Stony and clay soil - what to do...will it be OK?

I've recently dug over a border that was gravel before but the soil contains quite a lot of 1-3" stones that I think may have been a base for the patio in the past or something (though they are rounded stones) in the stoniest area I guess there may be 30-50% stone/soil by volume from maybe 6" deep to as deep as my spade blade. (or deeper?)

Will plants frow OK in this? Specifically a broom I would like to get to 12-15 feet would be planted in this area.

Also after the last couple days rain the soil appeared more like clay which it did not before and I'm wondering if I need to do something to improve drainage - again the broom says well drained soil...... I don't know if water pools there since it was gravel before... I have added 3x70L bags of multi-purpose compost to the soil in the hope this will help the plants grow well but this was not done to address the drainage/clay since before it rained it looked just like normal soil (not clay)

One more problem is further along the border I hit what I think is an old garage foundation so there is several feet of border where I can only dig to 6" before I hit concrete - will plants grow OK in this or does it need breaking up - a difficult job since it's only for the width of the border so it's harder to get at and also I suspect it's structural concrete :(

I have quite a few plants that i was going to plant in this area in the next few days but I want to make sure they will not struggle/die when I plant them as well... so what do I do - I guess some photo's would be useful but I can't find out how to post them from my PC without setting up photobucket which seems like a pain and I've got a million things to do....

 

Ouch (talking both of photobucket and the concrete problem)!

I have the smae "layer of gravel" problem in my new garden in some places, and old graveled parking place being under a part of the lawn. All that I could do was to dig my way through as much of the gravel as I could reach with a digging fork (could not get the spade throuh), remove all the larger stones, and then top it with LOTS of old, very old, manure and garden compost. The plants are doing fine now, but since the good soil is somewhat shallow I am planting only erbaceous plants there.
As for the part over solid concrete, the most realistic approach is probably to build a raised bed on top of it,,and you mays still plant some smallish shrubs.

 

What do you mean by a raised bed? just more soild on top of the existing stuff?

I've already planted some plants further down the border so it woudl look odd - probably easier to start busting the concrete...

 

If you manage to get rid of the concrete entirely so much the better!

A raised bed is a bed bordered by a low wall, of stones or whatever material you can get your hands on, filled with good soil. You can get a depth of decent soil over a difficult spot, enough for erbaceous plants and small shrubs to thrive.

But as I said, if you can get to the root of the problem and get rid of the concrete, you are then free to do what you like, much better. It all depends on the means to your disposal really. I could not demolish concrete by myself, so I wd make a raised bed, but if you can... :-)

 

I have a similar problem - garden full of rubble from an old house that used to stand here, and heavy clay deposits. For our carrot bed, we had to dig it out, sieve the soil back in to get rid of rubble and big lumps of clay, them blend it with soil improving compost and a bit of sand to improve drainage. A lot of work for a few carrots! But hopefully, worth it. We're doing it for all of our veg beds, and haven't contemplated doing anything with the rest of the garden yet - everythin else is in pots and planters.

 

I have similar problems in my new garden and I'm basically doing what Ivory has suggested. It'll take me several seasons of hard work to get to the point where I can dig with a spade - at the moment, it's all pick axe and fork work! A simple sieve is useful for getting the bigger stones out quickly. Every week, I take at least 3 sackfuls of big stones to the tip.

 

break the concrete, youll only regret it otherwise, hire a hydraulic breaker and get shot of it all.

 

That'd be great but I found out yesterday it's a sewer manhole cover so maybe I should leave it alone...

 

Will the stones be bad for the plants? (would it be better if I removed them all?)

Should I mix some sand in with the soil? I can dig the soil fine though it gets difficult near the stones but I can still do it.

 

Essex is notouriose for clay,and boy is there a lot of it men8ifr.The only way that I got over it was to put raised beds in,its hard work but its worth it believe me.