Hardcore landscaping: how to grow a garden on sand, gravel and concrete

Builders' waste is the perfect base for a low-maintenance, biodiverse front garden, filled with drought-tolerant flowers, grasses - and fewer weeds Four years ago, I moved into a terrace house in Bristol. It hadn't been touched in years: a 1960s time warp with woodchip wallpaper, brown carpet in the bathroom and polystyrene ceiling tiles. Under the shadow of a pebble-dash facade, the front garden was a small patch of grass with one sad hydrangea. The grass was on compacted clay, which became waterlogged in winter and dry like asphalt in summer, making it difficult to grow anything but the toughest shrubs.After stripping out the property and adding a kitchen extension, I was left with builders' waste strewn across my garden and piled up in sacks. Rather than order another skip, I decided to turn my front plot into a rubble garden. Continue reading...