Question

Has anyone here taken all their grass out of their garden and put gravel or something else down? Could I see before and after pictures please? Was is easy to do ? We've still got horrible clay soil in the garden and most of our grass is dead. It's just one big swamp of wet mud. Putting ditches filled with gravel in our garden did not help much. Can't decide wether to just get rid of it all or try a proper French drain but I'm scared I'll be wasting money and it won't work again  . Thanks in advance

Answer 1

You will have to drain it even if you put gravel down. Concentrate on draining. Plastic pipe is not expensive

Comments

@torch thanks for the help. Yes been thinking about French drains but don't know where to drain the water too. Our garden is surrounded by neighbouring gardens. Only place I could drain it to is the drain by our garage but we've got a concrete patio between the grass and the garage so I'd have to run to pipe from the grass across the patio to the drain. Not sure if thst would work and how I could cover the pipe running across the patio  

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Sorry about the mess. The garden is in a bad state at the moment

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Drain is by the red circle that I've drawn

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@zinciferous196 I saw one idea in a similar situation you describe which was genius. A sump hole was dug in the lowest point and a dustbin sank into the hole. The garden was drained to this point. A pond pump was placed in the bin and when the bin was full of water they switched the pump on and the water was pumped out and via hose pipe into the main drain

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That sounds like a plan. Will have a look into something like that. Thanks  

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@torch that’s actually illegal ! We wanted to do that but was told we could nt by our builder  you apparently aren’t allowed to pump anything into a main drain  

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@danelledanete is it not possible discharge the water onto the front road so it runs into the highway drain's

Answer 2

Add a solution of clay breaker, this acts quickly. Add powdered clay breaker this is slow acting and will last some years.  

Answer 3

I moved into a council house with an entire gravel back garden they were supposed to rectify it and haven’t, I absolutely hate it trying to save up to get someone to remove some of it to put some grass down and flower beds.  

Comments

@iconoclast I can totaly understand you there as I prefere grass too. We've always had grass in our garden in our last houses but the garden we've got now is an absolute mess and it's a nightmare with the dogs bringing all the mud into the house  

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@zinciferous196 don’t get me wrong we have a dog and yeah it’s easy to pick up mess and stops the mud being dragged in. we’ve sectioned the garden so the dog has her bit and my youngest will eventually get grass

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@iconoclast Thats a good idea to section the garden off for the dog. Will have a think about that too. Thanks  

Answer 4

I gave up on my lawn (Mostly mud and moss) towards the end. it was too much of an effort and it was only small. I put down weed suppressing membrane and bark on top of that. job done

Comments

@serum59043 I’ve got massive bark side with loads shrubs cherry tree and a acer tree lots different plants I like the bark x

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@serum59043 that looks lovely

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@zinciferous196 I’m glad I did do it too. The flag stones are there because like yours I’m on clay and in one patch it holds water.  

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I prefer the bark to stones . Stones can get all over the place unless you do them right and if it is near trees losing leaves hard to get up. that looks lovely how you have done yours. I turned my little border into a woodland garden and put a few squirrels here and there, although I have changed it now. I loved it at the time and might do it again.  

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I like the stepping stones. it looks lovely and peaceful with little seat too. x

Answer 5

I have a boggy patch in centre of my lawn. When lawn mower packs up, I'll be gritting it and planting it up fully

Answer 6

Dont waste money, let it dry out a bit aerate, compost, manure . aerate so water can dry out - you can do it with a fork. Plant stuff if you have a boggy lawn. No cat litter in gardens .  

Answer 7

Dug the hedges out, put the fence up, removed the grass and put the stone circle and pebbles down, hard work last year, but so pleased with it. I plan to add more plants in pots this year and re do my rockery.  

Answer 8

I got rid of my boggy grass two years ago. Since the after photo, I've made two new rockeries to the left where there used to be a wendy house and a raised platform with slide. I put a tonne of hardcore down under the gravel membrane. Went for a decorative pea gravel so its easier for us and the dog to walk on. Best thing I ever did.  

Answer 9

So I’ll be following this post then?  

