Conifer hedge removed, what now?

[Philandbill]

Hello all. We've had the conifer hedge at the end of our garden removed and the soil is of course in terrible condition. We'll put topsoil and possibly manure down but how long does it take to recover a bit? I'd like to plant shrubs, or climbers perhaps, to soften the new six foot fence. It's a shady area as there are two old and large fruit trees about 12-15 feet in front of the fence. Fence was necessary due to back neighbours' dog (don't ask) but we have a beautiful beech hedge all the way down one side of the garden and lots of shrubs the other so the fence currently stands out a bit.

Fatsia Japonica doesn’t mind shade, grows quickly, doesn’t require a lot of care other than a quick chop back if it gets too large and you are rewarded with big beautiful, tropical looking leaves.

Don't put topsoil down, put compost and/or the manure. That will have all the organic matter you need to improve the soil. IME topsoil compacts too much.

Don't use retail topsoil, it is crap. They just scrape it off the top of land they are going to build on and sell it to suppliers who bag it up. Could have come from anywhere, and you have no idea whether it has any nutrients in it or not.

You need manure on there, forked in and covered with composted bark, then left for a good few months. The manure needs time to decompose properly.Then fork the whole lot over again, and sprinkle handfuls of granular Growmore.

In the meantime, you will probably get millions of weed seeds popping up all over the place. They could have been lying dormant for years and they will want to seize the chance.

Horse manure, but you will get weeds, so keep turning over. You can hire a rotavator which is brilliant once you've done a double dig. When you're ready to plant in the spring. We use chicken fertiliser and blood fish and bone in the hole before filling in around the shrubs, trees.

Thank you everyone, that's really helpful and much better than the Google search I tried before posting here. Hurrah for the hive mind 😀

Against a shady fence in a North facing garden and behind a trampoline, I’ve had good luck with an evergreen ceanothus. It’s a slow grower and needs a support until it’s trunk has properly formed, but over ten years has done very well. My previous ceanothus was in a sunny spot and this one is happier. Smothered in blue flowers in June and then boring for the rest of the year - but I love it.
I am not sure if it gets some sun when I’m at work not watching so double check if they will typically tolerate shade!

Also take a look at a variegated holly - again mine is happy near a huge pear tree where the ground is poor and permanently dry. After ten years I now have a beautiful 6 foot shrub (it started off 8 inches high).