Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:58 am
Hi all,
Great forum, but like all the best forums sometimes there is way too much information for a newbie such as myself!
Apologies if i ask some dumb questions- please be gentle with me.
My situation is
We had a manky pond aprrox 2m long 1 m wide which was surrounded by paving slabs (just cemented to the earth by the looks of it) to make a total area of 3.5m long x 2.5m wide.
Mrs T has decided that she likes the idea of a pebble pond in the middle and the rest in some form of gravel.
1) I have started to fill in the pond area with hardcore (bits of broken slabs and bricks etc) and filling in the gaps with gravel.
Is this the correct thing to do?
2) I was going to layer off the pebble pond area with pea gravel (or similar) and then lay some tumbled glass on this area.
is that a sufficient base?
3) For the remaining area I was going to lay hardcore, pea gravel then a layer of topsoil (for the plants to grow in) then lay the gravel/chippings on top of that.
Again is this correct?
5) Also should i put some sort of membrane between the gravel and soil?
6) where the slabs had jut been cemented to the earth ( very clay like soil) should i remove some of this and lay a base before laying the gravel.
7) MY final ( at last) question As we have sandy coloured paving slabs i was thinking of sandstone chips as the main gravel but I dont want something that is going to grow mold and algae ( and i dont really like shingle type gravel)
what would you guys reccomend?
I appreciate that you regulars must get sick of newbies just coming in for advice but i would be most grateful for any help you can all offer
many thanks in advance
Andy
Great forum, but like all the best forums sometimes there is way too much information for a newbie such as myself!
Apologies if i ask some dumb questions- please be gentle with me.
My situation is
We had a manky pond aprrox 2m long 1 m wide which was surrounded by paving slabs (just cemented to the earth by the looks of it) to make a total area of 3.5m long x 2.5m wide.
Mrs T has decided that she likes the idea of a pebble pond in the middle and the rest in some form of gravel.
1) I have started to fill in the pond area with hardcore (bits of broken slabs and bricks etc) and filling in the gaps with gravel.
Is this the correct thing to do?
2) I was going to layer off the pebble pond area with pea gravel (or similar) and then lay some tumbled glass on this area.
is that a sufficient base?
3) For the remaining area I was going to lay hardcore, pea gravel then a layer of topsoil (for the plants to grow in) then lay the gravel/chippings on top of that.
Again is this correct?
5) Also should i put some sort of membrane between the gravel and soil?
6) where the slabs had jut been cemented to the earth ( very clay like soil) should i remove some of this and lay a base before laying the gravel.
7) MY final ( at last) question As we have sandy coloured paving slabs i was thinking of sandstone chips as the main gravel but I dont want something that is going to grow mold and algae ( and i dont really like shingle type gravel)
what would you guys reccomend?
I appreciate that you regulars must get sick of newbies just coming in for advice but i would be most grateful for any help you can all offer
many thanks in advance
Andy