Brand New Garden!

Kristen- thank you so much for the detailed advice! I really appreciate you taking the time to explain everything that needs to be done. I am both awestruck and petrified in equal measure... I might actually have nightmares about soil!!

Will have a long chat with the husband about what to do... there's no way we can fit a JCB in there (we live in a London terraced house) so will need to scaled down version of this and hope for the best.

Wish me luck!

 

... but you gotta start somewhere

Gardening is full of learning by mistakes. Only snag is that mistakes cost time (moving a plant to a better spot) which is annoying, or money (plant turf, it doesn't grow, have to do it again) which is far more painful, so where significant money is needing to be spent on hard landscaping and so on it is best to make sure you have best-foot-forwards.

Not surprised you can't get a mechanical digger in (and anything tiny won't be Butch enough to dig compacted clay). Dunno how feasible hand digging is?, but combined with watering sprinkler to soften then soil and then a good strong fork to dig, well actually it just needs loosening, the soil THEN you will easily get a mechanical cultivator through it. Its hot work in Summer though ... hopefully your husband is built like Arnie or would be happy to pay a local youth some pin money to do the job?

 

I think its ok actually... I had a little poke around last night and I can easily get a fork in there without softening the soil (I'm 5 ft 3 and not built like Arnie!). I gave the garden a good soaking last night (will give it another one tonight) and we're planning to hand dig it over this weekend. There will be 3 of us with our own forks and spades and its a small garden- so hoping it won't take too long. We'll start with the borders and if they go ok we'll then do the whole lawn area.

Ummmm stupid question... but how do you hand dig? Stick a fork or spade in there, chop up the big bits and then rake over? 6-9 inches deep or so? Mother in Law is coming up with some horse manure for us and we'll use her car to get some more top soil. I'm thinking we should get some 'sandy loam', otherwise we'll need to get some sand to add to normal top soil as you've previously suggested.

We won't seed or turf it for another week at least- I hear its good to let the soil rest (is that right?). I do agree with your points regarding excessive water use and environmental damage but I don't think I will win the argument to wait until Autumn. Think I'll get a couple of weeks at best which might give us a chance for slightly wetter/cooler weather (this heat wave can't last all summer?).

Should we firm and level the soil straight after digging or leave the dug up soil for a few weeks, and then firm and level just before turfing?

Thanks again for your help so far!

 

By the book:

Single digging

Dig a trench (one spade width) across the width of the plot and barrow the soil to the far end.

Dig the next "bit" (again,one spade wide) and "turn" it into the trench you just made. You are, at the same time, making the second/next trench. Keep going and when you get to the far end put the soil you barrowed there into the final trench.

Double digging:

This means digging two "spits (a spade's depth) deep, but without mixing the top (topsoil) spit with the lower (subsoil) spit. This provides maximum cultivated depth, and root run, for the plants, and ensures that if you have a "hard pan" you will have encountered that and broken it up. Unless your house was built on an agricultural field in the last 20 or 30 years I doubt you have that problem.

Dig a trench (TWO spades width) across the width of the plot and barrow the TOPSOIL to the far end.

Dig another trench, in the bottom of the one you just made, and in line with / below the FIRST trench, ONE spades width. Barrow that SUBSOIL to the far end - keep it separate from the topsoil.

You now have a staircase - trench 1 is two spits deep, trench 2 is one spit deep.

Dig the second trench SUBSOIL into the first double-deep trench. (Trench 1 now one spit deep, trench 2 is two spits deep)

Dig the third trench TOPSOIL onto the top of the (now dug) FIRST trench subsoil

Dig the third trench SUBSOIL into the double-deep SECOND trench

Repeat.

You should also loosen the soil in the 3rd split when the 2nd spit trench is made

Combination / Cheat Double Digging:

As per the single digging method, but when you have opened up each trench use a fork to loosen, or turn if you are up to it!, the sub-soil in-situ.


