EP213- Can I Build My Garden On Old Stone Drive ? Listener Question Answered.

Can I create my garden on an old stone drive? This is one part of a listener question from long time listener Stephen Daly.

Like many of us in Ireland our houses are surrounded by driveways which in many cases are too big leaving the workable garden feeling separate to our homes. With a stone drive to be changed Stephen wonders does he need to start from scratch or can there be an easier, more cost affective method ?

Listen in as John answers this in a way that might help many other who are considering changing the layout of their own garden or improving what is already there.

For those of you looking to join my "Grow Your Own Food Course" there are two options. Please note option 2 the launch pad goes off sale in two weeks.


Option 1: Grow your own food online course, this is a self paced course with over 4.5 hours of tutorial videos taking your through each step of growing your own food from sowing your first seed to harvest and everything in between. Including monthly sowing guides and additional modules to be added throughout the year. This course is available for €97 and is available for the lifetime of the course.

Option 2: All the goodness of the above course with the added benefit of monthly live group calls from March through to the end of June (dates TBC but replays available) These calls will answers community questions, plan the month ahead, troubleshoot any sticking points you have and of course support as you master growing your own food. This option closes at the end of February and the People inside will get great support over the coming months.

You can purchase these courses here;
https://mastermygarden.com/grow-your-own-food/

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  info@mastermygarden.com   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John 

PS. Master My Garden gardening courses are available to order here and will help you in your own garden and keep an eye out for lots more to come. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

How's it going? Everybody, and welcome to episode 213 in a Mastermind Garden podcast. Now, this week's episode is a listeners question and it's quite a long question, but it is one that I think is going to. There's going to be elements of it that are going to apply to a huge amount of people, particularly in Ireland. I could certainly say that some of the elements of the question apply to me, my garden and my site, and I think they probably will relate to a lot of other people as well, and so the answer or the solution, hopefully will help people as well. So, to start off, the question comes from a long time listener. It's Stephen Daly. Stephen, as I said, a long time listener at a podcast and has quite a good garden. We spoke to Stephen before, actually for episode 100 and, yeah, his question, as I said, is going to relate to probably a good few of you. So the question is I have a problem which I'd say might be similar to that faced by many listeners, or at least the solution could be common to many issues.

Speaker 1: 1:22

My home is on a 1.2 acre site, with 0.3 of an acre which is a veg garden, 0.4 of an acre lawn stroke meadow and the other 0.5 being the house and large wraparound driveway yard. The driveway stroke yard is way too big for our needs, which means that the workable garden feels too far away from the house. The driveway is currently all 804 stone, which is not great to look at and walk on. The plan is to greatly reduce the area of the driveway and return the area reclaimed to garden. I could get a machine in and scrape off the surface and then buy topside, but the budget will be tight after paying for a new driveway. So I was thinking I could possibly leave the 804 stone and use it as planting media for at least a portion of the area. Obviously it won't be turned back into lawn and I've been hearing a lot about turning brownfield sites into gardens and working with the rubble and concrete on these sites rather than ripping everything out and starting over. I'm figuring out that the planting might be quite specific, as the conditions would be different to the other grass stroke meadow in the area and it might not even be a runner at all, but I thought it was at least worth considering. Others might have bought a new house and a builder dumped rubble etc in the garden with a tin cover of soil, which may not be great media for a traditional garden. After saving for a new house, they might not have the budget to dig it out and start again and with soil, so working with what's there could be the only option.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Just thought I'd share and let me know what you think. And there's kind of a few elements in this and Stephen is right. I think the answers will probably be relatable to a lot of people. So the first element which Stephen mentions is definitely relatable to me here. When we went to build this house back in 2005, we had to have two acres, so that was the minimum site that we were allowed to have, and on top of that then we had to be so many metres back from the road I forget what it was at the time, but it's a good few metres back. So the two acre site it's far too big for a house in the countryside, but that was the site that you had to have and that's one element. So the site has become, or is, bigger than what we would require and, to be honest, what most people require. The rules and regulations have changed slightly since then and I suppose that means that you can get away with less If you think back to the old traditional cottages in Ireland.

Speaker 1: 3:59

They had quite close to the road. A lot of these were on smaller country roads, but the garden ran right up to the house budget and you had these little small gardens at the front and then typically there was a vegetable garden either at the back or to the side. But in a scenario here like what we have, we're, whatever it is, 50 metres, I would say, from the centre of the road right to the front of the house, and that area then has to be something. So it's very, very tricky and you do end up with a bigger area than you'd like. So that's the first element and that's where it relates to me. So, as Stephen said, the yard is way too big for our needs.

