Someone to remove bad soil and replace with topsoil - any recommendations?

Artdeco30

Hi there,

We have two strips in our garden with very bad soil. One strip outside our kitchen doors (measuring 6 x 2 metres) is basically compacted builder's rubble. It is very hard to dig out and nothing will grow there.

The second strip measures 1 x 7 metres and goes along the boundary wall. We had a bit of a summer border last year but the soil seems to be very poor quality - we think the previous owners deposited their coal ash there and they also had a huge leylandii hedge there which we have removed.

So we basically have a 20 sq m bit of the garden that has much worse soil than the rest. Can anyone recommend people who would remove the existing soil in that area to a depth of 30cm and replace with top soil? Also, how much will that cost, roughly? We are in D14.

Thanks!

magicbastarder

do you want to grow veg? the coal ash may give pause to that, but if the soil is simply impoverished along the wall, it may be cheapest to simply rotovate some soil conditioner in, rather than lift and replace the soil.

and what do you want to do outside the kitchen doors? 30cm is a hell of a depth to replace to if it was just a lawn you want there.

Artdeco30

We were thinking of planting a bed outside the kitchen doors. If we scratch that, how deep would the topsoil need to be for grass? We dug outside the doors last year deep enough to plant daffodil bulbs and had a good display, but none of them reappeared this year.

We dug manure into the bed along the wall last summer but a lot of the summer bedding didn't thrive, even though we watered it.

Lumen

I'm getting 14 tonnes of topsoil and peat moss graded and sown after two sprays of roundup, total area about 500 sqm, cost 2800 including VAT.

I got quotes from tradesman.ie

Access is important. If there's no vehicle access the labour costs will be higher.

magicbastarder

Artdeco30 wrote: »

If we scratch that, how deep would the topsoil need to be for grass?

i'm far from an expert, but i'd have guessed 4 inches would be enough?

Lumen

Having lived with poor draining soil for 10 years in my last house (tiger build, garden full of buried junk), and now having nice free-draining soil, I would recommend getting this sorted properly if you're just starting to grow stuff in the garden. I planted a tree at the old house just past the edge of the foundation slab, and took out several bucket of rocks and builders waste. It seemed like there was more waste than soil.

I would get a couple of landscapers in to look at it. A lot will depend on the current topsoil depth and quality, and possibly type of subsoil below it. If there's been subsoil mixed into the topsoil you'll struggle to get a good lawn.

Neighsayer

Would ready lawn roll out grass do the job for you.  Should be much cheaper than what you're proposing.