We have recently moved to a new house and it has an elevated Courtyard garden. We would like to keep the decking area but would like to have grass instead of pebbles. And it would be great to have the whole garden in level.
The elevated area beside the bungalow consists of 20 mm decorative pebbles over a geotextile membrane with a 20-year life expectancy, supported by a compacted hardcore/gravel sub-base.
There are some weepholes on the side of the pebbled area wall and also on the brick wall. There is a drain in the ditch to the left.
Any ideas would be really appriciated.
by Ok-Inspection7408
2 Comments
I would keep then decorative pebbles. But add potted mini fruit trees. You’d be surprised how satisfying that can be, to harvest fruit from your little orchard. It’s very inexpensive and would look great.
Alternatively, you could create a box garden that sits about 3 feet high, so you won’t have to do a lot of bending to care for it. But again, keep the decorative pebbles. They look nice for that space.
First, you have to be extremely careful about “leveling” this space with soil. If you pile up topsoil to match the height of that decking, you are almost certainly going to bridge the damp-proof course (DPC) on the house and cover those weep holes. That is a guaranteed recipe for penetrating damp and rotting your interior walls. Plus, wet soil is incredibly heavy. Those existing brick retaining walls are designed to hold back the current load, adding tons of wet earth to raise the grade could blow them out structurally.
Real grass is likely a no-go here because it needs 6 inches of soil depth, which brings the weight and moisture issues I mentioned above. If you want that soft, green look without the structural risk, you are the rare candidate where I might suggest high-end artificial turf over a sand blinding layer on top of your existing hardcore. However, a better design move is to embrace the courtyard feel. Keep the drainage, friendly gravel but break up the starkness with large, oversized planters filled with lush, drought-tolerant greenery to soften the brick. You could also extend the decking over the gravel to get that single level you want without the weight of soil. Run this photo through GardenDream to visualize extending the deck versus a “green” artificial turf layout, it’ll help you see if the cost of timber is worth it to get that flush transition.