Speaker 1: 4:44

The other element of it is at that time the typical construction was build your house, put pathways directly around the house, outside of that have your driveway and, if possible, most of the time those driveways run the whole way around the house, and then outside of that you have lawn, hedge and so on, and there again you can see why you know this may this situation may end up being, you know where your garden or your workable garden is quite a bit away from the house. So in a scenario like I just mentioned, your pathways around the house, your driveway, outside of that, again, your curbs, your lawn and then typically your veg garden gets kind of pushed down away from it. So I can understand why you know, the workable garden, as Stephen says, is quite a bit away, and that's certainly the case for me as well. I don't actually find that to be much of an issue, you know, generally speaking it's, it's still quite easily accessible and it's not really a problem. But I could see why you know, and when I'm talking about growing your own food and to grow your own food courses, I talk about making that garden as as accessible as possible, because you want, you want to have really low it needs to be very easy to run out and pick ahead of lettuce, some spring onions, some salad leaves, and if it feels in any way, you know, if it's a wet day and it's awkward to go out there, then you don't use it as much and what you want is you want to integrate that into your, into your home, into your day-to-day life, into your family life, and that's really important.

Speaker 1: 6:48

Then the other element of it is and I see a lot of the garden designers now, as I said, the driveway around the house, the curbs, the footpaths directly up to the house that was typical of, you know, say, when my house was built in 2005, which only feels like yesterday, but in reality when you look at it it's heading for for 20 years ago and I would say all of the designers now are sort of changing and the designs are basically bringing the outdoors in and trying to kind of merge the two so that it doesn't look like here's a house stuck in the middle of a field. They're blending them in, so they're there. The garden becomes an extension of the home and that's, you know, all of the garden designers are doing that now and it does look and feel a lot better. The really good kitchen gardens would feel like that. They're, they're aesthetic, they're beautiful and they're an extension of the home, and I suppose that's, you know, that's where this change is coming and this is why Stephen is looking at this.

Speaker 1: 8:03

Then, to specifically relate to this question, the driveway is 804, which is basically, you know, a stone, a small stone that has been leveled out. Typically, a limestone chip has been skimmed in on top of the ground and you know it's a nice surface for driving on it initially, and then, over time, you obviously want to upgrade it, or you're looking to change it or make it look a little bit more aesthetic, and so on. So the the issue, as I say it, is that that does a few things going on here. Yes, a lot of the driveways, a lot of the sites are too big. Yes, in some cases, the workable garden or the usable garden feels separated from the house, whereas in fact, what we're trying to do these days is actually, as I say, merged them into one and you're running flower beds right into the house, your parking cars, you know, kind of in parking zones, not necessarily right up to the house, and then you're bringing your garden right up to your you know your paving areas, your windows and making it feel softer all around it, and a lot of people are trying to, you know, take out these type driveways.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Now. So, as supposed to get specific with this question and also to relate it to you know where somebody is, is is moved into a house and you have builders rubble underneath, topside, on top, and to try and come up with a remedy here, it is absolutely possible to do what Steven is talking about, but where either don't take away much or you just put topside in on top of this and basically create your garden on top of the driveway, and that is possible. The same goes for a new build where you're going in. If there's builders rubble in there, it doesn't mean that it's a complete right off. The whole thing has to be dug out to, which is a big expense. Digging that out and then replacing it with with topside. It may not have to be done, but the big caveat to all of this is it depends what is under that, that driveway stone. So what we're really talking about here is most ground you know there's.

Speaker 1: 10:31

Usually, if you go into a green field site, there is already. There's the top soil, there's the sub-sile and there's a structure there and typically that structure is working, has been working for centuries more than likely. It's able to soak water, drain water in most cases, and that structure is almost impossible to make, you know, to remake. It has occurred naturally over time and that is the big thing. There's time involved in it and, as I say, it's very, very difficult to replicate it. So, getting a, you know, a big machine in scraping off all the soil and then trying to build a soil back up on top of it, a functional soil back up on top of it, is extremely difficult. The way, the best way I see to do it is and for you know, specific to Stephen's question and to relate to people who are in housing estates you can absolutely build the soil over time so long as there isn't drainage issues.

Speaker 1: 11:41

If there is drainage issues, then we have a problem, because what's what we need to do over time is we need to add organic matter, because what we need to do is we need to start recreating soil. But the best way to do that is by adding organic matter and getting it to happen naturally. But you will never get them in there. Outworms, you know the the soil. Microbiology will never enter there, will never improve the soil if there's a drainage issue.

