I've got this old 30 year old bed located on the side of a driveway that I'm wanting to turn into a vibrant perennial garden.
The bed used to be covered with black plastic weed mat and had a layer of bark on top. Garden used to have nandinas and lillypilly shrubs.
My thought process was to dig out roughly 30cm of the old soil down to the clay level and I was going to add a layer of cardboard, then a fresh load of garden mix from ANL, and finally a layer of sugar can mulch on top.
However, I've just stopped halfway as I feel that the existing soil is actually quite nice and maybe I should be leaving it in there. It's a mix of the broken down bark that was sitting atop the weed mat, plus old fine roots. Refer to barrow pic.
What are people's thoughts? Should I just replace everything and start anew, seeing how old the bed was? OR maybe just spread this existing soil throughout, ignore the cardboard layer and just add a small layer of new soil followed by sugar cane mulch on top?
My only issue is that I've only got 30cm above clay layer to play with before soil overflows onto the driveway.
Thanks
by jaymicafella
10 Comments
https://preview.redd.it/7ay1zlcflled1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=801347eac95f01b1b87d1baa8a8f960b4c39dcb1
Pic of the bed for context
I’m just learning but maybe use a pH soil kit to test
Hey mate, most landscapers I’ve worked for will pull out the top 150-250mm and then turn through new garden loam in the bottom stuff. Measure your bed and work out the cubic cm you need and head to a landscape yard with a trailer or get them to dump it on your driveway and barrow it around.
Hack at the roots you need to.
Soil should be fine, but I would turn through some new organic loam with this old stuff with a pick. Saves dead plants later on 🙏
If you have the luxury of time on your hands, that looks like it might be an ideal candidate for some dig-in fertiliser.
Buy a few bags to mix it into the soil, sugar cane mulch and then leave it for 6 months.
If not, mixing some quality compost/manure might restore a bit of life to that soil – you’re right though, it looks like quite a nice soil and definitely wouldnt make sense to get rid of.
(My advice is based off my own experience, which admittedly is still very beginner)
I’d put a thick mulch on top – something that will break down and enrich the soil. I’ve done that with fresh tree chippings on top of rock-hard clay and ended up with lovely soil a year later.
I think it looks good – much better than what we started with here. I’d just add some fresh compost, maybe some sheep manure or seaweed if you’re near the sea, and top up with mulch.
Nice soil, add some poo n compost bags & you’re good to go again. Soil is mostly a huge number of microorganisms, organic matters, plus the different kinds of rocks it was formed from, clay has heaps of nutrients eg sand doesn’t (I’m on sand & have started adding a clay powder), I always have a bucket of “ rock dust“ for adding minerals back in too
I tend to recommend soil improvement rather than replacement.
If you’ve dug some soil out you may need to add more soil back to level, but I would be mixing old soil with new and compost, manure and something like blood and bone as a fertiliser.
I would sieve out as many of the roots and larger bark chips as you can though.
I like it when people talk dirty. What a sub.
It looks alright as a base but could definitely benefit from a little boost. When i started with my garden the ‘soil’ was literally just landscaping sand and twigs, this looks far easier to transform and get back into shape.
I personally would be more inclined to work in a combo of compost/manure in the soil over solely using garden mix, this would benefit the soil microbes better IMO. Applying seasol once a month or so is a great way to improve soil over time. I like the idea of sugar cane mulch too, and also if you’re concerned about overspill you can always prop some garden edging up for a little extra growing room.