Digging the pond is now well underway, somewhat slowed by the glorious British weather trying to fill it up before I even get the liner installed.
Aiming for a 1ft deep shelf all around (about 18 inches wide) then sloping down to 2.5ft in the middle. It should end up being 3.5m long and about 2.5m wide.
I was a little surprised at how many bricks and other bits of rubble were hiding under the lawn. Hopefully I have dug out most of them in this area.
Makes me wonder what else I'm going to discover when I dig over the rest of the garden.
@Colin-Jackson My previous garden was heavy red clay and like you bricks were made nearby in the past. I enjoyed this garden for over thirty years but a pan of clay that in places was 8 inches below the surface and 2 feet thick in places made garden really difficult. Shrubs would seem happy at first they would hit the pan of clay and then need constant hand watering to survive.
Over the years I accepted that I was limited with what I could grow, stopped craving those plants that wouldn't grow and settled for repeats of the ones that did. It took many years to create a lovely garden and I do feel that was what I eventually achieved.
I now have a new build and a new garden. I have brought some plants that have been lifted and split from my old garden and I have three evergreens as gifts. I have no firm plans regarding plants, experience has told me not to to do so until I am happy with the soil. I have dug a nursery bed and broken through the pan,still clay but already manure has been added. Caring for the soil at the start is one of the best ways of achieving a lovely garden. Something I have learnt the hard way. Last winter was difficult with Ceonothus, Cordylines, hebes and Phormiums getting hit hard. I will take time and add to my planting when the time is hopefully right.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Always interesting when you start digging eh @Colin-Jackson! Good for the muscles if nothing else when you get boulders and brick and lumps of concrete to hoik out I got half of a concrete kerb in this garden when I started digging. Loads of other stuff too. Unfortunately - no treasure chests
All part of the fun - and it'll be worth it when you have your pond. You'll forget all the aching muscles then.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The dark evenings and torrential rain have made progress painfully slow, but things are finally starting to happen in the garden.
The patio is finally complete (2nd attempt, the first company decided to slope it back towards the house).
A brand new fence has also been installed and is ready for some climbers (I ordered a load of wire anchors from Rivelinglen after seeing that other people on the forum found them useful).
The pond has been dug out to about 50cm deep, should end up about 70cm by the time the bottom has been flattened out. Currently I have gentle slopes around all the edges (mainly because large stones in Milton Keynes are insanely expensive and all the local quarries are limestone).
I have ordered a few trees from MailOrderTrees, all should be 6-8ft: Common Alder, Silver Birch, Crimson Cloud Hawthorn, Sheerwater Seedling Rowan. Hoping they will arrive in the next couple of weeks.
In preparation, I decided to go and dig some holes ready for their arrival. All the holes are 2x2ft and about 18 inches deep. The next day I found this:
I have a serious drainage problem at the bottom end of the garden, shouldn't upset the Alder, less certain about the other trees. Will mix loads of compost into the area around these holes (and dig them deeper) to try and solve this issue.
For the rest of the garden I have ordered 6 bulk bags of green compost. There is no way I am going to be able to dig it in right now, the ground could be used to make pottery. Hopefully 3200 liters of compost will be enough for a 4 inch mulch over the entire area. It's going to take years to sort out the soil, but hopefully this will be enough for me to start some bare-root roses in February and then look at getting something into the rest of the beds in April.
Really looking forward to just having to mulch each year. Digging solid clay has come fairly close to breaking me.
Well done for getting that far. It's looking good and the new fence looks sturdy.
We have heavy clay though nowhere near as bad as yours and I have found a stainless steel spade to be far easier to dig with. Your tree holes would be better as you say made larger and perhaps a bit deeper, depending on the size of the pots the new ones will arrive with. To get the new trees in the right position, as viewed from the house as that is where they will be viewed from most often, take a large cane and insert it where you think the tree ought to be, then check the position from inside the house. That way you can check if the trees will block any overlooking windows if that is a concern to you.
