This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Compacted soil and No Dig method
Kamo
Posts: 41
We are redesigning our garden, the ground was mostly covered in gravel, which has been removed. The soil is heavy clay and has become really compact so I'm digging it all over, but there are lots of trees and shrubs, which I'm keeping, and the ground there is almost impossible to dig as it is so hard and full of roots which I don't want to damage.
I've looked at the no dig method and was thinking of leaving the areas where the tree and shrub roots are un dug and spreading a couple of inches of manure or mushroom compost over the top and leaving the worms to work it all in. Is that likely to work or does it have to be dug over first. I'd like to be able to plant bulbs and flowers near the trees.
Thanks
0
Posts
It will work if you are patient. You can't mulch it and then plant into it next week. Next spring - possibly in the autumn for the bulbs. You might want to start with crocus and cyclamen (shallower planting) and leave tulips for another year or so.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Thanks it's good to know it can work even if I have to wait a year. What would be best to use I did think about mushroom compost but I have some rhododendrons and have since found out I can't use it as it's alkaline.
How thick do you think it needs to be, would 2 inches be enough.
I live on rather acid sand and don't generally use mushroom compost but I wonder if it would help to use some just around the odd more lime loving species.
Some of the scabious I planted just turned up their toes. I do now have some in pots I have carefully limed.
I just need loads of fibre to help the soil, our sand can get compacted quite easily. A cubic mtr bag of composted soil improver would do it.
When I have emptied the bag and a quarter of top soil still in my front garden.
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
Kamo, I would recommend well-rotted farmyard manure. 2 inches is the minimum really and I always put down 3 or 4. It really is worth doing and the benefits to your soil and plants will be more and more evident as time goes by if you do it every year. I started with heavy clay and can now push a fork all the way down in my veg plot with one hand.
Yes the recommended first application treatment is about 4 inches depth. If you want to plant ericaceous plants your best bet is probably composted bark as that usually has no lime. Manure usually has some ammonia content which is alkaline so isn't suitable for some real lime haters. I have generally found azaleas and rhodos are less finicky about it than, say, blueberries though, so manure may be fine, or a mixture of both. Bark is much lighter so easier handling large quantities of it.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”