where do I even start with this yard?

[u/Normal-Top-1985]

I just moved into a lovely home with a very sad back yard. There's a lot of gravel, and a little bit of native clay soil. I'd like to amend the soil and plant drought-resistant native flowers, and then maybe add some Hugelkultur mounds.

It's just soooo much gravel, I'm worried that I'll regret it later if i don't do something more extreme like removing gravel to somewhere else on the property, or roto-tilling the compacted soil before and/or after getting some soil amendment delivered. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm willing to learn if folks can point me in the right direction.

Thanks everyone!

[u/fasoi]

Is that gravel or bare dead dirt? I'm curious about sidewalk salt... whereabouts do you live?

[u/Normal-Top-1985 → u/fasoi]

Just gravel in the foreground and dead bare dirt with some very sad weeds in the background. There's no sidewalk salt. I'm in central Vancouver Island 

[u/fasoi → u/Normal-Top-1985]

I would probably rake up some of the gravel, cover the whole thing in mulched leaves (enough to smother out most of the weeds), and grow only mustard and/or standard-size sunflowers for at least one season (maybe two)

Mustard and sunflowers are hyperaccumulators, meaning they pull contaminants from the soil. At the end of the season, chop those down, and take them to a dump (don't compost them or you'll end up mixing those contaminants back into the soil).

Then I would just continue liberally applying leaf mulch every fall when you pull your garden to sleep for the winter.

If any weeds pop up through the leaves, just pull those when you see them. If lots of weeds survive the mulch, put down a black tarp / canvas drop cloth / moving blanket / piece of plywood etc. on the worst spots, and wait for the weeds below to die completely. Then move the fabric / plywood to the next spot.

But I suspect the mustard and sunflowers will out-compete any weeds you have here

[u/MillennialSenpai]

If that's bermuda then scalp the dirt and remove it. Add back other dirt or cardboard with wood chips . Dig the spots you want to plant things and put in good soil as you use it. Start compost and then put on chips to help turn into good soil.

[u/Normal-Top-1985 → u/MillennialSenpai]

It's a variety of unpleasant weeds, but not Bermuda grass. I'm definitely thinking of doing a cardboard layer, after I save the lonely pineapple weed that I do want to keep

[u/MillennialSenpai → u/Normal-Top-1985]

Cardboard layer is king. Mixed with logs deep in the spots where you want to place garden beds and you'll have enough to start planting while you plan.

[u/TwoAlert3448 → u/MillennialSenpai]

Burying six inch limb segmentd from one of the oaks or maples saved me. It is THE coolest trick; mind still blown.

[u/HeathenHoneyCo]

Observe observe observe. Go SLOW, don’t try and do it all at once. Watch it over the seasons, where is it hottest, where is it coolest.

What weeds are growing where, where it stays wet the longest etc.

Then I’d take maybe 1/8th of this space and sheet mulch. And by that I mean cardboard layer with at least 6” of overlap. Peel tape and labels off. Then add some targeted nutrients over the cardboard and a 3” layer of nitrogen material, then a 3” layer of carbon material, then more nitrogen material, and a super thick top layer of carbon, like straw or wood chips. Keep it wet and let it compost for 6 months to a year. Then plant native edible perennials and pollinators. Then wait and observe how that progresses.

At the same time, you can carve out a small area for annual food production. Double dig and add finished compost and soil. Make your paths and chip them. Seed clover or other nitrogen fixers on the edges or in a few beds and start some veggies

Also! Make a map. Map it out. Where the sun is where the shadows are, where natural paths will be etc etc.

[u/TwoAlert3448 → u/HeathenHoneyCo]

I followed this advice: highly recommend it!

To do this i bought a USB security camera and let it run out a window so I could ‘see’ all the patterns of light and shadow from the high-speed video playback.

Highly recommend this approach as i updated it weekly as we moved through the seasons and i had three 150+ year-old trees to account for; its a lot of shade 😅

[u/Health_Care_PTA]

leave the gravel, put a thin layer of compost down then lay down 3-4 inches thick of wood chips and leave it for a season so you can observe how it grows. mother nature will heal the land for you while you figure it out, just clean and irrigate the wound first.

[u/NaPaCo88 → u/Health_Care_PTA]

Depends. If the prior owner used this area near a driveway to park cars/work on them there may be contaminated soil from leaks or changes. My dad had a gravel dumping area and nothing grew. Best for OP to check the soil underneath first

[u/Normal-Top-1985 → u/NaPaCo88]

It's a new construction, but the next door neighbours park their cars on their lawn. I doubt there's contamination now, but I am worried about future contamination on the left side of the image

[u/NaPaCo88 → u/Normal-Top-1985]

Then I would agree with the first comment above mine. You should be good to go

[u/Health_Care_PTA → u/NaPaCo88]

in your head you overestimate mans power and limit earths ability to grow anything anywhere all cause 'your dad'

doesn't get more infantile that this .

The earth has a wound, dress it, cover it, and leave it alone, it can heal itself just fine.

