removing shingle!

hi, just wondered if anyone could give advise on moving shingle? My whole garden is covered in shingle as the previous owner used it as a drive way...... I want to turn it into a green green garden and wondered if this means I would need to remove all shingle and then need fertilizer etc before planting/ laying grass?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated as I am a complete beginner!

 

You certainly would need to dig over the area before planting anything. It will have been compressed by the car wheels etc. It dpeneds on what is under the shingle. If it has been done properly and there is a layer of compacted hoggin below that then you are into major digging. Scrape off some of the shingle and see what is underneath. If soil then all you need to do is remove as much of the shingle as you can. Dig over the soil and add as much organic material as you can lay your hands on.
If this is not possible then turn the area into a gravel garden. We have one and it is as colorful and pleasant to look at as any lawned area.

 

or you could get a neighbour to take it away for nothing........

 

I was just thinking that LG - I'm going to be in need of a load of shingle at some point soon! What a shame I don't live in wheelbarrow distance!

 

I had already thought of offering to remove it, but it is a long wheelbarrow push to us too.

 

wow!!! Maybe it wont be so tricky to get rid of it after all.... shingle seems to be in demand! Thanks for all the tips!

 

If it is hoggin underneath, you could get plenty of good aerobic, and probably anaerobic exercise weilding a pickaxe!! And use what you've broken up to make a lovely rockery!! That's pretty much what we did at one point, except it was a concrete path, and by we, I mean husband!!