Gardening newcomer!! Please help!!

mjgreen60

Hi all,

Please be gentle with me, I'm a newcomer!!

We bought our house a year ago, brand new and had a relatively sizeable garden with it, nothing done other than to lay turf and a small patio.

Decided this summer that I should do something with it and so have started relatively simply with just a couple of flower beds. Have so far dug out the turf and then turned over the top layer after that, removing stones, weeds, builders fag butts etc as I went. The soil seems in some places to be fairly heavy, clay like in about half of the bed, guessing this is probably more universal than it at first appears.

Am planning now to remove the top layer that I have turned over so as to give room to add in some compost and then plants followed by barking over the top.

What I want to know, is mostly, any tips/hints for a newbie? Also, how important is it to sort out the clay soil? Have seen about people digging in builders sand to sort this. How much would be needed? The bed is about 20 feet by 2 feet.

Many thanks in advance.

Matt

WestonDave

It depends what you want to grow - many plants are happy enough in clay soil as it is nutrient rich. Roses and fuschias will certainly tolerate clay soil as I had them in the old house in nasty clay, most mini conifers will also be fine. I would start by either choosing some plants online or spending half a day wandering round a garden centre/nursery looking at plants you might want, and seeing what their requirements are. Trying to break clay soil is a big long term job as you can loose a lot of compost/sand into a small area with little obvious effect.

mjgreen60

Thanks for you reply WestonDave.

We have already bought a few trays of bedding plants (petunias, dianthus, geraniums, begonias, dahlias, mesembryanthemums) and plan to space them out with mini conifers.

Any thoughts as to whether these will cope with the soil or not?

Thanks again,

Matt

WestonDave

I think those will be fine - I might be tempted to dig a slightly larger hole than normal and surround each plant in compost (below and around) as yoou plant it, to give it an easier start, but if you've dug it over and broken it up the roots should progress into it fine given a bit of a start.

buggalugs

Hello there I hope you don't mind me mentioning but you need to plant the mysembranths where they will get lots of sun, that way you will enjoy seeing the flowers
Good luck with your garden

mjgreen60

Thanks again Dave, very useful advice.

Have now removed most of the clods that were revealed whilst turning the soil over. This has given about a 2-3 inch deep bed. Should I now add the compost and turn it in, or turn it again and then add the compost?

Thanks very much,

Matt

mjgreen60

Thanks also buggalugs, will make sure they are placed appropriately.

matt

nodwah

If it's a brand new house the soil will be spoil fron the build so you may have a lot of clay subsoil which is very poor.

Use compost and sharp sand or grit rather than builder's sand

Watch about removing a lot as you may just create a pond that doesn't drain!