Help … I’m useless

[Simonthecatsservant]

I moved to a new build a few years ago and NOTHING seems to grow.

I definitely took my old garden for granted. I used to plant whatever I liked and it grew beautifully.
This house seems to have a clay soil. The front has full sun all morning and the back garden has it all afternoon and evening.

May be worth mentioning that a tree and a small magnolia bush that came from my old house have done very well. Little viola bedding plants do to but that’s it.
Help ! What plants would do “well” I’m desperate. I really miss my old mature garden
Tia

Roses are meant to like clay.

The best advice, though, is probably to get a good source of manure to dig in.

Love roses. In my old garden they grew so so well with great big flowers I miss them 😢

I tried roses in the back but they died a death.

I may sound “stupid” and apologies if this is a stupid question but I’ve added compost to the front and it doesn’t seem to help (maybe not enough?) is manure different ?

Hah I am repeating advice I see on here, tbh, I am on chalk, so totally different ballgame!

I think with clay it's not an overnight win. What grows in nearby gardens?

Hopefully a Clay Victor will come along soon....

We are on heavy clay. A day of heavy rain and we’ve got standing water on the lawn. A dry week and it bakes solid abd cracks.

Our solution was to ‘build up’. Raised beds for every thing, planting mounds for shrubs, basically adding a shit-tonne of topsoil and compost. It’s a slow process but it works.

For the rest, look up Clay-loving Plants section in the RHS website. It’s very useful.

It might take time to improve the soil, so any organic matter you can add to improve soil structure will help. I would put a thick mulch of manure on this autumn and let the worms do the work over winter. You may need to repeat for a few years but it will come good!

Look at nearby gardens.

New build gardens I think quite often need a lot of soil improvement. I garden on clay and put a lot of well rotted manure on over the winter as mulch for the worms to take down. A good 2 to 3 inches of it.

I also use the spent compost from pot plants. And some spent mushroom compost that I got delivered from a nearby mushroom farm.

I put raised beds on the really clay-y bit.

It took about 4 years to get the soil improved to such an extent that stuff that liked clay did well.

Roses do very well, cerinthe, lavender surprisingly, fennel....

Basically keep improving the soil!

We have heavy clay. What does well in ours - meadow rue, ox eye daisies, japanese anemones, verbena bon., alchemilla mollis, snow drops, primroses, cyclamen, bugleherb, yarrow, runner beans, french beans, peas.

Wow didn’t expect so many replies. Thank you all for your advise !!

Mine goes from mud slick too dry and cracked as well.

The neighbours gardens are all a bit blah too tbh. The seasonal bedding plants look nice for a short while but certainly nothing (except in pots) doing well.

I’ll definitely be taking your advice regarding soil and plants ! Thank you 😊

Our garden contained a mix of clay and building rubble  My DH dug some sand and compost into the nee flowerbeds in spring which improved it a little. The following autumn I dumped about 3 or 4 inches of compost on top of the beds and by spring the worms had completely transformed the soil. I still hit odd bits of rubble when I dig but they're much easier to get out and the soil itself is soft.

I bet you are on a thin bit of topsoil then largely builders rubble too. I'd dig down each bed to a foot, remove stones and rubble, then fill back in with topsoil and compost. Do a bed at a time so it isn't overwhelming. I got topsoil from freecycle.

I'd have a chat with your nearest garden nursery/centre. They'll know what grows well locally in which soil types.

New build gardens are notoriously tricky. The soil is probably very compacted from all the heavy machinery used in construction, and as @Rollercoaster1920 says, it's likely to be a layer of thin top soil over builders' rubble.

I'd dig over the lot or pay someone else to do it, get rid of the rubble and add as much compost, rotted manure and top soil as I could.

I agree with all the advice to get your soil in good heart before you plant anything. It's not terribly exciting, and you might miss a season or so of colour - but well worth it in the long run

We rotavated the ground and then raised up, raised beds for all plants. They're flourishing. Last years batch died (pre-raising).

Six inches at least of compost mulch every year for five years and you’ll see a big difference.

My staples are hellebores, astilbe, hardy geraniums. Dogwood, Rubus cockburniensis, witch hazel flor winter interest. I have added shade to cope with.