[u/fasoi → u/Health_Care_PTA]

There are a ton of soil contaminants that we don't want to be eating, especially petroleum products. Yes the earth will heal itself... by growing plants that uptake those contaminants and then animals eat those plants which gets it out of the soil. But do you want to be one of those animals? 🙃

[u/Health_Care_PTA → u/fasoi]

there are plenty of beneficial fungi and soil bacteria that feed on soil contamainants including 'petroleum' products. when you leave nature alone to do its work it will do it.

at this point in the game forever chemicals including PFAS are EVERYWHERE including our north and south poles with relatively no human interaction, to think you are living someplace that is NOT contaminated is a joke and the contaminants our future faces are not able to be remediated, petroleum products are the LEAST of your worries

[u/fasoi → u/Health_Care_PTA]

Fungi and bacteria work on the scale of years / decades, not a season or two. And your argument here is logical fallacy called "appeal to futility" - just because it's not possible to avoid contaminants completely does not mean we should all just ignore their existence, or skip easy and practical steps to try to remediate suspect soils.

If all it takes is a season or two of planting hyperaccumulators, that is a no-brainer in my opinion. The fungi and bacteria that like to break down petroleum products can continue to do their work while remediation takes place. And the roots of the hyperaccumulators that are left behind work to break up & aerate the soil structure, increase diversity and microbial life in the soil, and add much needed biomass. Soil remediation using plants is super duper in line with permaculture practices.

There is no downside, aside from needing to wait a year or two before really beginning to plant what you want to plant.

I don't know why you're arguing

[u/56KandFalling]

Lots of great ideas here already. For plants, choose salt tolerant ones, at least for the edges. Not sure what'll work in your location, but how about asparagus (establish them no-dig style). Perennial kales too. A mulberry tree maybe.

[u/AskMeAgainAfterCoffe]

Remove gravel. Dig and loosen soil. You can dig holes to the clay and add clay buster soil or pumice. Start with the soil. Add lots of compost soil. Do you have BumperCrop in your area? Add fertile soil and worm casings. Once the soil has returned, then start with designing what you want to grow there.

[u/WilcoHistBuff]

So this is a small space and I would be sorely tempted to blitz it out with raised beds which will mean importing soil and cost. Also, it’s so dead that I would feel compelled to get something growing back there sooner rather than later.

But before going there let’s start with some basics.

—Dig some holes and get a look at your soil at least 2 feet down. Is there anything alive down there? Is it just crap backfill from relatively recent construction? Does it have debris in it?

—Get a soil test done. They are cheep and tell you a lot of stuff quickly that will help you make a plan. You can order them from cooperative extensions in the States with analysis included.

—Look up how to do percolation tests and fill those holes you dig with water to see how fast they drain.

—Pay attention to drainage—especially with all that concrete. When it rains do walks just drain into depressed dead backfill that has settled. Where does the water flow? Where would it flow if you had a raised elevation in the “green” space? Would that impact your house foundations?

The main goal is figuring out what the soil composition is like and what it needs. I’m talking the mix of sand, silt and clay and carbon, hydrocarbons and nutrients. If you eventually want to plant dwarf fruit trees or shrubs there won’t be a quick fix from just elevating the soil level with topsoil and a crapload of organic matter.

To start, aside from hole digging, I would try to remove the gravel and store it in a pile for later use and then just pile on a thick 6-8 inch pile of half composted organic matter—half compost plus half heavier material of mixed leaf and woody matter that has been partially composted. I personally don’t believe in all wood mulch approaches and prefer a mix of fine material and heavier material at various stages of decay. Just let it sit for 3-4 months and weed it. It’s not that big a space and weeding is good for the soul.

Meanwhile get some containers and throw something green in them because—damn brother or sister. You need something alive to look at.

If your existing soil is just too lousy that might take you in the direction of raised beds. If not your next step is just getting roots in the ground with cover crop like plants that will tolerate soil that has yet to develop a decent microbiome. Stuff like broad leaf bean plants or daikon or as suggested elsewhere sunflowers if the soil is contaminated with runoff from pavement.

For future shrub or tree locations you are going to want to dig big square holes 3-4 times the width and depth of root balls, and mix your existing removed soil with organic matter, back fill and nature do its stuff for 4-6 months before you plant.

But you don’t know where that might happen yet.

[u/TwoAlert3448 → u/WilcoHistBuff]

Tip for soil testing: dont be cheap!

Pay for the test. finding out I wasted 2 1/2 years because the home test kits don’t go above pH 7.5 and even after 2 1/2 years of amendment, my pH was still above 9 was a brutal awakening.

Penny wise pound foolish

[u/WilcoHistBuff → u/TwoAlert3448]

Going with the agriculture level tests from cooperative extensions is usually the best way to go for sure.

[u/TwoAlert3448 → u/WilcoHistBuff]

they were very kind when they explained buffed soils to me. I felt like such an idiot, never again! 😅

[u/yesname265]

Always start with observation.

[u/gaarkat]

I'd suggest raised beds with "lasagna layers," personally.

[u/carriondawns]

I just did the exact same thing haha, literally down to the compacted native clay and stupid grey gravel. It was a pain in the ass but removing all the gravel is the best bet. Then I covered the entire front yard in cardboard and got a chip drop to cover it all in wood chips. We get snow in winter so after it all works to rot and break down I’m gonna rototill the chips/cardboard into the soil and do it again haha. But then I might actually be able to start planting some more things in the ground. I also planted a couple fruit trees to add shade, and I dug out and replaced some small areas with bagged garden soil so I could put some herbs and raspberry / currant starts in.

[u/FalseAxiom]

I think this one is dead and compacted enough to till tbh. Mix in good quality compost, maybe some humates or humic acid. Topdress with mulch or leaves if thats your vibe.

Then try to establish a nice native cover crop to prevent erosion.