u/Competitive_Young248

Looking for friends!! Ideally UK based…. Need some support because trading is a lonely journey when everyone around you thinks it’s a joke…

Edit: I was hoping I wouldn’t have to spell it out…

Female only spaces exist because women often have different experiences, safety concerns, communication styles, and social pressures — especially in male-dominated areas like trading. I am not saying “men are bad”. I just want an environment where women can participate without performance pressure, dismissal, flirting, ego contests, or having to constantly prove themselves. Men already dominate most trading spaces by default. Women wanting one dedicated space to connect with peers doesn’t need to be questioned… if it’s not for you just ignore the post please.

Hi everyone! I need advice because I have no clue what I’m doing and have bit off more than I can chew lol … heads-up it’s a long post!

I’m living in a rented property. Never really done any gardening before but I’ve been fed up with the un-even lawn for a while now and it stops us from going out and using the space because it’s uncomfortable to sit and lay on…

Bank holiday prompted us to get started with some gardening. I thought maybe if I dug up clumps of the dandelion it would even things out but it didn’t… and then we got the smart idea (after speaking to chat GPT) to just dig it all up, level it and re-seed… so that’s what I started lol… but boy oh boy I feel like I opened Pandora’s box. I’ve uploaded some progress pics so you can see what I mean.

Now the problems I’m having… At the moment I’ve only managed to level the back part up to where the rake is on the floor in the last pic and that’s from basically removing most of the rubble into black bags that I’m not sure what to do with now haha

The soil is full of rocks, small pebbles like from the sides but then also giant stones and bricks. Then from turning the soil over there is also clumps of grass that’s not breaking down and is bumpy again. There’s no way I can get it all out and then I’d also have the problem of disposing of it all! I don’t think soil and stones can be disposed of in garden waste in our local area so I have no idea what to do with the rubbish it’s creating. Not wanting to spend loads of money because we are only renting and these bricks were here before us.

My parter would like to grow some pretty flowers or some veggies/ berries along the side and at the back. but the ground just looks so uninhabitable I don’t have any faith that things will grow in it… last spring anything we planted in it just died and only weeds grew.

Current plan is to rake the ground, remove big stones and clumps of grass, level it with a plank of wood, put a thin layer of top soil on before trying to sow some grass seeds. I’m thinking of throwing all the rubble to the left side by the fence and trying to build planters on top of it to cover up…

My questions:

Any general advice on how to fix this mess
What to do about all the pebbles and stones- with this prevent grass and flowers from growing?
How to dispose of all the rubble in the UK - any cheap or free options?
How to make the ground more fertile to grown on
How to make the ground as level as possible with minimal tools
What would you do to this garden?

Female traders ?!?!