How to move garden bed away from wall?

[BigBuilder]

We've recently moved into a home where the garden bed has been built right up against the wall, meaning dirt is sitting directly against the brick possibly damaging it. What is the best way to fix this? Should we dig out the dirt and add a backing to the garden bed? (This could be complex as the decking would need to adjusted and the soil is solid clay). Or should we cut out loss and remove the whole thing and come up with a different solution? 

PS ignore the bamboo, another little gift from the previous owner 😆

 

  

[JacobZ]

Hi @BigBuilder,

Thank you for your question about moving your garden bed.

I have a few questions I'd like to ask before I provide guidance on what I think is best.

Can you take a photo showing where the garden bed sits in relation to the concrete foundation of the house?

Can you see any damp course material in the horizontal mortar lines of your house? It would usually appear around 1-2 courses of brick above the foundation. You're looking for a thin aluminium or plastic material running along one of the horizontal mortar beds.

Are there any visible weep holes in the brick around your house? There will be gaps in the vertical mortar joins that are fairly low to the ground. If you can find them, count how many courses up from the foundation they are.

If these things are covered, then your garden will likely cause issues if it stays there, and I'd suggest removing it and starting again.

If the garden bed doesn't block weepholes or touch bricks above the damp course, then it may be fine. It all depends on where the top of the soil sits in relation to these important things.

If you can do some investigation and let me know what you find, I'm happy to assist further and make recommendations.

Jacob

[BigBuilder]

Hi Jacob,

We've dug down to see where the foundation is, the dirt covers around 6 rows of bricks before it hits the concrete foundation, meaning dirt is most likely above the damp course.

(the concrete base is about level with the bottom sleeper of the retaining wall.)

I cannot see any visible weep holes at all in any part of the house (it's a late 70s home, doesn't mean they're not there I just can't spot them).

It looks like it may be best to add a backing to the garden bed and protect the wall? Not sure how this works with drainage though.