Which Soil to use for the Grave to avoid weed and less maint

[caretaker]

Hi Gardeners/ Green fingers,
I am in the process of helping a friend out, as he want to Know which soil to use, as he has been advised to use Top soil , as this grow greenery.

There is another soil called compost in the local B&M Bargain store, but i am not sure what is this for what will it be like for the Grave.

We cleared top part of the original soil or clay which was there for years, but my friend wanted some advice which soil or compost to use.

I have seen other graves in the Vicinity, they have used the Wood skin and sprinkle over the grave, as i have not seen any weed growing and it may stop rain soaking into the soil, as the wood will soaking the water first.

There were other graves had the Small stones, Like the mot type 1 stones.

The soil he wants less maintenance, so less weed growing and other crap, as you can see from other graves the weed is growing, like a jungle.

My friend wants to plant conifer tree, which he does not want to grow more then 4 feet. So when it is best time plant the conifer tree and which want to buy , so there is not much cutting to do.

My friend had some roofing felt left over and he applied this to stop week growing through and now he wants to put some fresh soil on top of the felt.

I appreciate your help and Advice.

[thescruff]

Concrete and a large pot/tub

[ayjay]

There's no such thing as soil that won't grow weeds. Topsoil is OK for growing most things, although some plants will prefer acidic soils and some will prefer alkaline soils.

Compost is a short term item, most of them only contain enough nutrients for about six weeks growth, it makes a good addition to almost any soil or for growing short lived plants in pots. John Innes No.3 is about the best medium to buy for planting out most shrubs/small trees.

Both miniature and low growing conifers are available, your nearest garden centre is likely to have a selection on sale, they will be able to advise you what is suitable and will hopefully have knowledge of the natural soils in the area. The low growing varieties can have a considerable spread on them. There are almost certainly more suitable plants than conifers, Box for example is slow growing and easy to trim and keep neat.

Any plant that you wish to keep long-term is likely to need access to deeper soil than the few inches above the roofing felt.

[Someone-Else]

Weeds will always grow no matter what you plant.
I visit a relative and back in her day graves were covered in "glass stones" (I think they are just lumps of glass) but even weeds grow on these. Its not so much on them its the gaps in between accumulate dirt and the weeds grow in this dirt.
Conifer tree in a grave I would suggest checking with the graveyard owners is that allowed, I strongly doubt that it is.

[jape]

'Prostrate juniper' looks good, ground cover and conifer looking. Easy enough to find in garden centres. It stays low so won't annoy anyone, slow growing so get good-sized plants to start with and gravel underneath.

[caretaker]

What scruff it would be good idea, but it is going over the top, as it would look a mummy tomb.

I will go for the top soil and visit a local garden centre or my local wickes and see what they have.

I will go for low growing conifers, as there are so many conifers planted in the cemetery.

How may inches i need to keep, as i might need to check the depth, but it be around 4- 5 inches deep.

Can you plant Roses or Daffodils or are they need to be planted at the correct season of the year.

Thank you for your replies.

[jape]

Um, there should be a good few feet of soil already, like '6 feet under' and soil in a graveyard is enriched! You shouldn't need to add topsoil and compost is just good rich soil to mix in top inches for food for plants and bugs plants need like worms.

You will need gravel or wood chip or similar at first to keep weeds down, the felt you mentioned won't look good. Bulbs you put in in autumn or spring usually to just the depth of the bulb, ie put it under soil with green or pointy bit upwards if it has one buried by the same size as bulb itself , that is under soil as thick as the bulb is big, no more. Spring bulbs like daffodils and narcissi will be died down by now so you could plant now if you have to. Roses can go in now without too much problem if not flowering strongly but will need water during hot weather at first. You can get great miniature and ground-cover roses to cover grave and they will look good with juniper or low conifers.

Good to see someone cares for a grave, most today don't bother much. If you use gravel and a conifer or two, some nice rocks will make a good, attractive, easily maintained little landscape. if not fencing, a few smaller rocks at places round edge will help make a boundary too.

[caretaker]

Thank you Jape for your reply.