Whilst digging incorporate organic matter. Probably good enough to chuck it in as a layer below the first spit. So where you have a trench open for the topsoil spit (and after you have double dug the bit below, or just loosened it) put a layer of, say, manure in 2"-ish thick. more is fine, if you have it available, but try not to only apply less; this digging, of a lawn, is a one-time-deal

I wouldn't bother double digging for a lawn unless you find you have a pan (you can dig a hole 2 spits deep in a couple of places to test for that).

However I definitely WOULD double dig the flower beds. Autumn will probably be time enough for that though.

So my suggestion would be:

Single dig the lawn area, loosen the 2nd spit if you can (time & energy available), it will definitely help with drainage and getting the lawn established).

Just rough dig it: Turn each spade full over, into the adjacent, "open" trench. If the lumps are the whole size of a spadeful, and don't break up at all/much, then cut them into slightly smaller pieces with the blade of the spade. (You may well find it easier to dig clay with a fork than a spade). What you are not trying to achieve is to break up the lumps / clods as you go.

Then rotavate it - give it a few days to dry first. That will give you nice small pieces. Do not rotavate after recent rain / if soil it wet - that will do more harm than good.

Personally I would still use a cultivator rather than a rotavator (you can get either at your local hire shop). You can set the forward speed on the drive-wheels of a cultivator to "slow" and with the tines spinning fast it will bust everything up well.

If you just dig it, even if you break up every spadeful carefully, clay will set solid into clods and (at this time of year) you will have a job getting it to a "seed bed" - i.e. fine enough to firm down and grade it level, hence my suggestion to rotavate it to get it more workable. If you don't want to hire a cultivator then try treading it firm, as described earlier, and if it "won't" (still got big clods) then water it and leave for 24, maybe 48, hours and try treading it again. If it sticks to your boots stop immediately and wait longer. If you catch it just right the clods will miraculously break and crumble under foot

Well ... it needs to settle BEFORE you lay the turf, otherwise it will settle afterwards and you'll have to cure the humps and hollows next year but treading it down as I have description should be fine. A rest after treading down, and then doing the "drag something over it to make it level" again would be prudent, if time permits.

Doesn't have to be that hot to stress new turf. Once you get to intermittent watering it should be sufficient to do twice a week in "summer" but three times a week, or more, in "drought/heat-wave". You do need to wean the lawn off the water you are providing, bit-by-bit, but until its roots have got down into the soil below it cannot get water by itself, hence the initial frequent watering. What you need to do is to soak the turf so much that the water goes through and into the soil below. Then the sun dries out the top of the turf, but the soil is moist below, so the roots grow down searching for that water. Hence water heavily, but less frequently, rather than just sprinkling a little on (it will still be dry below, so roots won't grow down, and then when the sun comes out the surface will dry and the turf will be stressed)

 

Great- I will do as you've suggested. Just searched for a cultivator at HSS and it came up with quite a big piece of machinery which we may struggle to get through the house and into the garden:


But the search also came up with this 'Light Duty Tiller' - will this work? Looks much more manageable. Otherwise we'll try your treading idea!

 

1st one is a Cultivator, 2nd one is a Rotavator. (The definitions are open to interpretion, so don't rely on those words!). On the first type the engine drives both the wheels and the tines. The second one the engine just drives the tines. It will work but not as effectively. I think it would be better to use any type of rotavator/cultivator than "by hand" given that you are in a hurry and your soil is going to be pretty lumpy in the sun at this time of year.

You will need a rake to help you level the ground. You need one with fixed tines (not spring tines)


Fixed tine rake



Spring tine rake

 

Hi everyone I thought I should share pictures of our garden from last year- 1 year on after I started this thread.







This is how it looked the year before:



Looks good right??!!

Although I think I was too eager with planting and think I need to move some young trees/shrubs I planted last year.

Thanks again for all your wisdom so far. Think I'll be posting a few more queries on here soon :-)


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That's a great transformation Claypit, you can be proud of what you have achieved.

 

@claypit what a fabulous job you've made of the garden . I hope this year you will be having lots of time relaxing in your garden & admiring it