Clay Bank Garden

Garden in A Bank of Solid Clay.

This Newly Built House had a minimal area of patio constructed by the builders and a Stone and Concrete block retaining wall to hold back the clay bank. A second level area had been roughly created and a less strong line of round treated timber posts rammed into the soil to hold the rest of the bank in place.

The first pictures show the scene when we first saw the site at the end of the summer.

The annual weeds were growing in the slim amount of topsoil that had been spread over the top of the clay area.

These were easily killed by the use of "Roundup" weedkiller during the dry weather before we started work.

The first stage from our point of view was to excavate the areas that the design required for new footings for walls and for hardcore sub base for the new paving areas.

Two days before we started work the dry spell of weather ended and the rains came...

At one stage the digger had to be used to pull the dumper truck up the greasy clay slope as the four wheel drive traction was just slipping on the wet surface!

In certain areas the water ran off the bank in rivulets and made the area that our staff were working in more like a puddled clay pond!

We used a lot of hardcore 40mm scalpings as sub base, inserted drainage piping in pea gravel and permeable membrane under the wettest areas in order to try and take the water away to lower areas. The new walls were also holding back the water as there were no weep holes built in to them to help drain the ground being supported.

We needed a firm surface where we were going to form the gravel walkway with random stepping stone paths and had to to try and take the water away as much as possible.

The decision was taken to remove the round posts totally as they were not going to provide a long-term solution to the bank problem even if we had tried to ram them into the ground further. We agreed with the client that it would be best to construct a stone faced retaining wall to match the new one that was nearly complete.

The greater height of the bank face here, meant that we also needed to put in a backing of solid concrete blockwork 200mm wide. We tied the facing stone to it with stainless steel wall ties so that the two leaves were bonded together for strength.

On the Left the lower Cotswold stone wall with the semi-circular recess is under construction.

There is always quite a lot of stone that is too small to be useable and when constructing corners and curves it requires a careful selection of the right pieces to get the visual effect. Hence the large pile that is being sorted through to get the right stone to fit the next section of wall.

Here you can see the finished product. The wall has a domed cement mortar capping.

The ground under the gravel area in front of the wall was so wet that we felt that the normal dry type of planting would not be suitable.

In the lower, far corner we planted a number of shade and boggy to moist condition preference plants such as cornus, hostas, astilbe, bergamot and ferns. In the summer this will no doubt be very dry as the clay behind the wall dries out, but can be watered. In the Winter it will run with water again.

On the right and below are views to the finished upper patio paving area with the new stone faced block retaining wall. The paving slabs we used were Bradstone Wetherdale in Weathered Cotswold colour as these blended best with the house and the existing slabs elsewhere.

Although we had some headaches, it was better to have seen the ground in this weather and to resolve the problems rather than to find them out when everything was finished. As you will see the round poles that we had been left with had not been rammed into the ground far enough to retain the bank and when we reduced the level to form the base for the paving they started to fall out.

On the right the half round timber step risers are formed into the clay bank using round posts well rammed into the ground. Behind these there is compacted scalpings (crushed rock 40mm to dust) and then a weedscreen membrane before the rounded Henham pebbles finish.

At one stage the rainwater was running down here like a small mountain torrent. (I'm sure it was doing the same down the backs of our workers too!)

The following pictures show some of the detailed areas of this project. The planting has only just been carried out and will fill out over the next growing season.

The semicircular feature with its red brindle and roof tile slip circle. The planter is temporary until the clients can find a more suitable urn or formal stone style one.

Here you can see one of the copper low voltage spotlights that we used to highlight some of the key elements and also to soft floodlight the planting on the bank.

The Forestgarden Products Florence rose arch (below) forms a key feature when viewed up the existing steps from the lowest level. There is an evergreen, sweet scented flowered clematis "Armandii" and a white "Iceberg" climbing rose planted ready to grow over it. The Sorbus Kashmiriana tree behind it will fill out and form a unique centre. It has a spot light under it and is planted round the base with Hellebores.

At the front of the drive we created this scree green slate garden area which has weed suppressing membrane under it. The three large rounded Sarsen stone outliers form a strong visual entrance to the property and stand out well against the slate.

As with all things, perseverance, professionalism and great determination on the part of our staff meant that a difficult site was transformed totally to our client's satisfaction.