How to get started diy landscaping

I'm a bit of a basket case and always get lost in the big picture and details, disabling myself from even starting new projects, so please help me with some details so I can get going on landscaping my yard.

I want to get rid of the existing grass / weeds and then put a layer of sand down for drainage, cover the sand in soil and create a garden bed with wood chip (or other suitable material) with some grass in the middle of the yard.

My problem is, how and where do I buy soil, sand, grass and wood chip, how do I transport it and how much does it cost?

Is it much more expensive to get someone else to do it for me?

I know this should be simple, but as I said I'm a basket case.



Sent from my Desire HD

The first thing to do is to draw a plan / layout of what you want to do. Like a map of where everything should be. If you can do it to scale it is even better as it will help you work out measurements of everything you need - but you may get away with just a rough outline.

Ring around / drop into a few landscape places and explain you plan and ask them whether they do deliveries (most places will for a cost). They will literally just dump the dirt or whatever in a pile and it is up to you to move it where you want / need it - so you will require a wheel borrow and other equipment. Otherwise you will probably need to hire a trailer or ute to transport the stuff.

In my experience - DIY is MUCH cheaper then hiring someone, especially if it is simple work. However, landscaping is VERY labour intensive and it will likely take you much longer to do things then a professional.

You will also need to work out if you need to hire any extra equipment (ie, like a dingo to flatten / dig out / move dirt around the existing landscape). These things can be easy to use, but very daunting if you have never used one before. And if you haven't used one before, you can definitely expect it to take you much longer then someone who has experience.

We landscapes our investment property ourselves, very very basic design - it cost us about $2500 in materials and equipment hire (wheelbarrow and trailer we already had) and almost a week in labour (with two strong very handy men and myself doing it). The cheapest quote we got for the same thing was $6000. The professionals would have got it done in a weekend easily.

You need to weigh up the pro's and con's and decide for yourself which makes more sense.

Thanks misty, that helps. I should mention it's a very small yard, most people would just pave it and call it a courtyard but I've always dreamed of having a little garden and some grass.

I think my concern is where would they dump the stuff, because there's no vehicle access to the yard.

Sent from my Desire HD

Canberra yards are extremely small too, our investment property is 'just' over the size they label courtyard (400m2 block). :)

We got them to dump the soil and bark and gravel all in the frontyard and then had to manually cart it around in a wheelbarrow to lay it where we wanted it. If you have lawn or something in the frontyard and don't want a mess left after you move it, lay down a tarp first and they can dump it on the tarp. You will also need a metal rake to spread the soil / etc evenly once in place.

As for grass, you have a couple of options. You can get turf - places that sell it usually sell so you can lay it yourself, or they will come out and lay it for you (for a price) once the sooil is ready. They will be able to tell you what you need to do in preperation for their turf (ie, what kind of soil). Or you can just throw out grass seed - which (in my experience) is much much cheaper, but requires alot of care and attention whilst getting established. We always throw out twice and much grass seed as recommended - half initally, and then the other half in a couple of days when the first batch has stared sprouting; it make the grass thicker and allows for those seeds which just don't sprout / or get eaten by birds etc.

Thanks so much, this is really helpful and a tarp is a great idea. They'd have to dump the stuff in our carport.

If I layer a generous amount of sand and soil on top of existing grass / weeds, will they die from lack of light and air, or will they grow through?

My yard is also full of rocks so clearing it will be hard work, and I'd need a skip or something to get rid of all that junk.

Sent from my Desire HD

The existing grass and particularly weeds will likely just grow through the new soil. In the case of grass, that generally isn't a huge prblem, but with weeds it is. You can get a turf cutter to sut up the top layer with the grass and weeds so you can remove it before the new soild and grass goes down.

Also check with your local lanscaping places, many of them have free or cheap disposal for landscape / green waste - but again you need to look at how you will transport it there. :)

(hell, if you were closer to me I would happily take those rocks off your hands! I am forever filling in holes my dogs have dug to try and get in the neighbours yard. )