Improving the soil for new garden - what do I buy?

[bigbeautifulmonster]

We're making a new garden.

Looking to bulk buy compost/soil improver (not quite sure which would be best)... husband has just cleared an area under mature trees (sycamore, large cherry, there used to be a large ash but it died) so I suspect quite a few roots to work around though it's not as dry as I was expecting (how does one assess 'dryness' of soil?).

Recommendations for which company to use?

Do I order topsoil? Soil improver? Compost? Mulch?

How much do I need?

Hoping(!) to grow things like ferns, bulbs, roses, peonies, a yew hedge, shrubs throughout. Want to get the soil right as I want things to thrive as much as poss.

If you have a mature trees the soil is likely to be very dry under them, and for some distance as they will be taking all the moisture. My personal inclination would be to get rid of the sycamore, which is an ugly non native tree with no redeeming features that produces hundreds of seeds annually that will drive you and your neighbours to distraction, and will produce thick shade where little will grow. ( rant over!) I would also reduce the cherry tree canopy to minimise its effect. You will need a tree person to do this for you.

for future use I would start a compost heap so you get into the habit of saving garden and uncooked kitchen waste, it will take a while before you have compost you can use ,but hey, the sooner you start! I would also see if you have a local stables where you can get horse manure from, most are happy to give it away, but again you can’t use it straight away, it needs to rot down for about a year before you put it near plants. Improving neglected soil takes a long time, but is worth it in the end.

if you can afford it then good topsoil and commercial soil improvers are great to start your soil off, dig over your existing soil first and remove as many weeds and roots as you can, it’s a good time to do it now before seeds are produced, there is an old gardeners saying “ one years seeds is seven years weeds” and it’s true.

I would also rethink the yew hedge, yew is very poisonous so not a good idea if you have young children around, what about a hedge of mixed native British species like beech, hazel, rowan, crab, Holly, ash, great for wildlife and seasonal changes of leaf/ flower/fruit.

to find out what grows well in your area look out for open gardens locally, google Yellow Book Open Gardens and see what is open near you. They will be mostly ordinary gardens where you can pick up advice, plants and often home made cake.

If your soil is crap you will need to mulch every year for a few years to get the soil quality up and then you can drop to every other year. There is a gardeners world episode where Monty talks about mulching (episode 2 current series) you need a good depth of mulch or is isnt worth doing. I aim for 5cm deep. If you can't afford to do all the beds just do half this year and half the year after. You can use spent mushroom compost or normal compost (more expensive) or even just bark chips. It depends a bit on what your soil is like and why you are mulching. I am on compacted clay so I am putting down cardboard to prevent weeds and then mulching with leaf mould from our garden to improve the amount of organic matter in the soil and to keep the moisture in.

How much do I need?
Dunno but the answer is "more than you would think".
The Rolawn website says "As a general rule, a tonne of a standard topsoil equals approximately 0.67m^3". If you are spreading to a depth of 4" (10 cm or 0.1m) then one bag will give you 2.5m x 2.5m (8' x 8'). There's another calculator here for compost, not soil. As you can see, the volumes required quickly mount up.

As PP have said, it's best to do a small area well than to do a large area inadequately.
Whatever you do, you are going to need time and/or money.

Get rid of the sycamore, if you can afford it get the sycamore and ash stumps ground out.

You should be able to find where your local garden waste ends up then order lots! Dig the ground over and lay down a thick mulch 50mm to 100mm deep.

www.thisiseco.co.uk/product/eco-mix/

Ring around your local stables, some near me keep manure in huge pens as they know gardeners don’t want it until it’s well rotted, and then give it away free for anyone that will collect. You’ll need way more of it than you’d think! I’ve got pretty poor quality soil and a small garden, and I reckon I’ve added at least 10 black bins worth this year alone. Spend a bit of time taking any stones out before you add anything and then you can literally just dump the manure on top and let the worms do the hard work! As my soil isn’t great I top mine up with another layer of manure each year.

Thank you all. Really great advice.

I've already got two compost bins underway... some has already composted but sadly not nearly enough for what I need.

Sycamore tree- yeah I'm not really in love with this tree but hubby isn't fussed so I don't know if I can convince him that we should spend £££ getting someone in to cut it down. The seedlings do drive me nuts though.

@Geneticsbunny come to think of it, a local public garden nearby uses mushroom compost so I'm inclined to assume that if it's good enough for them it's good enough for me! I've just done a quick Google and found a company called Mr Muck. I did wonder about mushroom compost but have never used it so wasn't sure.

@Daftasabroom I had a look at the eco site you mentioned and it does look good. Leat free too so ✅. (Is mushroom compost peat free?). Also what do you mean by order lots? Garden waste compost type thing? Wouldn't that be full of weed seeds etc?

Thank you all so much. I'm off to give my hubby a glass of wine to see if I can win him over about the dreaded sycamore!

Eco-compost, as they were, are family acquaintances, we got (literally) a lorry load years back when they were fairly young. I've just checked the website - blimey they've done okay, good luck to them!

IIRC mushroom compost tends to be a mixture of cow manure and straw, a couple of bags in with the green conditioner will give a year or two free mushrooms.

As @Wildwood6 says let the worms do the hard work! I was blown away when we tried the soil conditioner. Dug over as much as we could, as some was impossible, upto 100mm of mulch leave for a year (plant with annuals and green manure) and all of a sudden you have fantastic soil, knee deep, full of worms.

Not sure I want mushrooms in my new bed! Really?