Complete replacement of soil and replant

Hello
We have a patch in front of the house which measures approx. 12ft x 4ft so quite small. I want to get it dug out completely of all its soil and the hundreds of grape hyacinths that I have now given up trying to remove. The ground is now completely covered by them and the plants that were there have gone. My plan is to get it dug out deep enough to ensure the bulbs have been removed and then fill with fresh soil.
I need advice please on the following.
What type of soil/compost should I replace it with.
Suggestions of what to plant based on the following criteria
I like yellow and scented and good for insects with some contrast colour
I have a disability so can't do much in the way of heavy maintenance but dead heading and light use of a hoe would be fine.
It gets full sun from about 1pm to sunset so is cold in the mornings but hot in the afternoon.
Thanks for any suggestions

 

Personally rather than go to all the effort of removing all the soil, I'd wait until the Grape Hyacinth are up and flowering and then weed kill the lot. Ok you'd then have to wait a while for the weed killer to take effect but to me that would seem easier than digging out quite a lot of soil and then replacing it. After you've killed the Hyacinth you could then get the ground dug over (nice and easy with nothing in it) and then maybe add something like well rotted horse manure to the bed to increase it's fertility. If you can advise whereabouts you live that will give people a better idea of the range of plants which would grow well with you.

 

You could always go down the Roundup route and get rid of the grape hyacinths that way. I expect you might not want to use weed killer though?

Shrubs/tree are easy and there are some with yellow flowers which are attractive to bees/insects and the flowers are fragrant. Lupinus arboreus/tree lupin is popular with bees but it would fill maybe half of that bed.

 

to Gardeners Corner Rosy

You will certainly get the help you seek as all the members are helpful and friendly

I would agree with Silu and Loofah however not sure about the amount of weed killer you will need. I understand your disability and that this type of job will be too much for you.

I think you need to consider the cost to remove and replace the soil and the difference in cost to hire someone to dig it over for you and help to set it out how you would like to look.

If removing the soil and refill I think you will probably need to consider the cost of digging out, removal, land fill tax and then replacement soil... not the cheapest route I would have thought, but then I am no expert

Here, in our local Post Office we have a number of gardeners/DIY who advertise on cards and charge per hour... this may be a cheaper option for you but worth investigating

I found this on the internetthingy ....

Then you need to add landfill tax (currently £82.60/tonne as of April 2015), ...

Personally, I would get someone in to dig it over and work from there alternatively, look for local companies who offer free quotations for removal and replacement soil and then weigh up the difference in cost.....

Dig out and replace v hire a local gardener per hour to dig out and tidy up

I am sure someone with more experience than I will come along soon... so Good Luck and will look forward to watching your progress

 

I'm assuming that Grape Hyacinths are what I know as Muscari. From experience in my own garden, I know this is a difficult one to answer.

There are a couple of problems. First off, the seeds. These can take over 4 years to germinate, so there will still be plants there after using weed killer. Even something like Roundup also has a limited effect on the bulbs. They have a kind of protective surface that protects them not only from cold, but also partially from weed killers.

Even if the soil is replaced, some seeds will still remain somewhere, so apart from being hard work, it may not be as successful as expected. In my case, albeit on a smaller area, I dug out to two spade depths, and still some turned up later! Not many, but enough.

If I was to do the job again, especially if I had a disability, I might consider a raised bed.

Otherwise, it would be to remove them as soon as they are seen, especially the flower heads, and dose the area hard with weed killer over a period of 4 or 5 seasons until they are no more.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Rosy.

 

Thank you for all your suggestions. I had not thought about a raised bed that would be so good and will definitely put that idea high on the list to do. I am not keen on using a lot of weed killer hence the idea of getting it dug out. At the moment there are only a few flower heads but the green leaves are really dense across the whole bed just like a lawn. If I did reconsider using weed killer when would be the best time to use it ? I will have to cost it all out as that will be the decider. We live in the south west.

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

The best time to use a weed killer on *any* plant is: when they are in full growth mode. So, if the grape hyacinth are in full growth mode (which they will be at this time of year), then now would be a good time to use it on those plants.
A general purpose, squirty weed killer containing glyphosate, such as "Roundup" will definitely be cheaper than the removal and replenishment of soil: a little goes a long way and do consider it may need a couple of applications.
There have been some concerns that products containing glyphosate may be carcinogenic to humans - but it seems so is bacon, sausages, ham etc. So, you need to make a personal choice about the risks. If you do decide to use it, use common sense precautions (as stated on the packaging: don't inhale, wear gloves, wash hands etc).

If you had the time/patience, the bulbs would be reasonably easy to dig up - you could then advertise them on sites such as Freecycle. Thinking about it, you could advertise them on sites such as Freecycle on the proviso they could dig up their own! Killing two birds with one stone, so to speak But, you would need to be certain there isn't anything else growing in that bed that you were keen someone *didn't* dig up

to GC and good luck with which ever advice you decide to act upon

 

Another alternative which I have used on beds which are riddled with my absolute pet hate (Spanish Bluebells) is to put down a membrane and then cover the membrane with bark chip. Certainly very few Bluebells managed to get through the membrane, those that did got zapped with numerous doses of Roundup equivalent as they are verging on the indestructible and only repeated dosing seems to work. I would doubt that Grape Hyacinths are quite as resilient as my pets hates which did eventually give up the ghost...well most of them anyway