Answer 10

Mine is the same so we are just having beds around a circular patch of lawn, the rest is shrubs, patio and other areas of interest that aren’t grass. Mine is completely ruined as well so I feel your pain

Answer 11

I took mine out and filled with gravel. All the neighbourhood cats used it as a giant litter tray, I was out daily clearing and it was hard to see when they covered it up, so had regular nasty surprises Do not recommend. It looked lovely though with terracotta pots scattered here and there full of herbs x

Comments

@gorse we have the larger gravel, lots of neighbour's have cats but we don't get problems.  

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@cavour my mistake was going for pea gravel.  

Answer 12

We have some areas with blue slate and some with golden gravel, our soil is clay too. No grass at all for 20 years now and we don't have any problems. Cant find any pics will take some in the morning.  

Answer 13

Sorry no pictures, but I did it in the back garden of my last house. Killed what little grass there was, plus all the moss. Took about six weeks to die. Scraped off the dead stuff. Put down fabric weed barrier. Pebbles went on top of that. Lived in the house for more than twenty years and still no weeds. I had slightly raised beds round the edges using roll log as an edge. Fabric on them too and then bark. Nearly maintenance free

Answer 14

My front garden

Answer 15

Lay some sand and block pave it , or lay tarpaulin and pea shingle it all , put some big flower pots down xx

Comments

@larkins730 I did pea shingle and it bacame the neighbourhood litter tray.  

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@gorse catapult  

Answer 16

Before and after, this is artificial grass x

Answer 17

Plant a tree or trees and bushes they will use the water and add garden lime that’ll break up the clay.  

Comments

@anemometry which trees would u recommend pls

Answer 18

After trying several times digging in sand, we finally dug out some of the soil turf, covered with tarpaulin, left it for about six weeks, killed of remaining grass, laid gravel on top levelled it out

Answer 19

Why would you replace grass with gravel?  

Comments

@dissect2184 we've got hardly any grass left. It's all just a big muddy swamp and it keeps flooding every time it rains. It's just getting a pain now with 3 dogs running through it every day, bringing all the mud into the house and our kids can't use the garden cause it's just to muddy :( . Will give the clay breaker a go first and see if it helps but if it doesnt then we will have to do something else like cover it all with gravel or something  

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@dissect2184 we’ve got the same problem but I would prefer not to put concrete, gravel or artificial grass down as I love the wildlife real gardens bring in ! We are going to cut out circles of grass and put some sort of slab or stones round them and lots of pots ! I also have a wild area along the whole of the left side of my garden and a wooded area ( that includes a massive poplar and other trees at the end ! It’s a swamp atm  we rescued a Romanian shepherd dog who has dug huge craters in the lawn last summer , now full of water  

Answer 20

We paved ours with decorative stone edging. then put decking at the back. best thing I ever did. I use pots for plants and get a lovely show of flowers which really helps make it feel like it's still a garden.  

Answer 21

Defo recommended using stone. So much easier to maintain and can get nice colours. To keep the greenery we built big borders and it looks lovely when everything's blooming :)

Answer 22

Yes slabed all mine. X

Answer 23

Does slabbing your garden contribute to droughts ? The water runs off as aposed to draining down into sub soil ? Should we use membrane that allows water to penetrate.  

Answer 24

Put some conifers in keep them under control. They soak up a lot of water.  

Answer 25

Conifers are a nightmare.  

Answer 26

Make deep holes with a pitchfork and brush sand into them, then plants around the edges to drink up more moisture

Answer 27

I had an area of my garden that was always boggy, I have planted 2 miniature fruit trees and no further boggyness despite significant rainfall. Trees absorb lots of moisture but dont put anything in that grows too high/big for your garden . Also ensure roots wont be too close to your house.  

Answer 28

Hydrangeas drink up a lot of water ☺️

Answer 29

I put down 2 French drains and fill and it did the job. I do lasagna layering for my clay soil for my garden areas

Answer 30

My last neighbour had his drained , raised and fake grass put in

Answer 31

Only way is to open and find out who the people’s first names  

Answer 32

Same problem plus leatherjackets. Going artificial it keeping section that has better drainage