Prepare an overgrown garden for a construction site

Hello everyone,

this is our first post; until now we have only been diligent readers here.

We are planning a complete renovation of an old half-timbered house and want to start outside first since we can only begin inside the house around December. Over the past two weekends, we have already removed a lot of wild growth, such as small hazelnut trees and especially a huge tangle of blackberry thorns to make the house accessible at all.

Status Quo is that the house is now accessible but almost everywhere in front of the house stumps and roots are still sticking out of the ground. We are now considering what the right procedure would be. Our plan:
A) Remove and dig out all thorn roots etc. before everything grows back in spring. How do you think we should approach this? Our idea would be to use an excavator (a friend can help us here) to remove the first layer of soil (about 40cm?) and haul it away with as many roots and stumps as possible. We are already wondering where we can best and most cheaply dispose of it. Then we would dig out another 30 cm and temporarily store the soil, which will hopefully be as "good" and root-free as possible, on our property since we will probably need it again for, for example, many uneven spots and holes in a meadow that also belongs to the property. Does that make sense or will the soil up to a meter deep be full of blackberry roots that will eventually grow through again?

B) Create a construction site entrance or "parking lot."
The street does not provide space to park in front of the house, so we urgently need a parking and storage area in front of the house. We want to simply fill the excavated area with gravel. Later, mostly a paved courtyard will be created here anyway, so we can also use a large part of the gravel later. Does that make sense to you or do you have tips and/or other solutions?

We look forward to all suggestions and tips!

Best regards, Kimbasson

The area should later become a courtyard, your planning sounds good.

Regarding the excavation. I wouldn't do it that way. You are removing too much topsoil. What is going to go back there later?

I would remove the roots with the excavator and dispose of them. Green waste landfill is free at least where we are.
Sift the soil and cover it until reinstallation. Without light, most plant residues die off. However, so do the microorganisms and other soil organisms like earthworms.

If you want to add soil, then only the first layer, otherwise you will be missing soil. New soil costs and is not free of weeds.

Hello haydee & thanks for your reply.

The area we are now talking about is supposed to later – we are calculating at least 1.5 years until the house is finished – become mostly a paved courtyard & driveway.

Hmm if we don’t dig out much or not at all, we save a lot of work and also costs. I just have concerns that many small roots will remain in the ground and eventually come through again, so we would have to redo it completely. Don’t you see any risk here if we pull out the big roots and stumps and then put a large layer of gravel on top?

Below is a picture of the area we are talking about. :)

Since you are not in a hurry with paving and the like, I would only remove stumps and all coarse material.

In the area where planting is to take place later, I would slightly loosen the soil superficially and sow green manure. This grows quickly, helps keep weeds in check, and serves to improve the soil, or after freezing, to form humus. In the final step as usual, cultivate the topsoil and sow or plant.

In the paving area: Excavation has to be done anyway. Here, too, I would roughly sieve and store topsoil in between and, if necessary, move it to your lawn at the end. If there are really strong root weeds in there that even penetrate compacted frost protection? If so, there is certainly the option to include a geotextile.

The area is excavated anyway and compacted very tightly and relatively high. Usually, new material is put on top. Normally, there is no problem at the bottom. If you want to be on the safe side, buy a thick fleece, not the thin stuff from the hardware store, and lay it underneath.

If you are already digging around with a digger now, then you always have the mud in front of the hut.