Landscaping my garden

Hi all,
I bought a house in Count Kerry on .8 of an acre 6 years ago, It is mostly scrub that surrounds the house. I would like to build a garage at the back and tidy up the side and back. Is there anyone in the area that could look at the land and make a drawing of what the could do with it. I need to get fencing done and also a hedge set. Can anyone help or am i a hopeless cause....
Appollo

Thats a BIG garden! Try landscape gardeners in the golden pages. If you are in North Kerry I know someone who does it and can PM you their name- I have no connection to them. Or you could try to design your own- you will have to do a little research though- check your soil type, check what parts of the garden get sun, which parts are exposed to wind or salt spray etc. There are sites on the internet that will allow you to design for free- I think theres one on the BBC website- but alas, you may have to buy a few books to give you design ideas plus you will have to do research into the right kind of plants for your garden. Worthwhile if you enjoy it, or see it as a future hobby- but a lot of work.

garden

I too have half an acre of scrub surrounding my house, with about 20 loads of topsoil that were bought and dumped there!
With the spring coming soon (so I'm told????) I'd like to get something done but between holidays, exam fees etc. things are VERY tight. Anyone know where I should start?

garden

Hi all ... wouldn't it be lovely if they did a program on tv about how to landscape a big garden from scratch ... instead of the tiny city patches they do.

Where to begin.

Decide how fond you are of mowing. If you don't relish the thought ... buy a ride on mower or better still hard landscape half of it. (there's a lot to be said for tarmac and concrete!) You need to do the groundworks first. You don't necessarily need a landscaper for this ... any builder with a digger should be well able to assist.

Is the site wet? If so drain it before you lay lawn etc. Otherwise IMHO you are wasting your time planting anything that is not suited to soggy conditions.(willows, alders etc)

Do you like plants? Do you have the time or interest to mind them? Trees pretty much look after themselves ... and add a bit of vertical interest. You would be amazed how much they will grow in a couple of years, so don't bother spending a fortune on mature specimens.

Do you need a hedge? Is privacy an issue? Try to avoid the temptation of planting lleylandii. There are lots of suggestions on www.futureforests.com.

I would encourage anyone to give it a go themselves ... it's not rocket science ... there are plenty of books out there and the garden centers are a good source of advice. Finally be bold ... go forth and conquer.

drainage

When you say "drain the land" what does this entail? There's a field behind us sloping downwards so we get all the surface water from that, we dug a trench along the back fence and but this yellow coil stuff in it. But do I just fill in the trench now or what do I do? We don't generally go to that part of the garden cos its so wet

Drain

Hi Sinead

Assume that when you put the land drainage pipe in (yellow coil stuff) that you put it on top of some pea gravel ... why not just pop some more gravel on top and then back fill it with earth. If your garden is a real swamp you will need more than one pipe ... layed in a feather pattern throughout the garden. Have a look on garden.ie for inspiration.