Yes - it looks like clay - it tends to crack like that. Great soil if you can open it up a bit, and gravel and muck is the way to do it.
Many years ago (when I was married) we used to garden on a very sandy soil and my father-in-law on clay. Every time we visited we'd transport a few bags of one lot of soil to the other's garden. Made not a blind bit of difference.
Thanks for all your help with this. I’m a complete novice, but really enjoying it.
Hopefully someone can answer this question today as it could determine my weekend. I think I am confused whether it’s best to rotavate the current Earth (as in my pictures) or to get the stones down with the manure and then rotavate?
I’m sure I will have plenty more questions going forward, so I really appreciate any help.
Posts
Meh, it looks like it's clay. I did the roll into a ball test too and it failed. So I will get some pea shingle and manure then rotavate.
Can I just check, do I need to do anything to the ground before I do that (other than get it level)?
Thanks again!
Yes - it looks like clay - it tends to crack like that. Great soil if you can open it up a bit, and gravel and muck is the way to do it.
Many years ago (when I was married) we used to garden on a very sandy soil and my father-in-law on clay. Every time we visited we'd transport a few bags of one lot of soil to the other's garden. Made not a blind bit of difference.
Thanks for all your help with this. I’m a complete novice, but really enjoying it.
Hopefully someone can answer this question today as it could determine my weekend. I think I am confused whether it’s best to rotavate the current Earth (as in my pictures) or to get the stones down with the manure and then rotavate?
I’m sure I will have plenty more questions going forward, so I really appreciate any help.
Thanks again
Nick
Get a 1000 litre bag delivered and work it into the top 12 inches of soil with a Rotavator.
The worms will do the rest.
Darren, thanks for your reply. The problem is, I'll need to put some pea shingle down as the current ground is very clay(y).
But compost on my heavy clay does the job.
Its miraculous stuff
So you would compost and top soil it together with a Rotavator and then lay the turf on it? Meaning you wouldn't put down stones or manure?
Thanks