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Soil Improvement advice and best practice

Posted by Jill Le Claire on July 14, 2008 at 7:53pm in Soil & compost

Hi there-really could do with some good ideas. Hope l have put this in the right group?

Anyway l have 2 gardens that are doing my head in. The first has large established shrubs/perennials but had become overgrown with honeysuckle. After removing about 12 inches of honeysuckle root l am left with basically areas of dust between the shrubs. Is it worth digging out to about 0.5 m and then back filling with compost and fresh top soil and mulching around the established plants or has someone got a much better idea-please.

The second garden has a 20ft conifer hedge on 1 side and a Scots pine/holly wood the other side. The client wants flowerbed alongside the hedge and wood but the acidic soil is dreadful. How can l improve this and what plants would grow near the hedge-at the moment there are only Elaeagnus and Hypericum.

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Tags: advice, ameliorisation, best, practice, soil
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  • Nick Steele July 14, 2008 at 8:18pm
    Are you sure the honeysuckle is dead ? it might be worth waiting to see if any regrowth occurs, and then spraying it with Roundup if it does, just to be sure you've got rid of it. I wouldn't put any more effort into digging down to 50 cms - just top dress/backfill with whatever soil conditioner or topsoil you can get your hands on, and yes, mulch the existing shrubs, and give em some blood fish and bone as a tonic.

    For plants under the hedge, have a look here -

    http://www.barlownurseries.co.uk/hedgebottoms.php

    Improving th soil is the same routine as above - add as much and whatever organic matter you can lay your hands on. If you want to try and reduce the acidity, try mushroom compost which has lime in it, but bear in mind that modifying soil ph in that way is an uphill battle - better to simply plant to suit the conditions.
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