Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Apr 24, 2015 10:39 am We're starting to think about landscaping our backyard. It's about 450sqm in size and is at a level about 450mm below our finished house level. Three sides of our property also have neighbours who have also built around 500mm above the natural soil levels so retaining is in place. We're in Perth and our soil is predominantly clay and fails the Emerson dispersion test. In winter the clay becomes waterlogged and turns to mud. We'd like to get away from this in the future and we want to raise the entire backyard by around 350mm. When our footings were dug, excess clean fill was left and we have actually filled around half of the area. By my calculation we need around another 60 cubic metres of soil to raise the level. We'd like to landscape the yard with lawn, some fruit trees, veggie garden and some other plants. My question are, what kind of soil should I be bringing in? I assume clean fill isn't the best option? Should I bother moving some of the clean fill already in place (I.e spread the fill and bring in a layer of top soil)? Do I need to worry about any additions to the soil for clay? Any recommendations for someone to do this work in Perth? Re: Raising levels in backyard (on top of clay) 2May 30, 2015 1:17 am Hi D_rail, clean fill is not always "clean" but sometimes "recycled" from other sites. Builders do this to save some $$$. Not sure what is available in Perth but have heard lots of stories of clean fill (supposedly) with half bricks, timber bits and plastic bottles in it...! So make sure what you source really is "clean". We have gravelly clay here and used gypsum when planting in the holes and also liberally sprinkling on top of the soil (it works its way through). Best thing about it is that you can't overdose. It's a good clay breaker. Clay itself has a lot of nutrients in it so if you can make clay friable and workable you don't have to worry about fertilizer, unless growing veggies. We've used garden mix instead of potting mix for our flower beds, it's cheaper but a bit coarser than potting mix, we've mixed it with sand and composted soil and it works well. We don't have much lawn. That's on the to do list. It would be a good idea to check out some plants that do like clay and incorporate them into your garden as well. Off the top of my head: hakeas, kunzeas, callistemons westringeas like clay. Lullfitz nurseries have a list of more clay loving natives you might want to check out too. Hope this helps. Hi, have purchased a house with 2 single garage doors. The Centre pillar one side sits proud to the other. Can I change 2 doors into one. Please see picture. 0 2417 I've dug some footings to embed a post anchor into. My holes are around 450mm deep which I'll put a 200mm stirrup into. The bottom of these holes seem firm enough. … 0 1547 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair That laser level looks lovely! We bought one for less than a quarter of that price off eBay. It worked really well for us and it's still going now, five years later. After… 1 13316 |