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What to do with builder's clay dumped on garden

alison.mcgarveyalison.mcgarvey Posts: 1
in Problem solving
We've just moved into a house and discovered that the owner before last allowed a builder friend to dump clay on the lawn. It has been there for several years and there is grass growing on top, but it is extremely uneven and I worry won't be a great environment for planting (not much else apart from grass is currently growing). The area covered is about 36 m2 and about 0.3 m deep. Would anyone have any ideas on how to deal with this? Current thoughts are:
* Try to get rid of it - by my estimate it's more that 10 tonnes. Is there any economical way of getting rid of this?
* Try to even it out and mix in soil/organic matter - this would require a lot of additional soil and seems a shame as the soil underneath is pretty good quality.

Some pictures attached. All the raise area along the centre and the back half of the lawn is clay. I guess the raised beds were put in by the previous owner to avoid dealing with the problem.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

amcg

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Hi @alison.mcgarvey. That's a helluva mess they've left you.  :/
    I'm not sure what the best solution would be, although removing the manky stuff would probably be the best solution.
    It largely depends on what you want to do with the space too. Good quality, carefully sited, raised beds might be the cheaper option, and forget grass altogether. 

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    edited November 2022
    It looks to me as if they planned to gravel or pave it between/around the raised beds but never got around to doing it. 
    Are you planning a complete overhaul? If so maybe the easiest approach would be to dig the clay into the soil with some more organic matter.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I had a similar but much smaller problem along the same lines.
    I had lots of work done to my house and driveway in 2019.
    I'm on heavy Essex clay - both orange and grey clay.
    When the footings were dug out the clay was dumped on one side which I wanted to plant up. Mostly bright orange clay.

    I read the RHS article how to deal with heavy clay and I bought a LOT of composted bark fines from CPA Horticulture and exhaustingly started to dig it into the clay. It was hard work.
    I dug in half (during winter) then left it a few weeks to recover (me - not the soil) then dug in the other half in early spring.
    I was really surprised at how quickly it worked.
    I planted it up with 12 little pittosporum Golf Ball and they are growing very well.

    https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/clay-soils
    People often advise using sand/grit, it doesn't work for heavy clay for the reasons described in the article above.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    In my first house this was a problem.  I did what gardeners call double-diggging.  

    Dig up all the clay and put to one side.  Dig up all the good topsoil you can find/. Bury the clay with the topsoil.  Gardening keeps you fit!
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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