Does anyone know where I can buy largish quantities of slate chips. My front
garden is on a slope and we get lots of ash saplings trying to take over.
I'm thinking of planting some shrubs through anti weed matting, covering the
matting with slate chips and holding those back with junior sleepers. The
rest will be lawned so I can chop the heads off any ash saplings!

All advice / comments welcomed as I'm very much a beginner.

Thanks,

Sue

Does anyone know where I can buy largish quantities of slate chips. My
front
garden is on a slope and we get lots of ash saplings trying to take over.
I'm thinking of planting some shrubs through anti weed matting, covering
the
matting with slate chips and holding those back with junior sleepers. The
rest will be lawned so I can chop the heads off any ash saplings!

All advice / comments welcomed as I'm very much a beginner.

Thanks,

Sue

You will find them at garden centres, but this will probably be quite an
expensive way to buy them. Try your local Quarry/sand&gravel suppliers and
ask for price per tonne. If they don't sell it, they probably will know
who
does. Also try demolition contractors.

Steve


Thanks, the high cost of buying bags from the garden centre was my reason
for asking.
I haven't found any suppliers locally and hadn't thought of demolition
contractors even
though my brother is one! Strangely they bought bags for their garden.
Still, he keeps
me well supplied with chimney pots, ridge tiles etc. so I can't complain.

Sue

None of my business, but Sue did ask. Be good and sure that slate is
what you want: it's very unsympathetic outside the areas where it
"grows", and time does little to soften it even there. It's also
unpleasant to walk on, as all the pieces are flat, and slide about
underfoot. This slippiness may also be a factor on the slope you
mention, particularly if it's going to be spread on a plastic
landscape sheet: you don't want it all to end up in a heap at the
bottom. And if you're a long way from North Wales or some other
producing area, it could be more expensive than local material: the
price of stone is more about transport than anything else.

Mike.


And I'm grateful for the advice. I was thinking of slate (only on the beds)
'cos
I thought it'd stay for ever, unlike bark. Hadn't thought about the
'slippiness'
but I suppose I could level out the top beds before I lay the sheeting.

Do you think bark, or something else, would be better? Basically I'm after
tidying
it up, reducing the work and not keen on shingle in case I end up with a cat
toilet.
What about cockle shells?

Sue

Sue wrote:
None of my business, but Sue did ask. Be good and sure that slate
is
what you want: it's very unsympathetic outside the areas where it
"grows", and time does little to soften it even there. It's also
unpleasant to walk on, as all the pieces are flat, and slide about
underfoot. This slippiness may also be a factor on the slope you
mention, particularly if it's going to be spread on a plastic
landscape sheet: you don't want it all to end up in a heap at the
bottom. And if you're a long way from North Wales or some other
producing area, it could be more expensive than local material:
the
price of stone is more about transport than anything else.

Mike.


And I'm grateful for the advice. I was thinking of slate (only on
the
beds) 'cos
I thought it'd stay for ever, unlike bark. Hadn't thought about the
'slippiness'
but I suppose I could level out the top beds before I lay the
sheeting.

Do you think bark, or something else, would be better? Basically
I'm
after tidying
it up, reducing the work and not keen on shingle in case I end up
with a cat toilet.
What about cockle shells?

Certainly stone is going to be permanent, unlike bark. It's just that
if the stone chippings or gravel you use are too unlike the local
stone, it'll look unnatural. For the same reason, I personally
wouldn't use seashells in an inland garden; but, yes, I've seen paths
made of cockleshells in west Wales, and thought they looked rather
nice.

And, come to that, it doesn't _have_ to look natural if you don't
want it to.

I hadn't thought of the cat problem. I suppose that's a matter of
making sure your stone is too big for them to feel comfortable
scratching it about.

Mike.

"Sue" wrote in message
k...


Does anyone know where I can buy largish quantities of slate chips. My
front
garden is on a slope and we get lots of ash saplings trying to take
over.
I'm thinking of planting some shrubs through anti weed matting,
covering
the
matting with slate chips and holding those back with junior sleepers.
The
rest will be lawned so I can chop the heads off any ash saplings!

All advice / comments welcomed as I'm very much a beginner.

Thanks,

Sue

You will find them at garden centres, but this will probably be quite an
expensive way to buy them. Try your local Quarry/sand&gravel suppliers
and
ask for price per tonne. If they don't sell it, they probably will know
who
does. Also try demolition contractors.

Steve


Thanks, the high cost of buying bags from the garden centre was my reason
for asking.
I haven't found any suppliers locally and hadn't thought of demolition
contractors even
though my brother is one! Strangely they bought bags for their garden.
Still, he keeps
me well supplied with chimney pots, ridge tiles etc. so I can't complain.

Keep well in with your brother, he's going to be worth it. If you mention to
him that you'd like any damaged tiles that he can't sell from demo jobs, you
could smash them up yourself. I don't know whether slate is the grey or the
green variety where you live, I think the grey is fairly unlikely to clash
with much. I've seen the green used as mulch in beds and to me it looks like
phoney grass.


Steve

"shazzbat" wrote in message
...

"Sue" wrote in message
k...


Does anyone know where I can buy largish quantities of slate chips. My
front
garden is on a slope and we get lots of ash saplings trying to take
over.
I'm thinking of planting some shrubs through anti weed matting,
covering
the
matting with slate chips and holding those back with junior sleepers.
The
rest will be lawned so I can chop the heads off any ash saplings!

All advice / comments welcomed as I'm very much a beginner.

Thanks,

Sue

You will find them at garden centres, but this will probably be quite
an
expensive way to buy them. Try your local Quarry/sand&gravel suppliers
and
ask for price per tonne. If they don't sell it, they probably will know
who
does. Also try demolition contractors.

Steve


Thanks, the high cost of buying bags from the garden centre was my reason
for asking.
I haven't found any suppliers locally and hadn't thought of demolition
contractors even
though my brother is one! Strangely they bought bags for their garden.
Still, he keeps
me well supplied with chimney pots, ridge tiles etc. so I can't complain.

Keep well in with your brother, he's going to be worth it. If you mention
to
him that you'd like any damaged tiles that he can't sell from demo jobs,
you
could smash them up yourself. I don't know whether slate is the grey or
the
green variety where you live, I think the grey is fairly unlikely to clash
with much. I've seen the green used as mulch in beds and to me it looks
like
phoney grass.


Steve


Definitely worth doing - at the rate I'm going he'll never have anything
left to sell!

Sue