There was a nice piece about a Dutch Initiative / competition to encourage people to remove paving stones called Tile Whipping by Jo Thompson here: https://jothompson.substack.com/p/the-dutch-competition-to-green-gardens. Newcastle University did a study a few years back (after the Tyne Monsoon) about the difference it would make to storm water if more houses installed water butts - a significant difference they found. I now have a 2,000 litre one!
Yea it's really clever scheme - friends of mine in Holland have taken part - they got some grass seeds to sow the new area of soil - several millipaving slabs have been removed - the local council takes them away too.
Did you get an IBC ? I have 3 to supply the greenhouse - now self-sufficient in water
We bought a house where the front garden had been paved for parking as they had two cars. I'd like to change it but how expensive would it be? We have brick pavors and have no idea what is underneath, it might be tons of rubble and sand. We probably will alter it eventually but at the moment we are spending our money inside.
The other thing that occurs to me is having invested in a change any new owners could pave it all over again! Maybe we need legislation around this?
The simplest and cheapest option is simply to lift the pavers where you dont need hard standing to create flower beds. Do a test area first to see what's there. If its sand and rubble underneath thats great as its permeable and its perfectly suitable for growing in so you just need to loosen it up as it will have been compacted before the pavers were paid. - check out my posts on growing in sand. I have a huge bed in front of the house created from crushed concrete. Its a sunny aspect so the verbena, verbascum, erigeron, nepeta etc love it and bring in hordes pollinators. Or you could start growing veg in containers and make your front garden productive - if you need ideas for container veg growing, check out Vertical Veg Growing by Mark Ridsill Smith
There was a nice piece about a Dutch Initiative / competition to encourage people to remove paving stones called Tile Whipping by Jo Thompson here: https://jothompson.substack.com/p/the-dutch-competition-to-green-gardens. Newcastle University did a study a few years back (after the Tyne Monsoon) about the difference it would make to storm water if more houses installed water butts - a significant difference they found. I now have a 2,000 litre one!
Yea it's really clever scheme - friends of mine in Holland have taken part - they got some grass seeds to sow the new area of soil - several millipaving slabs have been removed - the local council takes them away too.
Did you get an IBC ? I have 3 to supply the greenhouse - now self-sufficient in water
What is an IBC?
One of those large white or black plastic containers in a steel mesh container that you see on allotments
We bought a house where the front garden had been paved for parking as they had two cars. I'd like to change it but how expensive would it be? We have brick pavors and have no idea what is underneath, it might be tons of rubble and sand. We probably will alter it eventually but at the moment we are spending our money inside.
The other thing that occurs to me is having invested in a change any new owners could pave it all over again! Maybe we need legislation around this?
The simplest and cheapest option is simply to lift the pavers where you dont need hard standing to create flower beds. Do a test area first to see what's there. If its sand and rubble underneath thats great as its permeable and its perfectly suitable for growing in so you just need to loosen it up as it will have been compacted before the pavers were paid. - check out my posts on growing in sand. I have a huge bed in front of the house created from crushed concrete. Its a sunny aspect so the verbena, verbascum, erigeron, nepeta etc love it and bring in hordes pollinators. Or you could start growing veg in containers and make your front garden productive - if you need ideas for container veg growing, check out Vertical Veg Growing by Mark Ridsill Smith