Speaker 1: 12:13

So in other words, if the soil is watering out and that's the crux of this, whether whether for Stephen or whether for somebody who's moved into a new house and are trying to sort out the back garden. A brilliant example of that is I got a picture sent to me the other day from somebody who has a back garden and it's absolutely, completely compacted. So there's a lawn there. The lawn is not thriving. They have young, young children who are out playing football, kicking on slide, going up and down slides, swings and whatever else, and the lawn is an absolute mess. But the reason it's a mess is that it's just completely waterlogged under the. It's not that the it's not that the soil is not working or will not work. The soil will work, but at the moment it's choked because it's waterlogged, and that's that's the issue Now. Granted, we've had exceptional rain over the last year, and particularly over the last few months, exceptional rain I don't know how many times we've talked over the over the year about how wet it has been, and it certainly has, and that's why these issues are coming to the fore.

Speaker 1: 13:28

So for someone who's moved into a new house and who wants to get a back garden, you know, into a workable, into a workable garden then it's absolutely possible, even if there's a builder's rubble under there, so long as the, as the ground, is relatively free draining, because without that free drainage you cannot get air forms in there, the soil, microbiology will not thrive in there, and then, because of that, your soil just becomes non-functional as a garden. To get specific with Stevens, I don't know if it's. If it's a waterlogged, but I suspect it's not, because it's a driveway. So so long as it's not too compacted underneath and so long as there is, you're able to get some relatively good drainage in there, you can absolutely build your new garden in onto this driveway. Organic matter will be your friend, because by getting you know layers of organic matter and adding to it over time this doesn't have to be, you know, all done in one go by adding to it and feeding it over time, eventually you will start to get a lot of movement of air forms and you get structure into the soil that's there and the 804 that's there will start to get mixed through eventually. This will happen, naturally, and you will absolutely have to build your garden in on top of that. But it all depends on whether there is Relatively good drainage there. If it's waterlogged, then something deeper needs to be done beforehand, because otherwise the issue won't get to a point where it'll start itself out, and that is the biggest issue, particularly in Urban areas and in that picture that I was sent yesterday.

Speaker 1: 15:14

So what has happened is there's a line of your 15 or 20 houses. Initially, when those houses are being built there, there's no fences or walls at the back of those and you have all of the services coming out from the house to the rain water, the, the, the sewage, all of the. You know the electrical works. All that comes Is ran through pipes and various ducting all around the house and during that process there's a lot of heavy tracking on the side and particularly on big sites it tends to be with big, big machines. You know 15, 20 ton track machines.

Speaker 1: 15:54

When that happens you're getting compaction and compaction and compaction. Typically these are done. You know they have to keep moving wet days, dry days you know if you were doing this in your one off house you wouldn't go near things like that and you wouldn't track on your ground on really bad days. But it's different on the site. That you know they have to keep moving. They have to keep If deadlines to meet, they have targets to meet and that it last. So they will continue tracking on that, no matter what's going on. And then at the end, as Steven says, to be a skim of your top sale put in to finish them and put lawns in and then the last stage of fences and whatever else goes in.

Speaker 1: 16:36

But that's the challenge if there is this huge compaction, when compaction will lead to water logging. The water logging means that you won't have a life in there, and if you don't have a life in there, it won't function. So you end up in a situation where, whether it's a lawn, when you get wet, time does no, does no solid roots on. As soon as you get a bit of traffic from children playing football or whatever it is, it's it's water log. The grass is patchy, doesn't look good, or if you're trying to develop a garden, things just don't try. So so long as there is, so long as there is good drainage, then it's absolutely possible to amend that silence such a way that it will become a fully functional, perfect garden and to do what Steve wants to do here. You can do it absolutely and it doesn't mean that you need to dig out everything there.

Speaker 1: 17:34

Would you need to adjust your, your planting to, you know, to suit this sort of created planting zone? I would say, once you have drainage, you don't need to adjust it in any great way. You know, you think of typical Prairie style planting is going to be a lot of grasses there, happy enough if, if they're in some form of soil, some form of stone is there as well. You know they're going to, they're going to try even situations like that. Most perennial planting, if you're at an organic matter, will get enough there, in that the only thing you might struggle with Is potentially some maybe deep rooted trees. You might need to do a little bit more work around that planting zone.

Speaker 1: 18:20

If it was something you know, like a deep root tree, what, generally speaking, you'll be able to amend the silent with organic matter and that could be. You know, in the situation of Perennial beds, are into that. That could be mushroom compost, which is cost effective. Or, you know, if it's your vegetable garden, it could be higher quality compost but Definitely wants the drainage and wants that. You know that element of it is there. You'll be absolutely able to create a garden on top of that and I can imagine, you know you're going to bring your garden closer to your house.

