Preparing soil for planting

Hi

I am new to gardening and am a bit overwhelmed by all my Google research! I would appreciate basic gardening advice on 2 issues:

1. I have a trellis at the end of my lawn and would like to grow a climber to hide the wheelie bins behind it. The grass beneath the trellis is poor and mossy as this spot doesn’t get much light. I’ve chosen a climbing hydrangeas but need advice on how much lawn to dig up to make space for planting this climber and what soil to mix in, if any? The lawn is 5 years’ old. I don’t want to make a mess of my grass if I get this wrong! I don’t really know where to start.

2. I have sloped edging (small area) around my lawn and would like to turn it into a bedding area for plants. It currently has chipping stones on it but I’m going to remove these. The soil looks really poor (dry and clumpy) so I’m guessing I’ll need to sort this first! I did consider planting wild flowers but no longer want to. How do I prepare the soil? Should I take a layer of soil away and just put down compost? Or mix in top soil?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks
Karen

 

Hiya Karen1986

The lawn area! I suggest you trench the area as deeply as you can, within reason.....40 cm or so......and skim off the grass turves. Place these grass side down at the bottom of the trench. Then add compost, dried manure, mushroom compost to the rest of the soil and mix it well as you return it to the trench.
You will never regret doing this stage well, I.e. incorporating as much organic matter as possible into the soil.

The planting area for the hydrangea! Neatly cut out a semi circle of turf then dig out the hole. I would allow at least 80 cm across and same from the trellis. Dig out a depth of about the same and loosen the bottom of the hole with a fork. Place your plant 20 cm or so away from the trellis. Mix compost, dried manure/chicken pellets plus a handful or two of fish blood and bone fertiliser with the soil and return it to the planting hole ....align the top of the rootball with the soil level. Water well a couple of times then mulch with compost or any organic material.

I always tease out roots from the rootball and soak the rootball in a bucket of water for 20 minutes or so before planting.

 

Thanks so much for your advice

 

Sounds good to me. It is a lot easier to get all that yummy goodness into your soil before you start planting in it.

G.