Completely redesign the garden area

Hello everyone,

our construction project is almost finished, and we want to take care of the garden soon.

Due to the installation of our [Ringgrabenkollektor] as well as the use of the garden area for temporary storage of topsoil and other excavated material, however, our future garden is currently in a regrettable condition (see attached picture).

Basically, the topsoil has been mostly removed. Due to the [Ringgrabenkollektor], there are now also settlements/cracks that need to be evened out. Unfortunately, the topsoil was not handled very carefully during removal/storage, so not everything is certainly pure. Basically, the soil here is very clayey (slope clay).

I would like to first distribute the existing excavated material and create as even a surface as possible, especially towards the house – what cannot be distributed must then be moved in front of the house to design the front garden there.

I assume it would be advisable to sieve it during this process – should anything else be done, such as mixing in additives? Should the soil generally be dug over? Can/should I then use a lawn roller on it, or would that be counterproductive, since it was partly compacted by construction vehicles/excavators?

I would be grateful if someone had a small how-to on how to create a proper foundation from the “current” state for later use as a garden (mainly a vegetable garden, partly fruit trees, also a part natural meadow). Please formulate it for complete beginners, as to be honest, I’m not quite sure where to start.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be “quick,” theoretically we could even let it “rest” for one growing season, if that would be useful for later use.

Thank you for your time!

Time is already a good start. I would first pick up everything I don't want on the property. Then distribute the soil. The rockier, the further down you remove weeds. Apply green manure, mow it before it blossoms, and leave it as mulch. Where soil is missing, fill in good topsoil. In the area of the collector, some soil may still settle in the coming months. As long as the green manure is working, you can lay out paths, terraces, and so on. In autumn, you can plant trees and shrubs, establish a lawn. In late winter or spring next year, the vegetable beds. I can recommend the compost beds from Wurzelwerk for that. I find the videos for beginner gardeners overall very good.

If you have time, use it. Here I would spread the soil once, smooth it superficially with the rake, and then initially break it up with deep-rooted green manure like lupines. Once they have done their job, till it once and let the weeds in the vegetable garden sprout multiple times. Meadow and grass areas can also be sown without letting them sprout (take a look at the Burri method). Settling will probably take years, so either keep fixing it repeatedly or accept that a natural garden is not a golf lawn ;)

The lawn roller compacts only a little. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed by the 70-kilo roller because I still left some footprints afterward and small bumps were not leveled well. After tilling, I would definitely recommend it for recompaction if you want to enter the area again soon.

Do you already have a rough plan of where something should go? I realize afterwards that I would have liked to have something hilly further back on one side, where the planting would look a bit looser as a result. Possibly model something like that with the poor soil (gravel) on your side as well. Otherwise, the poor soil is well suited for Mediterranean herbs.

How many square meters is that approximately? Which machines do you have available?

Yes, the planning is important. How much soil do you have to distribute and how 3D do you want the garden to be? We ended up significantly higher than planned and still have a huge pile left. Luckily, the neighbors are taking it.