Small Landscaping Garden Contract in Mount Merrion, Dublin

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We won this contract by completing a contract a couple of doors up. The previous client had recommended us. On the initial site survey, the garden was quite run down. The house faced due South. Outside the back door, there was a patio made up of grey cobble paviors which were weed-infested and uneven in places. There was also an ant problem here. This is a common occurrence with patios/driveways laid on leveled sand. The sand base gives perfect conditions for nesting ants. A mobile basketball pole with a net was centered in this area.

 

Running along the west side there was a cole bunker/old shed with a 2M wall. Beyond was an overgrown Lonicera hedge which was patchy halfway down. At the end of the garden, there was a raised area with an old red brick retaining wall 200mm high. A number of Mature trees were located here with an angular wall forming the back boundary. The wall was covered in ivy, which softened. Along the western boundary was a lonicera hedge again with Ivy within. There were a lot of brambles along this boundary. At the base of the hedge the red brick wall continued. There were some nice cascading plants within this bed. The lawn was very uneven with a mysterious sinkhole dropping 600mm below the levels of an existing lawn.

There were a lot of perennial weeds and scutch within the lawn. The lawn was split in two by a central concrete path, which was old and had numerous cracks. There were many scraggly shrubs within, hydrangeas being the only plants worth saving with the rest to go. There was a 4.3M trampoline placed on the patio area which foreshortened the garden. The trampoline would be better placed at the back of the garden.

 

I surveyed the garden taking measurements, photos, and walk-around videos. I sat in the garden to get a feel. The garden had great potential and was a fine size for this area of Dublin. The access was a bit of a problem and would not allow mini digger. I would need to utilize the framework of the old garden to reduce labour as all dismantling, digging etc. would have to be done by hand.

After the site survey I sat down with the clients to get an understanding of what they wanted from the space. I gave my opinion and advice and we agreed out the following wishlist:

• Low maintenance
• Room for basketball hoop and court
• Removal of old cole bunker/remnants of old shed
• Creation of a barbecue house
• Garden lighting throughout
• New level lawn, instant rollout
• Removal of the old path, a new path to be located along the western boundary
• Facing and capping of an old red brick wall in front of a raised area at the back of the garden
• Extend the raised back area to create a seating area for the evening sun
• Creation of dedicated trampoline area within the above area
• Retention of red brick bed at the base of hedge along the western boundary
• Fill in gaps within hedge along Eastern boundary
• Retention of 2 healthy Hydrangeas, removal of unwanted shrubs
• Mowing edge to surround lawn to hold edge and reduce maintenance
• Inclusion of raised kerb edge along western boundary to tie in with raised seating/trampoline area
• Prune back & crown lift existing trees along back boundary
• Removal of compost heap in back western corner
• Inclusion of utility area to house compost bin, chairs, pots, canoe etc
• Entire garden to be traditional in style
• Yellow mixed sized limestone slabs for new patio/path, area to be substantial enough for future outdoor table tennis table/entertaininment
• Individually kill all brambles around garden, treat cuts with translocated herbicide to kill roots outright
• Cut back ivy on back wall, retain native Ivy as good for wildlife and softening of wall
• Remove ground-level ivy within beds
• Put manners on existing Lonicera hedges, bringing height down & cut back hard for easy maintenance going forward
• Lay geo-textile covered with bark mulch to eradicate weeds within trampoline area

Armed with the above information I created a very simple scaled Garden design which incorporated everything, the design followed the original rectangular format.

Some landscaping contracts take a lot of work before you can even move forward. This was one of them. It took a week to clear the old patio, kill all brambles, remove Ivy, spray lawn, import topsoil to level lawn, remove of old coal bunker, pruning of hedges, remove compost heap, clear ivy from beds, remove unwanted plants, crown lifting and pruning out dead wood on existing trees, breaking out of existing concrete path, carting of all waste to dump. It wasn’t till all of the above was completed before we saw go forward.

 

 

The contract proceeded really well and could be broken down into the following areas:

• Work carried out:
  • Remove existing cobbles, cart to dump
  • Remove compost area, rubbish, unwanted plants, cart to dump
  • Remove block structure at gable end of shed, cart to dump
  • Breakout existing path, brick bed, cart to dump
  • Excavate area for path/area around trampoline, use excavations to level lawn area
  • Supply and lay cabling for Low Voltage Garden Lighting System
  • Supply, spread and compact quarry screenings, creating sub-base for patios & path (8 Tonne)
  • Supply and install 2 Patios and path using mixed sized yellow limestone slabs (73.5 Msq)
  • Face & cap brick wall at end of garden using silver granite
  • Supply and install bed to left using 1000x200x100mm silver granite kerbs (10 Kerbs)
  • Supply and install 900x100mm granite slips around entire lawn, creating mowing edge
  • Supply topsoil, fill bed (2 Tonne)
  • Supply and install Low Voltage Garden Lighting System, including 60 Watt transformer, Dusk till dawn sensor, 6 spike lights and 3 Spots beneath Eucalyptus at end of garden
  • Supply & install 4×3” post to support fence
  • Bring up levels on lawn (9 Tonne)
  • Supply and install lawn
  • Create kerb bed behind 2nd patio, fill with soil
  • Re-cycle existing cobbles, create raised brick edge to left side of 2nd patio
  • Supply and install fence and lean too, using planed pressure-treated Scandinavian spruce, OSB for Roof & Unrippable polyester felt
  • Supply and install 1.2M high utility area to the left of the trampoline using planed pressure-treated Scandinavian Spruce
  • Add extra 3 lights to the Garden lighting display
  • Supply and spread bark mulch disguising Geo-textile around the trampoline area
  • Supply and install double outdoor socket for low Voltage Garden Lighting System

 

 

The garden turned out really well. It was difficult without the mini-digger access, but the design incorporated as most of the original structure as possible, cutting down on labour/time. The clients were really happy and were kind enough to post the following two reviews on Google: 

“Great to get work done by an expert! Kevin has done a fantastic job on our garden. We didn’t know the details of what we wanted – but Kevin‘s way of working is that he will recommend good ideas, but give you flexibility if you have a preference as the work goes on and the landscaping takes shape . Really nice to deal with , total expert, highly recommend” Susan McKeever