Lavarock nightmare- advice?

Discussion in 'Garden Design and Plant Suggestions' started by PoorOwner, Jun 23, 2006.

  1. PoorOwner

    PoorOwner Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Northern CA
    I want to clean up the side of my house, picture as shown. I want to build the fence futher out that would expand my backyard instead of a public eye sore that it is.

    Lavarocks that the previous owners conveniantly lay over every single area of soil, along with the foundation bed, has now sunk into the soil.

    I am in the process of picking the loose rocks up with a shop vac. But I am now considering professional help. I would like to dump most of the soil along with the rocks and shreds of clear plastic. Digging is not most effective as it just sinks lower.

    Would someone with a bob cat be able to scoop it up? The city has a bin available for $200 a week so I only want to discard it once. I also noticed Home Depot has miniature dozers for rent, one is about the size of small ATV with wheels, not sure if it has too umphs to cut the ground.

    Does anyone have other ideas? The soil is also a strange color being under plastic for many years, is it erosion? I would like to make the area plantable and I will replace with new soil as needed.

    I hate rock mulch!
     

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  2. LPN

    LPN Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Courtenay, Vancouver Island
    I'd excavate the whole area with a Bob Cat and put new top soil down. A pro can have this done in a couple of hours and you can be planting after lunch. You'll have an entirely new side yard by supper time.

    Cheers, LPN.
     
  3. KarinL

    KarinL Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    I'm wondering if that's an easement in which case the fence might be in the proper place on the property line. Whether the area is inside or outside your fence, however, you will still want to fix it.

    I wonder just how much work it has to be, however. Depending on how much rock is left, maybe you could just rake a lot of the rock out, not all, and dump new soil on top. The key question is whether that soil is still fertile, and I don't know if that has to do with soil microorganisms having survived if the plastic kept it dry. Maybe this would be a good place to plant one of those green manure cover crops to get things started.
     
  4. Buzzbee

    Buzzbee Active Member

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    Location:
    Ladner, B.C.
    my neighbour had the same problem, the previous homeowner had piled it six inches thick. He put a free ad in the local paper and believe it or not it was gone in two weeks. People brought their own containers and took a few at a time. He had to do the preliminary piling so people weren't trampling all over his yard. Seems people still want the stuff but in small quantities and small quantities are not available. Only cost to him was the time to pile it and wait for people to come to collect it. Two weeks later he started his project.
     
  5. Newt

    Newt Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Maryland USA zone 7
    You've gotten some great ideas here. I'd like to add some thoughts. My guess is the 'soil' that is there is sterile from the plastic covering. You could opt for a soil test from your local extension service, but I suspect they will find it void of micro-organisms and nutrients. If you do decide to remove what is there, I would recommend replacing it with 60% SCREENED topsoil and 40% compost. The compost will return the micronutrients to the soil and improve the texture and water retention.

    Add lots of compost wherever you rework the garden. These sites should be helpful.
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarden/knowhow/pp/soil.html
    http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/orgmatter/index.html
    http://www.soilfoodweb.com/03_about_us/approach_pgs/b_01_compost_information.html

    Newt
     

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