine just looks so at home here. And so it should...it's sat there for 10 years!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

even with a barrier to stop the weeds coming up through the gravel weeds will eventually grow in the gravel.

True, but isn't that due to silt building up between the gravel over time but above the membrane? Any weeds that do grow above the membrane will thus be shallow-rooted and be very easy to remove.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks everyone for the extra advice and comments. It seems the size of the gravel is critical - I'm thinking 10 mm.

A garden hoover sounds like a wonderful idea. We have a huge petrol driven one, but, as with all the petrol driven tools His Lordship has forbidden me usage, which is madly frustrating, as he has no time to use the marvellous tools he bought himself. The strimmer, particularly, makes me want to weep with frustration as he says I would never be able to refuel it. Aaaargh. So I sit here with time on my hands and the garden with its perfect soil grows and grows and grows, and I can't use the ride-on, or the strimmer, or the hedge- trimmers, or the leaf sucker, or the chainsaw.

Rant over. Thanks for the nice comment about the gate Juju, I suspect it's Early Victorian, and original to the property. I've been wondering whether to paint it, it was last painted by the Victorian family here - the paint on it is just the same as the very old paint I found in the porch under the more modern layers !

 

[Tom]

The strimmer, particularly, makes me want to weep with frustration as he says I would never be able to refuel it.

Why ever not?

 

[LadyArowana]

A garden hoover sounds like a wonderful idea. We have a huge petrol driven one, but, as with all the petrol driven tools His Lordship has forbidden me usage, which is madly frustrating, as he has no time to use the marvellous tools he bought himself. The strimmer, particularly, makes me want to weep with frustration as he says I would never be able to refuel it. Aaaargh. So I sit here with time on my hands and the garden with its perfect soil grows and grows and grows, and I can't use the ride-on, or the strimmer, or the hedge- trimmers, or the leaf sucker, or the chainsaw.

He lets you drive a car and that's petrol powered, I can't believe a big vacuum or a mower is worse! Trading your female helpers for some strapping young men might help to change his mind.

 

[Flyfisher]

Joce, I can (sort of) understand why Chris might be concerned about you mixing the fuel correctly, particularly if there are different ratios for different machines, but he could pre-mix the fuel for you.

I use these mixing containers and have two clearly labelled ones; one for the chainsaw (25:1) and one for the hedge-trimmer (40:1).
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/2-stroke-mixer-bottle

Having said that, I can understand his stance on the chainsaw; they are seriously dangerous machines. But you'd be hard-pressed to do much harm with a strimmer, blower/sucker, hedge-trimmer or ride-on mower unless you really had a death-wish.

As someone who is still spending 4-5 hours per week on a mower (when does the bl**dy grass stop growing?), I'd be more than happy for someone to offer to cut the grass.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Chris won't let me drive his car though.

To be fair to him, I have a long history of getting cross with mechanical things not working and breaking them. This week I snapped the interior driver's door handle off. Oh, and ran the car into a bollard.

For the refueling of the strimmer, he says there has to be a particular blend of oil and petrol mixed in a container and poured in and he thinks I'd break it.

I think Lady A's right, I can't bear to lose Lou now but in the springtime will recruit a strapping young man for another 3 hours a week.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Ff - we crossposted, thanks for your message and particularly the link to the mixing bottles, that's just what's needed.

The hedgetrimmer we have is the most lethal thing you ever saw, even worse than the chainsaw I think - but necessary when you consider that our hedge is 30 foot hollies!

The ride on isn't straight forward either, the lawns are all circular and sloping and tree - spattered so lots of reversing round tight corners is needed, my driving skills just aren't up to it yet.

I just hope that some day these things will be as familiar to me as using heat guns and chemical strippers and ladders - and I remember how he used to ban me from those too.

 

[robgil]

i once asked a friend for a go on his harley chopper bike thingy , ''if you can start it you can have a go'' he said.
it took me ages to start it , i didnt know it had to be tdc on compression to kick start.
anyhow , tell chris if you can start the strimmer and mix the fuel he should let you use it. strimmer can be hard to start though if you dont know how to do it so read the instructions and surprise him when he comes home to see you in ppe gear strimming away happily.

 

[robgil]

clapped out rusty old land rovers make great garden ornaments.

Absolutely!! Look how mine just looks so at home here. And so it should...it's sat there for 10 years!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

now thats a proper garden ornament.

 

[Moo]

The leaf-collector I was thinking of comes from B&Q and is electrically powered. All you have to do is switch it on and aim it at the leaves
(And, of course, empty the bag when it's full. Stuff them into black waste sacks, hide them somewhere inconspicuous, and forget about them; when you come across them a year or so later you'll find you have lovely piles of leaf-mould to spread around your flower-beds).

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks Moo - that's just what's needed. I see His and Her tools are necessary.

 

[Penners]

Can gravel go on top of concrete? No - imagine ball bearings on a tiled floor! You need a softish base so that the bottom layer of gravel can sink into it and stabilise.

People will tell you that you should dig down at least 4 inches and lay a base of hoggin or similar, then put your gravel on top. Personally I can't be @rsed with all that. I just skim off any grass, set up some edgings (if I'm being really conscientious) and chuck a layer of gravel down. It will sink during the first year or so, but then the following year you just rake out another layer on top.

I agree with your choice of 10mm - anything larger can be quite uncomfortable to walk on. Be sure that get 10mm round shingle though. Specify that you won't accept crushed material - it's also horrible to walk on and looks unpleasant, too.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks so much for your post Mr P. Very timely as was all set to go out, buy a bag of gravel and pour it on the concrete.

Can a girl get rid of concrete? How?

 

[Tom]

Should I bring a sledge hammer?

 

[Flyfisher]

Can a girl get rid of concrete? How?

Easily . . . . if you have one of these: :wink:

More seriously, concrete will be very difficult to break up just by pounding it in situ. If the slabs are not too large, try to lever up one edge with a long metal bar or something similar, using a sledge hammer as a fulcrum, and slip a suitable piece of wood underneath to hold it up. Even a couple of inches will do. Then it should be reasonably easy to break it up by thumping it with a sledgehammer (unless it's reinforced of course, but that's unlikely).

 

[Tom]

The method you mention is the way we broke the horrible concrete path around our house as well as the concrete floor downstairs. Basically, like snapping a tile over a matchstick

 

[Flyfisher]

Precisely. And a far better description than my clumsy explanation.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I liked both your explanations - it sounds like a horrible job, and Jaqy, I have a sledgehammer and you must come here for a coffee and biccy break, not a concrete break!

I might have a little go with the sledgehammer tomorrow then. That concrete looks very broken anyway.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Juju]

Just one other thought (from Mr Juju) - can you easily wheel wheelie bins over gravel?
Juju