Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article , [H]omer wrote:

So you reckon 12" of chips followed by 6" of organic material?

6" doesn't sound very deep. I was planning on planting trees as well.

Is that really all I need?

Most clays are very fertile - all they need is to be opened up
so that water can drain and air reach the roots. So you don't
want to remove the clay so much as dilute it in the soil with
coarse material. This needs to be done fairly deeply, for the
drainage.

6" of organic matter is far more than most soils have. My loam
has 12-18" of topsoil, of which only a small proportion is actually
organic material, and it is nearly as fertile as soils get.

I didn't make it clear before, but my current 'soil' is about 1/2" of
what looks like mainly sand (think the kind of soil you get at the
inland edge of a beach), followed by ???" of clay (I haven't struck rock
yet!!!). Therefore, for all intents and purposes, there is no real soil
on site; I'll have to buy some in.

/me gets his calculator out

Is this about right then? ...

I excavate 24", and keep the clay.
I mix the clay with aggregate, and backfill 12".
I buy in a skip of topsoil, and backfill 6"
I buy in a skip of GP compost, and backfill the remaining 6"

Does that look OK?

Thanks,

-
[H]omer