Digging through hardcore/rubble

iamjustanumber

Hey. A few years ago we had our driveway cobbled. We asked your man to leave us flowerbeds, which he did, but he still put hardcode underneath the them. This basically means the soil depth of the beds is only 5-6'', which isn't enough.

I'm trying to dig up the hardcore now to allow me plant taller bushes, and ran into issues over the weekend as it's very compacted by this stage. Taking a pickaxe to it only resulted in a broken handle when I hit a piece of building site rubble underneath the hardcore. Before I go out and buy a new pickaxe only to have it broken again, can anyone tell me am I going about this the right way? Is there a handier way of breaking and gathering up the hardcore? Would renting/buying a small kango hammer be complete overkill?

Rovi

Rent a proper floor hammer/jack hammer with a wide chisel bit; it'll blast through the rubble with ease.

plasteritup

Would renting/buying a small kango hammer be complete overkill?[/QUOTE]


this way you your axe arms and hands will live to fight the earth another day..:D get the kango and blast that **** out of your way!!!!:pac::pac::pac::pac:

paddy147

iamjustanumber wrote: »

Hey. A few years ago we had our driveway cobbled. We asked your man to leave us flowerbeds, which he did, but he still put hardcode underneath the them. This basically means the soil depth of the beds is only 5-6'', which isn't enough.

I'm trying to dig up the hardcore now to allow me plant taller bushes, and ran into issues over the weekend as it's very compacted by this stage. Taking a pickaxe to it only resulted in a broken handle when I hit a piece of building site rubble underneath the hardcore. Before I go out and buy a new pickaxe only to have it broken again, can anyone tell me am I going about this the right way? Is there a handier way of breaking and gathering up the hardcore? Would renting/buying a small kango hammer be complete overkill?

Do you know where the mains utilities are buried??

As in mains gas and water pipes comming into the house.

You need to be very very mindfull of this,when digging up a driveway.;)

Have a look at this post of mine from yesterday,which is complete with pics on how to do it.

Simples.:)


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=77779465&postcount=9

iamjustanumber

Thanks to all who replied!

paddy147: those pics look exactly like what I'm trying to achieve. I'll have to go and check where the utilities are alright, that's something I didn't even think of. Even though I'm not trying to dig below the hardcore, just to dig it out, expose the soil and throw more topsoil on it, there's no harm in knowing where the lines are anyway.

paddy147

iamjustanumber wrote: »

Thanks to all who replied!

paddy147: those pics look exactly like what I'm trying to achieve. I'll have to go and check where the utilities are alright, that's something I didn't even think of. Even though I'm not trying to dig below the hardcore, just to dig it out, expose the soil and throw more topsoil on it, there's no harm in knowing where the lines are anyway.

If the builder threw all the rubble in there,then I wouldnt be so trusting of the soil either.

I would dig that out too,and start a fresh,with propper screened topsoil and a few bags of compost,manure and horticultural grit.

Dig right down through the hardcore,rubble and down to the sub soil below.

Once you hit the subsoil,then add in the top soil,but mix in the compost,manure and grit as you shovel in the topsoil.

Its like a cake mixture,as in...you want a good even mix throughout.:)

Give the new soil a watering and then leave it all to settle for around a week,before you plant anything,as it will settle under its own weight.

You will probably need to top up the levels a bit more,after the week.

The horticultural grit is used for good drainage of the soil too.;)

Also,if you can,go and dig up some worms and add them in to the new flower bed too.Worms are good for the soil and therefore for the plants.