"kafifa" wrote in message ...

I moved to South Woodford, London, my garden in north facing so I
think this causes problems cos it doesn;t get much sun. As for the
previous owners - they had 3 dogs, 3 children and 3 cats, and didn't
take care of anything much in or out of the house - I don't think they
touched the garden except to mow the patchy lawn bit!

I don't really know what kind of soil I have - it doesn;t drain well I
know that much! Its dry....sorry not much info there!

With all that lot running round the "garden" for years compacting the soil
it's not surprising it doesn't drain well. Mark your borders, and please
make them wide not tiny narrow things, then start to dig them over. You
could incorporate some organic matter at this stage if you can get some
(well rotted Horse Manure, spent Mushroom Compost). When you have
loosened/broken up the existing soil then you can put some of the "new"
stuff on top to raise the beds and improve the drainage even more.
Don't make the beds too much higher than your future lawn will be though.

You could also sift some of the soil with some added sand and use that to
fill in any hollows in your lawn, drag a straight board over like laying
cement, and if you use a bit of grass seed mixed in you will have a
wonderfully green flat lawn by the end of the summer.

--
Regards
Bob

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