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Very stoney ground

Dirty HarryDirty Harry Posts: 1,048
in Problem solving
Moved house in December and only discovered the other week when mucking about in the garden that the entire area is a disaster from a soil point of view. Almost every single area including the lawn only allows a fork to go approx. 3 inches deep (this is not an exaggeration) before hitting stones- and fairly large ones at that. 

Can only assume the gits who turned this area into a housing estate 20 years ago filled the gardens with crap. Honestly not sure what I'm going to do. Get the impression it might be clay as well, a proper change from the nice sandy soil of my old place.

There are already a few decent-sized perennials and such like in the ground (somehow?!) but I'm not sure I've got it in me to dig the rest of the borders out to a decent level given we don't plan to be here forever. Has anyone else had this kind of issue before and resigned themselves to nipping their ambitions in the bud?

Wondering if an easy but effective option could be scattering absolutely loads of wildflower seeds to fill the gaps.




Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    I've got an old farm track under my lawn and flower beds. If I'm planting, I lever out as many stones as possible.
  • tlchimeratlchimera Posts: 51
    That's a similar situation to me - when they raised my garden to level it in the past they just chucked every bit of rubbish they had to hand there. I've found a mattock pretty helpful.
  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    There are lots of plants that can do quite well in soil conditions that are not deep fertile loam. Buddleia and Centranthus ruber (red valerian) are examples of plants I have used a good deal because they can do well without much soil. Its also possible to build up your soil with lots of manure and compost and be able to grow more of the less robust plant types as time goes on with methods similar to the no dig cultivation that some gardeners advocate. Here is a video clip that shows some of the plants growing out of the driveway here demonstrating how robust some plants can be. I have preferred to get the plants established before introducing them to the garden even when growing from seed but self seeding of the ones I like that are already growing is something that I encourage as much as I can.

    Happy gardening!
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    John Little is a landscaper that works with green spaces with minimal top soil. He plants into pure builders' sand, crushed sinks, motorway rubble. Very good for promoting biodiversity. Worth investigating.





  • Dirty HarryDirty Harry Posts: 1,048
    Cheers for that will have a look.
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