Hello all,

This is my first time on this forum and hope you can help. My wife and I have bought our new home (first time buyers) and with the house comes a garden measuring 10m x 9m. We are both absolute novices and depending on the level of work required, may bring in professionals to do part of the work. Although, I would like the chance to do much of it myself, im not shy of hard work and I would like to learn.

The steps we are considering are as follows:
We intend on leveling the garden as far as reasonably practicable and put in sleepers where required.
Remove the rubble and leftover building materials from the garden soil and generally add any treatment products required for the soil
Turf the garden until we can decide where we may want areas to grow plants or have decking/paving.

We have attached pictures to show you how it currently looks and have labelled the pictures with corner numbers to help in explanation. I have more pictures available at ground level.

The gradients between corner 3 & 4 / 1 & 4 do not seem like a problem to me.

There is a gradient between corner 1 & 2 which is very steep and I feel we may need to remove some soil and add some sleepers against the fence area to lower this gradient. In turn this will help us with the gradient between corner 2 & 3. I have attached two further pictures to better show the gradient between corner 1 & 2 from ground level.

Please let me know if I am incorrect in anything I have said and I would appreciate any advice on what we could do with the space?

Kind Regards,
Adam

Welcome! Where do you live?

I strongly recommend that before you spend any time or money on DIY hardscaping or professional work, you try to make the construction company come back to properly grade your yard and put in a drainage system (Ideally, one that pipes the water straight to the street). You should not have any drainage problems at all when buying a new home, if you ask me: The builders might have ignored applicable codes.

If the builders refuse to make it right and you don't feel like suing them, I would have several companies specializing in drainage problems come give you ideas for dealing with 1) the water running towards/pooling close to your foundation and 2) any water or soil going under your fence at Corner 4.

You should be able to find companies that will give you free estimates. Whether or not you end up having one do some work, you'll get valuable advice.

Speaking from 28 years of experience with my own backyard: Even seemingly minor, occasional pooling can lead to structural problems. I wasted lots of time and money hiring landscapers to put in easy fixes like french drains and swales, and we made a raised bed using landscape timber, before finally deciding to having a drainage and erosion company come in to do it the right way!

Also, if you haven't done so already, read up on any HOA restrictions or local codes relating to storm water control. The last thing you want is having to redo something because you're cited for redirecting your storm water towards a neighbor's property.

Everything she said is right on the money. Take care of the drainage first then worry about landscaping. All the landscaping will have to be ripped out if you end up having to have drainage fixed and issues with the house fixed. Do the ugly work first then move on to the pretty and fun stuff.

Walsh Landscaping offers expert advice in all aspects of outdoor design, whether it's a small job or a complete redesign that you have in mind.

Location first. City or County? Whom allow this to pass inspection? Read your contract!

Turf? I hate to break it to you, but no grass is going to grow in that mudpile. Or any plant for that matter (unless it grows in a swamp).

Essentially all the water is running towards the house and that should be avoided at all times where possible. So I recommend adressing that first along with keeping in mind any hard landscaping you'd like (patio/deck, paths etc). This is where the bulk of your monetary investment should be and I recommend professional help aswell in my opinion. It'll set you off to do the rest yourself at your own pace and even on a budget can be satisfying.

Thinking ahead here: should the above mentioned recommendations of mine have been completed, I further recommend the following:

double digging, rototilling and raking level to get rid of any compaction in the soil (which is almost always the case in these situations, especially after heavy duty equipment etc has been on site) and to mix any possible occurring layers into a more homogenous soil type to accomodate water infiltration, but just ONCE! and mulch thickly afterwards (wood shreddings/chips are ideal and relatively cheap in bulk). All this will kind of reset the soil biome and with minimal maintenance/reapplication will develop further into a diverse and healthy soil ecosystem in which plants can thrive.

karmahappytoes said:Location first. City or County? Whom allow this to pass inspection? Read your contract!

Because of OP's use of the expression 'sleepers' for timber-lined or 'raised' beds here in The States, I suspect OP is in the UK. I frequent a UK garden forum regularly and hear this word usage a lot on that forum. That may even complicate the drainage problem seen in th photos even more, as so much of the UK they say has a lot of clay in the soil. Of course, the amount varies from region to region. Also their real estate laws/guidelines are quite different from ours. Correction jobs this big must go through their local Council and get approvel. Perhaps a UK member here will step in and offer some suggestions that will meet landscape addition/change requirements where OP lives.

This thread is too old for us to be of any use anymore I think...

I hope you found a resolve for your issue at hand. The perspective I had noticed expressed excessive dirt run off or clay from a glance. Its hard to tell how much run off is at hand but for much of that I would from where the grass ends. Reinforcements wall to a stone patio would really help with a drainage system.

juradvan said:

I'm facing the same problem right now. I will try to use your advice. I hope it will help.

Why don't you show us the pictures of your garden? There might be more relevant suggestions for your situation