Speaker 1: 19:01

Look at the, as I said, a modern garden designs. Now they're merging the house and the garden together, moving People from one to the other without the transition of your pathways and and the driveways and so on. It's a lot more Connected, I guess. And so, yeah, I can see, yeah, why that would be a question. I can see why it would be something that a lot of people may have. As regards specific, you know Steven hasn't said specifically what kind of planting he would like to do there, but I think you're not limited whatever.

Speaker 1: 19:37

Whatever type of planting you want to do, so long as there is drainage, you'll be able to mend the silent off to get that done and then, as I say, you'll be able to move the workable garden a lot closer to your house and, I suppose, connect everything a little bit better. So I hope that helps. Stephen. And you're right, it probably is an issue that, or there's elements of it that would be an issue for a lot of people, certainly the back garden and you know that builder's rubble and all that sort of thing. That can be a lot of people's issues and it can be hard to sort out if you have all that compaction and lack of drainage In your situation. I suspect that you're going to be able to do this quite easily and quite cost effectively, as you said, once the new driveway is done. You know the budget is not going to be there to do a huge amount of remedial work, but I don't think you need to so long as your drainage is good. So I hope that helps, stephen. And yeah, it's definitely one that I think others will have issues with at times. I'd often see it.

Speaker 1: 20:51

I think the only area where you can really struggle to build a garden is in really heavy, waterlogged soil, and that for me, the reason for that is because it's very hard to get soil life going in there, whereas any other type of soil it's possible to build soil life in there, and that is vital. If your soil is functioning, if you have that life in there, then most other things drive. There's the odd exception, obviously you know you have if you have something like dry shade soil. Life doesn't do overly well there, but there are certain plants that thrive in that space. You know things like that. So there is, you know, small exceptions to that, but for most cases you'll be able to get what you want done here, so long as you have no drainage issues.

Speaker 1: 21:42

Drainage is certainly something that's needed in our gardens. At the moment it continues to rain, hasn't really stopped this long time. Sowing is well underway, definitely. We're hoping that, you know, over the next few weeks the weather will start to turn spring like. The big, huge plus, as I said in the episode two weeks ago is that the days are really stretching out now. We're getting brighter mornings, we're getting brighter evenings and by the end of the month we'll have, you know, a long time of extra daylight in the day. Hopefully, that, you know, is driving your seedlings on and you're getting sowing Still quite early, so proceeding with caution still, but yeah, we can get going and it's really nice to feel and see that extension in the days For any of you that are hoping to get on to the Grow your Own Food launchpad.

Speaker 1: 22:40

So to recap again, there's the course, which is over four hours, of Grow your Own Food tutorials. It's taking you through Start to finish, everything you need to go away and grow your own food this year, from setup to first harvest. On top of that, added on a monthly basis, is the complete, comprehensive, monthly sowing guides and that's available to view whenever you want a 97 euro lifetime access. On top of that. Then there's a launchpad. So this is where people are looking for extra support if someone is, you know, looking to do this for the first time, or if somebody is upping their game and are having struggling. A couple of the messages for people who are doing the course already is that they now see where they were going wrong last year, the certain things that they were doing last year, the gluts, the issues with certain crops, why they had them, and that's how the course is helping them. So it's really helping people to either get started or to improve what they've already been doing.

Speaker 1: 23:48

But the launchpad will. The course itself is available right through, probably until the end of May, but the launchpad closes at the end of February. So if you're in by the end of February, you're in until the end, but if not, it won't be open again until this time next year. What's extra in the launchpad is that we will do at least one monthly call and that will outline the plan for the month. It will specifically answer questions. Ideally we'll have them sent in beforehand, but not we can do them live. It'll answer questions specific to your garden answers, your struggles, whatever that is. It's interesting to see what some people are struggling with. A lot of it seems to be a planning piece and ensuring that there's no gluts and that there's continuity of supply, I guess. So, yeah, they're all the things, but up until the end of February you can jump in there Again. I'll put the links in the show notes. So just click through.

Speaker 1: 24:55

For the launchpad, it's 197. That still gives you full lifetime access to the course, which is 97 euro, but for an extra hundred you have group calls with myself over the next few months and answering specific questions related to your garden. So it gives you that launchpad to get growing and get growing really well. So covering everything growing your own food, sowing, seeds, fruit, vegetables, herbs, the whole lot. And yeah, that's closing at the end of the month.

Speaker 1: 25:29

So just keep an eye on that. If you're thinking of joining, just you start, only have two weeks left to do that and then it closes and then we'll get started with the group that are in there at that time. And yeah, that's this week's episode. A couple of good, interesting guest interviews coming up in the next few weeks and we'll be continuing with our monthly, our monthly what to do and so on, over the next couple of weeks as well. Hopefully, by the time we chat next week it will have at least stopped raining and we'll be starting to see the benefit of these longer days. But for now that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening and until the next time, happy gardening.