We have lot of wood chip barking in the grave yard for people to help themselves.

You think the Roofing Breathable felt is not a good idea to lay this down ?

I was going to buy my own Top soil from Wickes or from Garden centre , but when i rang Builder merchants, they told me usually the grave yard has the soil and i am pretty sure they will provide the soil for you. So i rang the cemetery and they do usually provide the soil if the grave is collapsed or sunk. However they said they will provide the soil and place it near the grave. so over the weekend i will use this soil to place it over the grave.

When i rang Garden centre they told me to use the Compost soil instead of Top soil. But i agree with your point the soil i took out from the grave must be enriched soil, as there were quite a few worms i saw, few ants,


Noted about the bulbs for Daffodils to be put in autumn or spring, so i will do this later in the year near Autumn time. my wife said leave the roses for time being , I will just plant the Dwarf Low growing Conifer Tree and i asked the cemetery and they said as long it is low growing , it should be ok to plant.

I did the edging couple of years ago and did the stone flags beside the grave right hand side and left hand side i did it over the weekend, so when you walk round you do not get muddy feet.

[jape]

Weed mats and other barriers are always debatable. I don't like it, it looks horrible I think. But if you put thick wood chip mulch on top for appearance many weeds still grow as mulch breaks down. Better with thin layer of gravel or pebbles on it from that point of view, appearance, but quickly old leaves and so on blow on and break down and within weeks you get - weeds on the mat.

The soil underneath gets more sterile and micro-organisms die off, worms can't breathe etc. Plants need this life for health. Many grasses can send roots right under a few feet of mat and still come up around your plant holes. Water doesn't get through all that well.

Ground covers once established over a thin layer of gravel is the way I would go but it is up to you, you know how often you get there to clean it up and that would need a bi-monthly visit. Scruff's idea of concrete is best for NO weeds!

Have a look around the graveyard and see what has best results, it may be weedmat is best if you only go once a year.

Remember no-one is really an expert in gardening, we all just have our own experience and opinions. No easy answer as pots and so on won't get enough water, that supplied thick wood-chip mulch is best only for deep-rooted plants as they don't mind the soil on top being lower in nitrogen.

Weeds are called weeds because they survive where others don't. Some grow up or down even through weed mats. I have experimented with many types including thick carpet, underlay felt, weedmat fabrics etc with mixed results. Leave any mulch or gravel or mat for a year and come back and it will usually be grown over. Couch grass etc. will even completely cover a sheet of roofing iron as I found when mowing the edge of my paddock!

[caretaker]

Hi Jape,
Thank you for the information provided.

Please see attached picture, which we laid the new soil provided by the cemetery on top of the roofing breathable felt. I will see how it goes after few months and i will lay on top of the soil wood chip mulch to slow the growth of the weeds, if there are too many weeds grow, as i have just planted the new dwarf slow growing conifer tree, i think it is the the Gold crest lemon smell tree.

so i do not want to lay wood chip mulch now, as i just want the new soil to settle and feed the conifer tree, so it stays healthy.

Thank you again for your advice and your help.

[big-all]

unless the soil was sterile its likely to be full off seeds including weeds any way

[Someone-Else]

Even if it is sterile (Doubt that it is) seeds will soon get blown onto that expanse of soil. look at the plots behind, they seem to have weeds.

[caretaker]

Thank you guys for your reply.

How do i check if the soil provided by the cemetery is sterile or not, as i never knew soil was sterile.

Learning new things everyday.

However if the weeds is growing, then i will sprinkle the Chip barking mulch over the soil to reduce the weed.

However at the moment it looks good, as it is new , but after few months it will soon grow of weeds, as you are saying seeds may fly over to the soil and existing soil may have the seed , which may grow the weed again.

[ayjay]

How do i check if the soil provided by the cemetery is sterile or not, as i never knew soil was sterile.

You check by waiting for the first weeds to show!

It won't be sterile, or if it is I'd be very surprised: sterilised soil is used for making seed composts etc., to do it at home you'd need to put it in the oven and bake it at about 200°F for a half hour.