Think of bad weather and lots of rain as giving you more thinking/planning time!
I've been planting trees, shrubs, roses etc for over 50 years and I've found that the method in the video from @Colin-Jackson works best, especially with clay soil. It helps the young roots to grow and establish and after that the tree is then strong enough to send roots out into the less hospitable soil.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Posts
Aiming for a 1ft deep shelf all around (about 18 inches wide) then sloping down to 2.5ft in the middle. It should end up being 3.5m long and about 2.5m wide.
I was a little surprised at how many bricks and other bits of rubble were hiding under the lawn. Hopefully I have dug out most of them in this area.
Makes me wonder what else I'm going to discover when I dig over the rest of the garden.
Shrubs would seem happy at first they would hit the pan of clay and then need constant hand watering to survive.
Over the years I accepted that I was limited with what I could grow, stopped craving those plants that wouldn't grow and settled for repeats of the ones that did.
It took many years to create a lovely garden and I do feel that was what I eventually achieved.
I now have a new build and a new garden. I have brought some plants that have been lifted and split from my old garden and I have three evergreens as gifts.
I have no firm plans regarding plants, experience has told me not to to do so until I am happy with the soil. I have dug a nursery bed and broken through the pan,still clay but already manure has been added.
Caring for the soil at the start is one of the best ways of achieving a lovely garden. Something I have learnt the hard way. Last winter was difficult with Ceonothus, Cordylines, hebes and Phormiums getting hit hard. I will take time and add to my planting when the time is hopefully right.
Good for the muscles if nothing else when you get boulders and brick and lumps of concrete to hoik out
I got half of a concrete kerb in this garden when I started digging. Loads of other stuff too. Unfortunately - no treasure chests
All part of the fun - and it'll be worth it when you have your pond. You'll forget all the aching muscles then.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The patio is finally complete (2nd attempt, the first company decided to slope it back towards the house).
A brand new fence has also been installed and is ready for some climbers (I ordered a load of wire anchors from Rivelinglen after seeing that other people on the forum found them useful).
The pond has been dug out to about 50cm deep, should end up about 70cm by the time the bottom has been flattened out. Currently I have gentle slopes around all the edges (mainly because large stones in Milton Keynes are insanely expensive and all the local quarries are limestone).
I have ordered a few trees from MailOrderTrees, all should be 6-8ft: Common Alder, Silver Birch, Crimson Cloud Hawthorn, Sheerwater Seedling Rowan. Hoping they will arrive in the next couple of weeks.
In preparation, I decided to go and dig some holes ready for their arrival. All the holes are 2x2ft and about 18 inches deep. The next day I found this:
I have a serious drainage problem at the bottom end of the garden, shouldn't upset the Alder, less certain about the other trees. Will mix loads of compost into the area around these holes (and dig them deeper) to try and solve this issue.
For the rest of the garden I have ordered 6 bulk bags of green compost. There is no way I am going to be able to dig it in right now, the ground could be used to make pottery. Hopefully 3200 liters of compost will be enough for a 4 inch mulch over the entire area. It's going to take years to sort out the soil, but hopefully this will be enough for me to start some bare-root roses in February and then look at getting something into the rest of the beds in April.
Really looking forward to just having to mulch each year.
Digging solid clay has come fairly close to breaking me.
We have heavy clay though nowhere near as bad as yours and I have found a stainless steel spade to be far easier to dig with. Your tree holes would be better as you say made larger and perhaps a bit deeper, depending on the size of the pots the new ones will arrive with. To get the new trees in the right position, as viewed from the house as that is where they will be viewed from most often, take a large cane and insert it where you think the tree ought to be, then check the position from inside the house. That way you can check if the trees will block any overlooking windows if that is a concern to you.
Think of bad weather and lots of rain as giving you more thinking/planning time!
Seems to be the complete opposite of what RootsPlants.co.uk recommend.
https://youtu.be/-k6j8lqQgTk?si=DXPnRVW6e5moW42i