Can anyone help with ground prep.

Hi There!

I am about to begin the "transformation" of a courtyard (compacted fairly stoney ground) into a garden.

I gather that I will need about 6 inches of decent soil for grass (feel free to correct me if this is incorrect).
Can anyone help me with what I would need for other types of plants?

I was hoping for a kind of woodland theme, with Scottish trees, bulbs ferns etc.

Thanks very much,
Emma

 

It depends on what is under your fairly compacted stony soil. If it is extremely compacted sub soil, then you need to break that up before adding top soil OVER it. Do not mix sub soil and top soil together if you can avoid it. Even if all you intend is grass and 6 inches of soil is adequate for that, if the sub soil does not allow water to rain through then nothing will grow happily. Sorry, but you are in for a bit of hard work. For trees and shrubs etc, you would need a minimum of 12 inches of good soil over your loosened sub soil.
Do you want details on how to proceed?

 

"...It depends on what is under your fairly compacted stony soil. If it is extremely compacted sub soil..."
I suspect that it is. I'll get the guys that are doing the ground prep to break it all up. The local farmer has given me plenty top soil so I should be able to create a decent garden from it.

...Do you want details on how to proceed? ...

Yeah, where do I get them?

Thanks!!!

 

If you are going to get professional help in soil breaking then there is no need for me to go into details. Now if you were armed only with a fork and spade or perhaps a pickaxe, maybe.......
If you are adding topsoil to your courtyard the only thing to take care about is if the final level rises above any damp proof course on surrounding buildings. If the levels are to stay the same, it would be better to remove the sub soil and dig in the stony stuff to help drainage under your new top soil. Hopefully your bulder/workmen/landscapers whichever know what they are doing.

[ 02. November 2005, 04:44 PM: Message edited by: Palustris ]

 

Good luck with it - my last garden had compacted shale about 2 feet down which was a nightmare. The only time I got a decent garden was when (for building works) my entire front garden was carted away to a depth of 6 feet and the builders put back in a deep layer of river rock for drainage(that was about 4 feet deep, the depth being required by building regulations for the works I was having done) then topped it off with good top soil, to which I dug in 5 tonnes of mushroom composet.

[ 02. November 2005, 08:54 PM: Message edited by: ellengray ]

 

Thanks both!

I'm hoping the guys doing the groundworks will be able to suggest what I should do, I have a much better idea of what to expect now though anyway.

 

Hi Em
What plants, trees , bulbs etc do you have in mind for your Scottish theme ? If you are looking for some guidance or suggestions, there is a book titled "Scottish Plants for Scottish Gardens" published by Mercat Press, ISBN 1-87-364489-2. All the best
Rat

 

i love junipers... they come in many guises and are native to scotland... there are loads of conifers to choose from... obviously no scots pine or Lleylandii in your courtyard, if i were you i d tend to go for a central feature with a few special specimins
be carefull planting heathers, don t select very agressive tall types, they soon get out of hand