Advice for low maintenance way to tidy up the front of our house

Soldato
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We don't have a front garden, but do have a small area to work with before the walkway. It started off as bark and a load of wild plants that over time just looked a mess. So I took all that out and just put down gravel however over time the weeds have returned and it needs smartening up.

Maybe some large pots or something? Give me some inspiration ;) I can upload a pic of the current MESS if needed.

Have just sprayed all the weeds so hopefully these pass away in the coming week or so and I'll get them out to make a start

20190324-104554.jpg


Loos awful :) we mainly use the back door but it's time to make more effort here! Also any tips in painting a front door :D
 
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Don
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Cant see the pic as at work.

Rip everything out
Compact
Lay Good weedproof membrane
Build raised planters using sleepers
Stick a layer of gravel in the bottom to weigh the weedproof down (and aid a little with drainage)
Whack full of topsoil and decent compost

Plant stuff
 
Soldato
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Once the weeds are dead, make sure you pull them and don't leave them to rot. Then repeat the weedkilling once a month.

If you want to spend some money, lay flagstones.
 
Soldato
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Rip the whole lot out. Put a membrane down and then gravel on top. Should keep the weeds away and will be ovviously low maintainance. Could probably re use the gravel if you wanted too.

Once thats done just put some plant pots down with some low maintance or even fake bushes.
 
Soldato
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Rip the whole lot out. Put a membrane down and then gravel on top. Should keep the weeds away and will be ovviously low maintainance. Could probably re use the gravel if you wanted too.

Once thats done just put some plant pots down with some low maintance or even fake bushes.

This. If you're happy with how it looks, remove the gravel, lay weed membrane and put the gravel back. I'd probably put some nice planters or something in and sort out the edging to the right of your front door path.
 
Soldato
OP
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This. If you're happy with how it looks, remove the gravel, lay weed membrane and put the gravel back. I'd probably put some nice planters or something in and sort out the edging to the right of your front door path.

Ahh yes that's ours too I'd gravel that. I have loads of gravel from a back garden project, we have no side access so will mean many wheel barrow trips around the side street to get to it but needs doing!

What sort of things can I plant that look nice this time of year and are low maintenance? I like the sleepers idea, they looks great
 
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Don
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The sleepers option (Still cant see the pics at work haha would mean you could have nice clean lines upto grass/path.
You could even have a little bit of gravel running along the front of the sleepers also, I used full size ones 2 high and they're a good height and easy enough to work in.
I'n not the best of gardeners but managed to get mine looking alright last summer, didn't really get anything that would live much longer than that oops :(

This year I got a box of 465 mixed bulbs from Thomson and Morgan and whacked all them in a while back, hopefully half of them will live and they'll fill the planters/raised beds a bit :)
Be warned tho if you do use Thomson and Morgan, I'd use a temp email account as they're kinda agressive with "offers"
 

SPG

SPG

Soldato
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If its south facing, get some tiered raised beds and get some salad leaves going along with some herbs (forget mint, mint is effectively a stunted Trifid) and mix in some nice bedding plants of the variety you can eat the flowers.
 
Caporegime
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can't see any pics but if you don't want to spend huge sums of money or do a lot of work.

get yourself to lidl/aldi. buy 2 litres of thick bleach 45p each. buy as much as you need.

mix it 50/50 with hot water and just pour it everywhere. it will clean slabs, kill weeds, clean walls, kill moss, brighten up paving stones, brighten up monoblock, etc.

if you use a heavy thick concentration of bleach weeds won't grow there for a long time but moss will come back after year or two. i used 10 litres of bleach on my monoblock driveway last year. cost to me less than £5. a gypsy wanted £60 to powerwash it. i own a pressure washer but the time and effort needed to clean it over throwing bleach everywhere isn't worth it.
 
Tea Drinker
Don
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Treated softwood sleepers aren't too expensive and can be cut with a hand saw. Lay on edge screw together and fill with compost and plant a load of nice plants then keep on top of the weeds.

Leave a gap in front of the air brick.

Or resin bonded gravel, a local firm may charge a small charge for a small job. That'll be maintenance free.
 

Jez

Jez

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can't see any pics but if you don't want to spend huge sums of money or do a lot of work.

get yourself to lidl/aldi. buy 2 litres of thick bleach 45p each. buy as much as you need.

mix it 50/50 with hot water and just pour it everywhere. it will clean slabs, kill weeds, clean walls, kill moss, brighten up paving stones, brighten up monoblock, etc.

if you use a heavy thick concentration of bleach weeds won't grow there for a long time but moss will come back after year or two. i used 10 litres of bleach on my monoblock driveway last year. cost to me less than £5. a gypsy wanted £60 to powerwash it. i own a pressure washer but the time and effort needed to clean it over throwing bleach everywhere isn't worth it.
Thanks for this tip, i have never tried using bleach as a weedkiller, it'd certainly be cheaper if it works :)
 
Caporegime
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Not being arsey but what’s the environmental impact of using bleach in this way?

what do you think is in the professional tile / monoblock cleaners magic cleaning fluid?

it will be diluted by the rain over time which is why the weeds come back after a year or two. so no long term impact.

Thanks for this tip, i have never tried using bleach as a weedkiller, it'd certainly be cheaper if it works :)

oh it works. i used to use a much lower ratio in a pressurised sprayer but the impact on lungs / throat / sinuses isn't good for you. so i now just mix in a bucket and throw it onto the monoblock. i can even see the bit i missed last year near the edge as moss has come back there but no moss elsewhere.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
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oh it works. i used to use a much lower ratio in a pressurised sprayer but the impact on lungs / throat / sinuses isn't good for you. so i now just mix in a bucket and throw it onto the monoblock. i can even see the bit i missed last year near the edge as moss has come back there but no moss elsewhere.

What ratio would you use to weed a gravel driveway? I’ll have to use a sprayer due to large area I think, wouldn’t be practical to try and throw it around using a bucket as I’d get through too much of it.
 
Caporegime
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What ratio would you use to weed a gravel driveway? I’ll have to use a sprayer due to large area I think, wouldn’t be practical to try and throw it around using a bucket as I’d get through too much of it.

The highest I would go is like 5:1 the bleach has to be strong enough that when the rain hits it doesn't become too undiluted. It's the rain which really helps it penetrate into the ground.

Using a sprayer is the most cost effective way of doing it. I would wrap a scarf around your mouth and nose or something though. Avoid doing it on a windy day. Wear old clothes and shoes.

With a sprayer I did my whole mono block using 2 bottles of bleach from aldi total cost 90p.

Without a sprayer I just did front driveway using 5 bottles and didn't get 100% coverage so it is more wasteful. But the effects I found are longer lasting nothing has grown in those areas since.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
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Thanks to the two previous replies..that respirator is probably a good idea for when using solvents generally too. I recently got quite high from gripfill usage which can never be good :p
 
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