Find a Landscaper you can trust in Newhaven.

Uneven lawn? Well, for an outdoor space which looks great and serves its purpose throughout the year, there’s a need to learn how to level your garden. While its best left for a professional to handle, there are also some simple steps you can follow to ensure your DIY task turns out a success whether you’re preparing to lay a patio or deck, landscaping the whole space or tackling a lumpy lawn. A level ground comes with a bunch of benefits which includes maximizing the functions of your yard, helping with drainage while also enhancing your property’s curb appeal. Good news is, you can level your sloping lawn by hand. Want to know how? In this post, we’re going to take you through the processes involved in levelling an uneven lawn. Let’s take a look!

You can simply level your lawn using your hand if you aim to make your lawn a more even surface or to install a patio or deck. If your goal is only to make the lawn more even, you should have it in mind that, even though lumps and bumps aren’t always pleasing for most people, it can actually create a good drainage for your home.

Top dressing is the solution for depressions that are about 2cm to 3cm deep. To resolve this, simply get a top dressing mixture or make yours using two parts of sand and topsoil and a single part of compost. Use this to fill out the depression evenly and make compact using a rake or your feet, then water. Leave this for two days before applying grass seed alongside a thin layer of topsoil, then water as needed.

If you have a deeper depression, simply dig out to around 4cm to 5cm and remove any lumps of soil or stones. Once done, proceed to top dressing as explained above and grass seed to fill out the bald spot.

Our gardens are often our pride and joy, so we want them to look their best. If you notice that your garden is uneven, you’ll probably want to do something about it. But how do you level your garden or lawn? A gardener can help you do this and will get the best finish, but if you want to have a go at doing it yourself there are a few steps you can take. Before you start, make sure you’ve got all the following equipment to hand:

• String line
• 4 rods & string
• Tape measure
• Flat shovel
• Water sprinkler or watering can
• A rake
• Earthmoving and compacting equipment
• Spirit level
• 2 x 4 piece of wood
• Wheelbarrow
• Protective gloves and shoes

Then, you can get ready to level your garden.

1. Mark out the area Push 4 rods into the ground around the area you want to level out in a square or rectangle. Tie your string around the rods to connect them all together, ensuring that the string stays tight. Then use your string line to any of the 4 sides to check that it’s level. You’ll then need to measure the height from the ground to the string on all four sides to check how much you would need to adjust the ground to make it level. Make sure you take note of the high and low spots and measure the difference between these spots.
2. Water the ground to soften it If you want to level your lawn, or the part of your garden that you want to level has grass on it, you’ll need to uproot the ground underneath it. To make it easier to dig and lift out the grass, sprinkle some water over the area before you begin. It’s a good idea to do this over a few days to really soften it – but make sure you don’t do it so much that it becomes too heavy and soggy.
3. Remove the grass Push your flat shovel into the ground, around 3-6cm deep, then slide the shovel horizontally to lift out the soil and the grass on top. As you repeat this process around the entire area, make sure you try to lift out the soil evenly to avoid making your levelling task even harder.
4. Add soil Fill low spots with nutrient-rich soil and spread evenly over the area with a rake. If you’re levelling out a large area of your garden, consider renting earthmoving equipment to make it easier.
5. Flatten the soil Next you’ll want to compact the soil to protect it from erosion. If you’re working on a small garden or area of your garden, simply use your feet – get stomping on that ground! You could also use a rake, but for larger gardens consider hiring a compactor. Then, leave the soil to settle for around 3 weeks before doing anything. If you’re doing this in the summer, you can water it sparingly to keep it from drying out.
6. Adjust until you’re happy It might take you a few adjustments to get the level of your garden or lawn right. Use a spirit level along a long 2 x 4 piece of wood to see whether the ground is even, then adjust by adding a little more soil or removing soil until it’s at the level you want it.

That’s it. A gardener or landscaping company will be able to level your garden or lawn perfectly, so consider getting some quotes from local companies.

Gardens need regular maintenance and without it they can get really out of hand. When you’re thinking about how much gardeners charge, you should bear in mind the state of your garden and whether you need a one-off tidy up or want a regular ‘manicure’ of your garden to keep it looking neat and tidy. Gardeners generally charge in two different ways for their work depending on the job: with an hourly rate or with a fixed price. Generally, gardeners will charge an hourly rate of between £20 - £40 depending on their experience, the job and where you are in the country. They may also charge a minimum call-out charge since a lot of their day will include unpaid travel from job to job. If you don’t need your gardener for a full day, for example if you just need your lawn mowed, then they will probably charge a fixed rate. It’s unlikely to have anything to do with their hourly rate. We’ve found that the average fixed cost of a gardener is around £250 - but this of course includes small jobs like weeding and mowing to larger jobs like pulling out shrubs and replanting, so you may find that your gardener charges more or less than this. Bear in mind that most gardeners will charge a price that doesn’t include waste removal, since lots of people have compost heaps or garden waste bins. So if you need them to take the garden waste away, expect another £100 - £200 on top of your quote.

