CRF Services Ltd

Garden clearance for overgrown and neglected gardens

Garden clearance is the job of taking a garden that has got away from you and stripping it back to something you can see, walk on and plan. CRF Services Ltd clears overgrown domestic gardens around Rochester and Medway, from a single bramble choked border to a whole back garden left untouched for a few years. It is often the first stage before new fencing, a patio or a lawn, and sometimes it is the whole job.

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When a garden needs clearing rather than tidying

A tidy up is a few hours of cutting back, weeding and edging on a garden that is still broadly under control. A clearance starts when you can no longer tell where the beds end and the lawn begins, when brambles or ivy have climbed the fence, or when the garden has become a store for broken furniture, old slabs and garden waste. Houses bought after a long empty spell, rentals between tenants and gardens inherited from elderly relatives are typical examples.

Clearing is also the honest first step before spending money on anything new. Until the ground is visible, nobody can say whether the fence posts are sound, where the old paths ran or how level the plot really is.

What the work involves

Clearance works from the top down and the outside in. Overhanging growth and climbers are cut back first so the boundaries can be seen, then brambles, nettles and self seeded saplings are cut low and their roots dug out where practical. Long grass is strimmed down, beds are cleared of weeds, and any rubbish is gathered and bagged or loaded. The aim is a blank but tidy garden with the ground surface showing.

Cutting back brambles, ivy and overgrown shrubs
Strimming long grass and weeds to ground level
Digging out small stumps and woody roots that can be reached by hand
Removing broken fence panels, old timber and garden rubbish
Taking down a small, empty timber shed or bin store
Raking the ground over so it is ready for the next stage

What is not included

Large trees, work at height with a chainsaw and grinding big stumps are tree surgeon jobs and are not taken on. Japanese knotweed is a controlled plant that needs a specialist, so if you suspect it, say so before anything is cut. Asbestos sheeting, which turns up on old garage roofs and shed walls, must not be broken up and is left for a licensed contractor. Anything doubtful is pointed out at the visit rather than discovered halfway through.

Getting the waste away

Waste is the part of a clearance people underestimate. Green waste bulks up fast, and a full garden can fill several van loads or a skip. Soil, rubble and old slabs are much heavier than they look. How the waste leaves the site is agreed before work starts, whether by van to a licensed tip or by a skip you or CRF arrange, and if a skip has to sit on the road a council permit may be needed. The garden clearance cost guide explains how waste volume and access feed into the price, so it is not repeated here.

After the clearance

Once the garden is clear, the next steps are much easier to decide. Many clearances lead straight into replacing a rotten boundary on the fencing page, laying a small seating area as described on the patios page, or levelling and turfing the open ground. Planning the order now saves paying twice: posts are best replaced while the borders are empty, and paving goes down before new turf so the lawn is not trampled.

If you only want the garden cleared and will take it from there yourself, that is fine too. It will be left raked and safe, with the boundaries visible.

Booking a clearance

Photos from the back door and from the far end of the garden, plus a note of any side or rear access, are enough for a first look. Send them with your postcode through the contact page. Clearance sits within the wider landscaping service, so it can be quoted on its own or alongside whatever comes next.

This work is part of our Landscaping service.

Common questions