Hi there,

I posted a thread a few months ago concerning making a garden for my daughter. As a introduction I live in Bristol and the garden consisted of a garage and concrete all of which has now gone. The thread link is here!

http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/united...-old-play.html

After a month of hard graft I have a far better idea of what I'm dealing with. I have put a few photos up of the progress made in the last month. So, after taking out thirty bags of stones and rubble aftermath of the garage base I have now dug in 30 bags of manure into the clay. This soily clay is pretty yellow and sodden 12 inches down but the top 4-6 inches is now breakable clay/soily consistency mixed with manure to break it up. The manure was pretty fresh so there are now plenty of worms getting to work beneath the surface. A couple of small sections have rubble/a small wall approx 4 inches down.

I am just wondering about the next stage. On Saturday ill be sifting it all again but this time not so deep and more a raking. I am then thinking of getting in another 30 bags of manure to build the height of the back section and put more goodness into the ground. I have searched online and many people suggest bringing in sand to break up the clay but I'm wondering if its bad enough to do that and be a waste of money and time? The manure itself s doing a good job of breaking the clay already it seems.

I'm then thinking of a 2-3 inch layer of top soil and then turf? Some people have suggested clay of this type/consistency will not need any topsoil at all and some suggest a miniumum 9 inches! Its such a minefield! I'm pretty certain grass will pentrate my clay/manure layer but whether it will grow or not I don't know.

Any advice on soil/turf/manure/sand and advice on my next step would be gratefully received!

Many thanks

Rich