Turning compacted soil into garden

[GrendelsMum]

Hi all

Does anyone know the best way to go about turning a former driveway into an area suitable for gardening?

The soil is very compacted, so will need breaking up, to a depth of 6 inches or so I would think. What's the easiest way to do this?

Thanks!

[LucindaCarlisle]

Get a contractor in with a rotavator.

[GrendelsMum]

I'm not sure that a rotavator will do it - but I think you're right about getting a contractor in.

Has anyone else ever tried to make old farm yard / track into plantable area?

Only me?

Am I being very daft?

[LucindaCarlisle]

Maybe you need to break the ground up with a pick and an Army type spade before you get the rotavator.

Ideally, you should have broken the ground up last October or November and let the Snow, Ice and Frost do the hard work for you.
If the yard or track has had vehicles parked on it, the ground may be slightly contaminated with oil.

[mummytime]

Do check for contamination, maybe remove the surface layer. Break it up. I would also suggest adding manure or other organic matter to help encourage a good soil texture.

[isthatporridgeinyourhair]

One of the problems we had here was "tractor pan" where the top 6 inches is cultivated but below that it was like concrete which means that the drainage is awful. So if it's been used as a track I wonder if you are going to need to go deeper? Frost action works well on clay type soil.

Also unless the soil is loose you won't be able to rotavate straight away as LC says - if you have big (fist sized) lumps of stone/whatever that have been used to form hardcore for the track then you'll need to get rid of those before rotavating.

Then lots of organic matter - we can buy the recycled compost from our tip by the ton which is brilliant as a soil conditioner.

Contractor sounds a lovely idea

[GrendelsMum]

I've just seen photos of how the farm used to look, and it looks like it may have been farm yard and track for 400 years. The soil is packed absolutely solid. I can't see hardcore, but without taking a pickaxe to it, I can't tell.

Looks like we need a contractor in. Oh joy.

I'll get someone in approx November, and leave it to break up in winter, and then start getting the organic material in - at least that's all free from our council!