Selling a garden

[anobium]

Bear with me.
Mrs A and I have a large well stocked garden, and I mean well stocked there must be hundreds of different types of plants and shrubs.
All in good health.
It was and is Mrs A,s pride and joy,( I prefer golfing) but is now becoming a chore to maintain.
I help occasionally, but as we are both approaching that age ! we feel that we should take steps to reduce the work element and convert a large section back into a lawn with a border to reduce the work load.
To remove the plants and shrubs would be a major operation so we have come up with the idea of getting somebody else to do it for free.
The idea is we would let anybody take whatever plant they wanted as long as they dug it up themselves and if they felt they wanted to make a contribution they could, and the donations would be given to charity.
My question is, has any body else done this or something similar and if so what are the pitfalls.
The alternative to this is to employ a landscape gardener and we are talking big money.
All comments gratefully received.

 

[r896neo]

Give it a go i'd say, Whilst the theory says transplanting large shrubs is difficult and risky when doing landscaping work I am often digging them out and i have treated some pretty badly over the years and they almost all survived fine. I tend to keep them for a year and rejuvenate them and then plant them in a scheme as specimen shrubs are super expensive and hard to get.

Your problem will be people wanting to do it and getting half way then giving up, trailing soil everywhere as they drag large root balls which are too heavy to lift, or finding it doesn't fit in their car and leaving it on your drive etc etc.

The best bet would be to find a local gardening club and get the word around this way you could get a lot of it out rather than dribs and drabs.

If you do decide to do it your self and just want rid of them, hire a large winch like a tirfor, anchor it round a large tree and simply tear them out. It's so much faster than digging.

 

[anobium]

Give it a go i'd say, Whilst the theory says transplanting large shrubs is difficult and risky when doing landscaping work I am often digging them out and i have treated some pretty badly over the years and they almost all survived fine. I tend to keep them for a year and rejuvenate them and then plant them in a scheme as specimen shrubs are super expensive and hard to get.

Your problem will be people wanting to do it and getting half way then giving up, trailing soil everywhere as they drag large root balls which are too heavy to lift, or finding it doesn't fit in their car and leaving it on your drive etc etc.

The best bet would be to find a local gardening club and get the word around this way you could get a lot of it out rather than dribs and drabs.

If you do decide to do it your self and just want rid of them, hire a large winch like a tirfor, anchor it round a large tree and simply tear them out. It's so much faster than digging.

Many thanks, some very good info and points which we had never thought of, and which we will take on board.

 

[Kaymo]

Hi,
I just wondered if it might be worth considering 'renting' a section of the garden out. If there are any people near you, apartments for example, where people dont have a garden they might be prepared to pay to rent a garden, kind of like an allotment. Would only work of course if there was a way to access it without going through your house, and if you didnt want to keep using it!!

If you just want to get rid of the plants, try and put an advert on Gumtree in the freebies section describing what you have and you may well have people calling you up. I have a large garden that is just the opposite and in need of plants and other stuff and other stuff to fill it up so if there was someone near me getting rid of plants i'd be round in a shot!

all the best.

 

[anobium]

Thanks Kaymo, but Mrs A still wants to retain control of her garden so renting it out is not an option.
The gumtree one is worth considering and access to the section of garden concerned is not a problem.
Unfortunately we are in Lancashire which is probably to far for you.

 

[Kaymo]

Hi Anobium,
Too far for me but I am sure there are like minds in Lancashire who wouldnt mind a few free plants, i'd be very surprised if you didnt get some interest.

 

[HERTS P&D]

You could post a section with pictures on free cycle.

You will lots of offers.


I gave away 500 used bricks, the bloke came round in a milk float and picked them up.

Andy

 

[EddieM]

how about a wild flower meadow ? not a lot of maintenance, but very nice.

 

[jdpjamesp]

Where in Lancashire are you? I'd bite your hand off for some nice free shrubs to be honest. Mainly because my MrsP is champing at the bit to get some in herself!!

 

[anobium]

Where in Lancashire are you? I'd bite your hand off for some nice free shrubs to be honest. Mainly because my MrsP is champing at the bit to get some in herself!!

Sorry for late response, been away for a few days.
Guess what, swmbo is now having second thoughts, something about she brought them up, and it seems wrong to give them away, !!!
I said think of it as adoption.
Anyway she now wants more time to think about it, but I will let you know when she makes a decision, women eh

 

[jdpjamesp]

Hehe Best she's comfortable with the decision made

 

[anobium]

Where in Lancashire are you? I'd bite your hand off for some nice free shrubs to be honest. Mainly because my MrsP is champing at the bit to get some in herself!!

JD.
If you still want some shrubs we have just removed some box hedging.
There are approx 20 shrubs and it was previously around a 5 foot diameter central feature.
They are approx 12 inches in height.
They are currently in boxes but need to be replanted asap.

 

[jdpjamesp]

Thanks for the kind offer but I'll have to decline as I currently have no vehicle access. Maybe someone else will take them from you though and be very happy

 

[anobium]

Thanks for the kind offer but I'll have to decline as I currently have no vehicle access. Maybe someone else will take them from you though and be very happy

No probs, thanks for prompt reply.

Anybody else interested?

 

[vv2806]

Post a message on freecycle, you will receive a lot of emails from people who want them. In your message ask them to state when they can collect, so you don't have to wait long time for somebody to show up. I've got some plants from freecycle myself, and gave away others, it's a brilliant web-site