"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
ClarissaGG wrote:
"Chris Bacon" wrote in message...
ClarissaGG wrote:

I've just had my large, derelict front garden levelled and rotivated,
leaving me, I'd hoped with a great expanse of beautiful soil to start
cultivating.

Trouble is, now that the matted grass and weeds have been removed, I see
that the soil is incredibly stony. Could someone advise what the best
thing to do here is please?

What sort of stones? What sort of soil? (approximately) where are you?

What sort of stones? Mm! Smallish pebbles and bit of broken rock rather
than great lumps of concrete left over from building work.

We're in Berkshire. The soil is clay, though couldn't tell you much more
about it at the moment.

Once you've got grass established, I can't see stones being a
problem. What sort of pond? One with a liner? You can "blind"
the soil with sand before laying it. Vegetables and flowers?
I've seen some hideously stony ground, more like soil and
shards of slate, in the S.W., very productive. Perhaps it's
a non-problem, especially if you pick out larger stones as
you go? (put the larger around the border of your ground, c.f.
"acre stones"). Is your soil "chalky"?

Maybe it IS a non-problem, Chris! I suppose I'm thinking that mowing grass
on stony soil might be a bit sort of bumpy. But perhaps the stones settle
down once the grass comes through?

The pond isn't a worry. I know there are various ways of protecting the
liner with sand and newspaper etc.

Thanks for the help.

C.