turning soil over advice

hi there,
in my garden i had white pebbles down the sides of the lawn.
they were placed there by my auntie who lived here before us due to her getting a bit older and making the garden more manageable.
any way i said from the start i wanted to remove them as they get every were and i want flowers in my boarders as she originally did so i think she would be proud, looking at older photos she had lovely boarders full of blooming flowers.
any way to the point, i don't know how long the pebbles have been down for but once i removed them all (which nearly killed is) the soil i was left with was extremely compact.
i turned it over with a fork but did not break it all up as finely as i could hoping that once a bit air gets to it and it dries out a bit more it will be easier to break down, am i right ????
but obviously this work is preparation for next year so my other question is should i just turn the soil over and rake it as finely as i can and add top soil next year or add top soil now and leave it for next year. your comments are welcome i thank you in advance

 

Hi

Good work already , I normaly would leave this to the autumn , but good on you .

I would make a trench one end a spade width and depth put that to one side .

Brake up the bottom with a fork , put a good layer of horse muck if you can get it then dig out the next part and replace into the original trench on top of the horse muck then do that all along and then finaly the original soil put in the final trench .Then leave over winter and than a good raking over in the spring and all ready to plant up.

And that will work wonders and you dont have to do it all at once either


Spruce

ps hard work but it will pay off over years

 

Sounds too much like work Spruce, although it is the text book answer for virgin soil
I would probably leave this to over winter and break up, then I would hire a rotavater, add some good garden compost, maybe a bag or two of farmyard manure or chicken pellets (the manure is generally good stuff), rotavate well, rake over, and plant out.
Just a personal opinion

 

I'm with Spruce on this - a little bit of hard work never hurt anyone. :D

With an empty bed, you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve the soil. And I would be inclined to dig as deep as you can and dig in as much manure and other organic matter as you can. Don't worry about breaking up the lumps. As Whis4ey say the frost will do that over the winter. What you want to do is to encourage lots of worms, because they will do the digging for you on an ongoing basis.

 

hehehe
You guys are obviously a lot younger and fitter than me
If I tried that there would be no more years left for me to benefit
Nah ..... I stick to my guns on this one

 

Forget double digging, that is only done by people who read old gardening books.:D:D:D. If you`ve turned over the top 8" that will do. When the soil is dryish and crumbly walk over it, when you`ve walked all over it and broken it down to fine lumps, take a rake to it. Keep raking until you have a fine tilth and the soil is level. Then start planting.

 

Mefinks Dai is my bestest fren
I am definitely on his side LOL

 

Agree with Dia double digging is old hat as long as you have a full spit depth thats all you need .