Cost of lawn?

[Snookums]

I'll be making many threads in the coming months due to moving. Heres some photos of the current garden. We move in next weekend and the landlord has a few touch up bits still to do outside, the fences need seeing to and a few more internal niggles.





We would really like some grass so are thinking of replacing the stones but we have no idea how much it would cost. Anyone have any idea also whats best, get some turf, plant or get some artificial stuff?

Also what would anyone recommend to put in those planters?

 

[samcat]

Lawn - No idea on cost but talk to landlord before you do anything.. They may want to help out financially as its a job they want to do, or may have a good reason for having not done it.

Planters - Plant some plants. All depends on what you want... Mint, lavender, rosemary. Mix of evergreen and late/early flowering. Winter Jasmine in white and yellow, some daffodils/snowdrops etc.
Any fool can make a garden look nice in the summer, its spring and autumn that really make a difference.

 

[Snookums]

Lawn - No idea on cost but talk to landlord before you do anything.. They may want to help out financially as its a job they want to do, or may have a good reason for having not done it.

Planters - Plant some plants. All depends on what you want... Mint, lavender, rosemary. Mix of evergreen and late/early flowering. Winter Jasmine in white and yellow, some daffodils/snowdrops etc.
Any fool can make a garden look nice in the summer, its spring and autumn that really make a difference.

The landlord is fine with anything. Hes words are “my house your home, do as you like”. Obvisouly I would still speak first.

Alright you! it’s more I’ve never been a green person before but it would look silly never having anything in them. My only claim to a green finger is I once managed to get a succulent someone for me for secret Santa to flower!

Yeah shame we are moving so late in the year really. Was tempted to go with herbs really not sure they are something that would last enough.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Personally I think you are mad for spending large sums of money landscaping a garden you don't own.

But putting that aside if you want to 'green' the garden I would go for pots, you can then take them with you when you leave. You can get a really effective green space doing this even over gravel. You can even make big planters yourself easily.

It's likely that there is gravel down for a reason, the soil under it probably isn't great, it's expensive to replace/maintain, no one wants to rent a mud patch. People tend to give up on grass when its hard to grow due to soil conditions and the gravel is low maintenance. It only takes one tenant to neglect the lawn for a year and its ruined.

If you are going to do it properly you need to look at what the soil is like underneath, a decent lawn is all in the preparation. If its boggy clay like most back gardens it will need digging out and replacing with top soil before seeding or going with turf. If you just take up the stones and chuck some grass seed down you will not likely get a good result.

You likely have a few tons of gravel there so you are probably in skip territory, if you need to dig out clay then its a bigger skip and top soil isn't cheap and neither is turf. It's also back breaking work, going from seed takes an absolute age to grow into a thick lawn. I would be putting aside £500-£1k to do it properly.

 

[samcat]

it’s more I’ve never been a green person before but it would look silly never having anything in them. My only claim to a green finger is I once managed to get a succulent someone for me for secret Santa to flower!

We all start somewhere... I can remember ringing my mum as I was stressing out about which ones were flowers and which were weeds. Here words which I have heard manytimes since "Weeds are plants you dont want".

As for plant choice, sit down with google and search for things like "Evergreen plants for pots" "Plants for low maintenance garden" "Early flowering plants" etc

Some key words:

Hardy - Survives frosts etc very well

Evergreen - Green year round... Trust me, you want some of these! Without, the garden will look barren in the late autumn,winter and early spring.

Perennials - Plants that persist for many growing seasons. Generally the top portion of the plant dies back each winter and regrows the following spring from the same root system.

Annuals - Plants that perform their entire life cycle from seed to flower to seed within a single growing season. All roots, stems and leaves of the plant die annually. Only the dormant seed bridges the gap between one generation and the next.

Biennials - Plants which require two years to complete their life cycle. First season growth results in a small rosette of leaves near the soil surface. During the second season's growth stem elongation, flowering and seed formation occur followed by the entire plant's death.

https://www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk/the-best-plants-for-amazingly-low-maintenance-garden-pots/

https://www.finegardening.com/article/10-plants-for-year-round-containers

I agree with the idea above of having lots of pots. inexpensive medium-large plastic pots work really really well. Put some gravel at the bottom to aid drainage (you have plenty lying around ). Larger pots = less watering, small pots dry out very quickly in the heat. Easy to move around to taste, and when you move they can come with you.

