Skinner here

I should really take the time to introduce myself instead of just charging in seeking answers... but can I say thank you to those good folks who offered advice to the questions I submitted earlier.

I'm currently making an effort to revitalize our garden after neglecting it over the past couple of years. Despite being a fairly small garden ( approx. 20M X 30M ) it is proving to be something of a gargantuan task, but with the help of the Messrs Vitax the brambles are succumbing ( though the blackberry pies, which were especially good last year, will be sorely missed ).

This is my third garden, and having inherited reasonably good soil in the past in both West London and in Norfolk, I got a bit of a shock when it came to contending with the heavy clay here at the foot of the North Downs.
Nine 9 years ago I hired a digger took up the lawn that covered most of the garden and removed a little over 40 tonnes of clay. Put in some brick paved areas and back filled with 12 tonnes of topsoil and 12 tonnes of spent mushroom compost ( but it doesn't seem to have made a blind bit of difference, the infill just seemed to get swallowed up and whenever I do any digging the stuff still sticks to my spade like glue ).
There have however been moments of real triumph and I'm keen to get it back to how it was looking a few years ago, before I contracted a case of the manana's.

It's nice to have found a UK forum where like minded people are willing to freely share advice and ideas. I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot here.

 

Hello there and Welcome.

 

Welcome to GC skinner, I am on heavy clay too.

 

Welcome Skinner,

One of my plots is on clay so I can sympathise:DOH:

Raised beds might be the way forward. However, London clay is very fertile, have you noticed the smell when you cut into it ? Its full of nutrients that have been locked there for the past 30 thousand years or more. If you can get over the stickyness with lots of wood chip then it does give a good crop.

 

Good evening Skinner and welcome to the site.