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Our gardens are often our pride and joy, so we want them to look their best. If you notice that your garden is uneven, you’ll probably want to do something about it. But how do you level your garden or lawn? A gardener can help you do this and will get the best finish, but if you want to have a go at doing it yourself there are a few steps you can take. Before you start, make sure you’ve got all the following equipment to hand:

• String line
• 4 rods & string
• Tape measure
• Flat shovel
• Water sprinkler or watering can
• A rake
• Earthmoving and compacting equipment
• Spirit level
• 2 x 4 piece of wood
• Wheelbarrow
• Protective gloves and shoes

Then, you can get ready to level your garden.

1. Mark out the area Push 4 rods into the ground around the area you want to level out in a square or rectangle. Tie your string around the rods to connect them all together, ensuring that the string stays tight. Then use your string line to any of the 4 sides to check that it’s level. You’ll then need to measure the height from the ground to the string on all four sides to check how much you would need to adjust the ground to make it level. Make sure you take note of the high and low spots and measure the difference between these spots.
2. Water the ground to soften it If you want to level your lawn, or the part of your garden that you want to level has grass on it, you’ll need to uproot the ground underneath it. To make it easier to dig and lift out the grass, sprinkle some water over the area before you begin. It’s a good idea to do this over a few days to really soften it – but make sure you don’t do it so much that it becomes too heavy and soggy.
3. Remove the grass Push your flat shovel into the ground, around 3-6cm deep, then slide the shovel horizontally to lift out the soil and the grass on top. As you repeat this process around the entire area, make sure you try to lift out the soil evenly to avoid making your levelling task even harder.
4. Add soil Fill low spots with nutrient-rich soil and spread evenly over the area with a rake. If you’re levelling out a large area of your garden, consider renting earthmoving equipment to make it easier.
5. Flatten the soil Next you’ll want to compact the soil to protect it from erosion. If you’re working on a small garden or area of your garden, simply use your feet – get stomping on that ground! You could also use a rake, but for larger gardens consider hiring a compactor. Then, leave the soil to settle for around 3 weeks before doing anything. If you’re doing this in the summer, you can water it sparingly to keep it from drying out.
6. Adjust until you’re happy It might take you a few adjustments to get the level of your garden or lawn right. Use a spirit level along a long 2 x 4 piece of wood to see whether the ground is even, then adjust by adding a little more soil or removing soil until it’s at the level you want it.

That’s it. A gardener or landscaping company will be able to level your garden or lawn perfectly, so consider getting some quotes from local companies.

1. Start in one corner of the sub-frame and position the first board across the inner joists. You want the deck board in the opposite direction to the inner joists, ensuring that it’s flush with the frame. Position any end-to-end joins between the deck boards halfway across an inner joist so you can screw both boards into the joist for stability. Make sure you keep a gap of between 5-8mm to allow for expansion of the wood.
2. Begin to screw your deck boards to the joists. You’ll need to secure the deck board to every joist is covers along your deck frame. Use two screws for every joist. Mark where you’re going to add your screws, ensuring that they are at least 15mm from the end of the board and 20mm from the outside edges. Drill pilot holes for the screws, being careful to only drill through the deck board and not the joist. Then screw the decking screws into the holes.
3. Continue to screw in the deck boards, ensuring you leave the correct expansion gap. You can stagger the deck board joins across the deck for more strength.
4. Sand down any cut ends if you need to before applying decking preserver to protect the timber from rotting.

Moss, mushrooms and weeds are all problems that many homeowners face on their lawns. Luckily, with a bit of maintenance, there are ways you can get rid of these unwanted organisms and prevent them from coming back. Getting rid of moss A simple way to remove moss from your lawn is by scarification. This basically means that you vigorously rake your lawn, but only do this in the autumn when the grass is actively growing and it’s not too hot, cold or dry. However, you can also use specific weedkillers to control moss on your lawn, and most of these should be applied when the moss is actively growing. Apply in fine weather by hand or with a push-along spreader, making sure not to apply too much as you could kill off the grass too. Check the instructions, as some will require watering after 48 hours if it’s not rained. Then, get into a scarification routine to help prevent moss growth. Removing mushrooms from your lawn If you’ve got mushrooms in your lawn, it usually means that your lawn is damp and shaded, so it never dries out, and is organic waste-rich. There could be a drainage problem with your lawn that is encouraging mushroom growth, so it’s important to investigate why the mushrooms are growing to prevent them from returning once you’ve removed them. To get rid of mushrooms in your lawn, make sure you scarify your lawn and get rid of all the moss, thatch and dead grass that comes up. If you leave it, this is heaven for mushrooms to grow in. If your lawn is shaded, try to prune and thin surrounding trees to offer it more light. If you do all of these things, it will prevent mushrooms from growing in the future, and then it might be worth using a fungicide to get rid of the mushrooms that are there. But if you just do this step, it’s likely the mushrooms will just come back. How to get rid of weeds To get rid of weeds from your lawn, you can use selective weedkillers that will just kill the weeds and leave your grass alone. But if you’d rather not use weedkiller, you can get rid of weeds from your lawn manually. For large, deep-rooted weeds like dandelions or plantains, use a trowel to lever them out, ensuring that you get the whole plant including its roots. Then use compost to fill the hole it leaves behind, pushing it deeply into the hole. Sprinkle with fresh grass seed, cover with extra compost and water. Make sure you keep the area damp until the seed has germinated. To prevent moss, mushrooms or weeds from returning, the best things to do are:

• Scarify your lawn in the autumn, and lightly in the spring if necessary
• Seed your lawn in the autumn if you need to
• Try to keep trees trimmed and pruned as much as possible to reduce shade
• Use a pre-emergent weedkiller in the spring to catch them before they grow and handpick any that come through
• Mow your lawn regularly in the spring and summer, being careful not to remove more than a third of grass at a time, then before winter give it one last mow and a fertilisation treatment

Gardens need regular maintenance and without it they can get really out of hand. When you’re thinking about how much gardeners charge, you should bear in mind the state of your garden and whether you need a one-off tidy up or want a regular ‘manicure’ of your garden to keep it looking neat and tidy. Gardeners generally charge in two different ways for their work depending on the job: with an hourly rate or with a fixed price. Generally, gardeners will charge an hourly rate of between £20 - £40 depending on their experience, the job and where you are in the country. They may also charge a minimum call-out charge since a lot of their day will include unpaid travel from job to job. If you don’t need your gardener for a full day, for example if you just need your lawn mowed, then they will probably charge a fixed rate. It’s unlikely to have anything to do with their hourly rate. We’ve found that the average fixed cost of a gardener is around £250 - but this of course includes small jobs like weeding and mowing to larger jobs like pulling out shrubs and replanting, so you may find that your gardener charges more or less than this. Bear in mind that most gardeners will charge a price that doesn’t include waste removal, since lots of people have compost heaps or garden waste bins. So if you need them to take the garden waste away, expect another £100 - £200 on top of your quote.

1. Remove fascias and trims Unscrew or prise off the screws and nails fixing the trims and fascias to your shed.
2. Take off doors and remove windows Unscrew hinges from doors and take them off. Remove all metalwork once the door is off. If you’ve got frames on your windows, unscrew these, and remove the panes. Be extra careful if your windows are made of glass.
3. Take off the roof Prise off the tacks from the roofing felt and take the felt off – you can’t reuse it, so you’ll need to throw it away. Unscrew the screws on the roof boards and slide them off the shed’s frame – you might need a friend to help you do this.
4. Take out the roof brace (optional) If your roof has a brace, unscrew the brackets that hold it to the side of the shed. Remember not to lean on anything once you’ve taken the brace off as the walls might be wobbly.
5. Unscrew the frame from the floor Remove all the screws that are holding the shed to the base, remembering not to lean on the walls.
6. Unscrew the frame corners Starting at the corner of the front gable, remove the screws where the panels meet. Once a panel is free, lift it carefully out of the way so you can carry on with the others.

1. If you’re cutting artificial grass at a fence or wall, fold over the turf so you can see where the backing material meets the edge.
2. Using a very sharp pen knife, cut the backing material into the perimeter, using it to guide the blade.
3. Push the artificial grass back against fence or wall and check that you’ve cut away enough. It’s always best to err on the side of caution and cut less to begin with.
4. When you’re happy, brush the pile to make it look natural.

Most responsible contractors will dispose of the old fencing via an approved commercial waste site. Do check that the cost of taking rubbish away is included in the quotes you receive, otherwise you might find you get stung when it comes to paying for the work.

When your driveway is suffering from depression, it becomes unsafe for driving (a danger zone) and ugly - no homeowner wants that! Unfortunately, most driveways won’t hold flat for long as they tend to develop cracks and potholes pretty quickly. Here, we are going to take you through how to fill asphalt driveways’ depression so as to ensure the sinkholes in your driveway poses no threat to you or your loved ones, while also beautifying your property. The approach to be used depends on the intensity of the depression. If its only a few cracks and holes, this can easily be repaired with some equipment. But if otherwise is the case, then calling a reliable professional will be your best bet. In this article, we’ll show you how to repair dips in your asphalt driveway relatively quickly.

✓ Pick a date with warm and sunny weather. This is because if you work in a cold weather, chances are the materials will freeze and hence, unusable. So find a day when the temperature will over 50 degrees Fahrenheit and below 80 degrees Celsius and when there would be no rain. We’ll advise a day between May to October.

✓ Prepare the area. Remove all loose stones, soil, dirt as well as vegetation from the holes. Once done, you can then proceed to washing the area with a pressure washer or sweep with a broom.

✓ Apply a thin mixture of asphalt to the area. Use a flat stirring stick to coat the low driveway area with a thin mixture of asphalt.

✓ Tamp the asphalt repair mix. Purchase the right kind of asphalt to repair the driveway. Fine aggregate asphalt mixture is more suited to filling small holes, whereas the coarse aggregate is more suited to filling larger holes. Apply layers ( about 2 inches each time) of the asphalt repair mix to the sunken area and use a shovel to give it a smooth finish. Once done, simply make the area smooth and protect it with a piece of plywood. Do not walk or drive on the area for a couple of days.