 

[Derek W]

Just checked the quote I got for my wee patch of grass and was quoted £370 for 20m2 but thats up here so it depends on what the area is and if youre doing it yourself or getting someone in.

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Artificial can be expensive, we just spent the best part of 4K on ours.

Personally if you're renting I'd not be looking to spend any notable amount on redoing the garden

 

[200sols]

Honestly, save the money and put towards a deposit for your own house.

 

[Kaka]

I wouldn't mind spending a bit of money if I were to get some enjoyment out of it, regardless of whether I owned the property or not.

 

[wedrum]

Yeh you do the whole house and garden up, then the landlord sells the house when your tenancy is up.

 

[Snookums]

We all start somewhere... I can remember ringing my mum as I was stressing out about which ones were flowers and which were weeds. Here words which I have heard manytimes since "Weeds are plants you dont want".

As for plant choice, sit down with google and search for things like "Evergreen plants for pots" "Plants for low maintenance garden" "Early flowering plants" etc

Some key words:

Hardy - Survives frosts etc very well

Evergreen - Green year round... Trust me, you want some of these! Without, the garden will look barren in the late autumn,winter and early spring.

Perennials - Plants that persist for many growing seasons. Generally the top portion of the plant dies back each winter and regrows the following spring from the same root system.

Annuals - Plants that perform their entire life cycle from seed to flower to seed within a single growing season. All roots, stems and leaves of the plant die annually. Only the dormant seed bridges the gap between one generation and the next.

Biennials - Plants which require two years to complete their life cycle. First season growth results in a small rosette of leaves near the soil surface. During the second season's growth stem elongation, flowering and seed formation occur followed by the entire plant's death.

https://www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk/the-best-plants-for-amazingly-low-maintenance-garden-pots/

https://www.finegardening.com/article/10-plants-for-year-round-containers

I agree with the idea above of having lots of pots. inexpensive medium-large plastic pots work really really well. Put some gravel at the bottom to aid drainage (you have plenty lying around ). Larger pots = less watering, small pots dry out very quickly in the heat. Easy to move around to taste, and when you move they can come with you.

Appreciate that buddy, kind of pointing me in the right direction

Yeah I understand the against spending money on a rented house but we are looking long term (around 6 years as thats the closest realistic time to have deposit money) and we purposefully rented larger than we need at the moment so we don't have to move again to a rented place and go from this to home owner. So for 6 years Im happy to spend some money I know we wont get back. Also the owner has already said he is happy to sell to us one day should we wish.

doing the grass (and stripping some wallpaper) is pretty much the only changes we intend to make that we cant take with but if laying grass would cost a fortune we will stick with the gravel/stones.

Going from divines post artificial is a no as thats too much really.

Just checked the quote I got for my wee patch of grass and was quoted £370 for 20m2 but thats up here so it depends on what the area is and if youre doing it yourself or getting someone in.

how much bigger is my little area than yours? Its in Nottingham so not quite extortionate southern prices

 

[VermilionChaos]

If he's happy to sell to you when tenancy is up then that would be worth while dropping a bit on it now and then reap the rewards later on as you can drop his price down

 

[Muncher]

If he's happy to sell to you when tenancy is up then that would be worth while dropping a bit on it now and then reap the rewards later on as you can drop his price down

Christ.

 

[d_brennen]

Christ.

Jesus would approve. Don't think he ever rented the in the UK though

 

[Derek W]

Appreciate that buddy, kind of pointing me in the right direction

Yeah I understand the against spending money on a rented house but we are looking long term (around 6 years as thats the closest realistic time to have deposit money) and we purposefully rented larger than we need at the moment so we don't have to move again to a rented place and go from this to home owner. So for 6 years Im happy to spend some money I know we wont get back. Also the owner has already said he is happy to sell to us one day should we wish.

doing the grass (and stripping some wallpaper) is pretty much the only changes we intend to make that we cant take with but if laying grass would cost a fortune we will stick with the gravel/stones.

Going from divines post artificial is a no as thats too much really.



how much bigger is my little area than yours? Its in Nottingham so not quite extortionate southern prices

Assuming that your fence posts are 1.8m apart you'll be approximately 5.4 X 5.4 again assuming approximate line to the paving slabs so thought 25 - 30 square metres so not too much more.

I would say the cost I quoted was part of a larger garden renovation and again prices based on middle of nowhere Scotland!