Driveways usually sink because they haven’t been laid properly. They may not have been dug deep enough, or the installer might not have used the right materials. This will need to be corrected at the earliest opportunity, although in extreme cases, the driveway may need to be completly be relaid.

How To Plan A Landscape Garden

If you’ve decided to go for a landscape garden, this might imply putting in new gardens entirely or probably just coming up with a planting plan for the current year. However, because you want a beautiful landscape garden doesn’t mean you can just go out, get a couple of plants and decide to plant them anywhere that looks good to you once you get home.

For a much better landscape garden, doing some proper landscape garden planning can go a long way to help you get the results you desire. So how do you plan a landscape garden?

• Set Goals

The first step is to determine how you want the garden to feel and look, how it’s going to be used or what’s going to be used for as well as how you’ll work to boost the small ecosystem.

• Site Plan

Identify what you already have on the site like the plants, paths, gardens etc, and draw them out perhaps on a graph paper. Once done, you can make some photocopies and start playing with different ideas.

• Site Analysis

Carry out an in depth site analysis to identify the areas that’s sunny and shady areas as well as the ones in between. This way, you can figure out the best place to put the plants and other items.

• Functional Diagrams

This is stage at which you go through both the site plan as well as site analysis and start to identify the right spots to position the landscape garden’s items.

• Planting Plan

Here, you’ll decide which plants you’ll like to use on your landscape garden while also identifying what plant goes where. You’ll have to draw them at size close to what they’ll grow to become, so as to ensure there’s sufficient space for them once they grow big and tall.

Driveway surfacing materials like concrete, asphalt and clay brick usually crack because they’ve been exposed to extreme temperatures or put under high pressure. It’s important to repair driveway cracks before they get worse and cause damage to vehicles and perhaps others to trip on raised cracks.

Is your driveway damaged or starting to show some signs of cracks and gaps? If yes, then you’d probably be thinking of repairing it before it gets even worse. Repairing a driveway is largely an unknown process but also a very tedious task as well. So if you’re looking to hire a professional for help, just how much is the repair going to cost? In this article, we’re going to look at the various factors that can determine the cost of a driveway repair.

In the UK, the average price of repairing a driveway is usually within the range of £1,400 to £1,800, where as the normal price of a driveway repair will range between £700 to £2,400. although some small repairs tasks can be as low as £250, while huge driveway repairs can skyrocket to about £4,200.

However, in general, the overall cost of repair a driveway can not be determined as each driveway is unique with their special repair needs. The factors that can influence the price of a driveway repair includes the material used, the perimeter of the driveway as well as the condition of the foundation. The only factor that’s not unique to any one driveway is the materials used, so let’s take a look at the differences in price using the based on the various types of materials available.

✓ Concrete. The average cost of repairing a concrete driveway is usually between £250 to £3,200. Have it in mind at most times the price of fixing an overly damaged driveway can be more than the cost of buying a new one.

✓ Asphalt. The average cost of repairing an asphalt driveway is usually between £750 to £2,800.

✓ Brick. The average cost of repairing a brick driveway is usually between £700 to £1,700.

✓ Cobblestone. The average cost of repairing a cobblestone driveway is usually between £500 to £1,600.

What Is Landscape Gardening?

Landscape gardening is basically the art of setting out grounds or planting of ornamental plants so that a picturesque effect is created. In other words, it can be seen as the beautification or decoration of a portion of land to generate a naturalistic effect in a limited space. However, it should also be noted that landscape gardening meant to beautify places, but also important and very functional as our surroundings make a whole lot of contribution to the quality of our lives. Landscape is a word that’s not only used to qualify an beautiful scenery, but also stands for a great historical records of natural features created by human activities over time. So what are the general principles of landscaping?

• The right landscape garden should express some thought or feeling, just like a good landscape painting. The expression can be bold, quiet, retired and more.

• The landscape garden area should be divided into various sections with a plan for each individual area. The whole plan should be actualized in such a way that an observer or visitor can imagine the entire plan and purpose without having to analyse each parts.

• It’s of great importance to combine both beauty and utility effectively.

• The design’s simplicity should be emphasized while executing the plan.

• The garden and building should perfect blend with each other in such a way that they could be seen as one rather than the landscape garden stopping abruptly in front of the building. The view of the garden from the building’s door or window should offer an breath taking scenery. In short, every part of the landscape should be planned so that every visitor will have a surprising effect when seen.

• The ideal landscape should not be too tight and should possess an open space.

• Do not overcrowd the plants and objects.