Can anything grow where Leilandii trees have been growing.

Leylandii take all of the nurishment out of the soil and leave it dry and barren. Get a quantity of compost/soil conditioner/leafmould/good top soil and dig it in to the ground.
I am not sure about acidity but you could buy a pH test kit from the garden centre and test the soil yourself. If it is acid then this can be rectified easily by the application of a little lime, just like in the vegetable garden

Hi Jojo,

On a humorous note, the weeds will still thrive, as our garden proves, so the soil can't be that bad! A lot of plants thought that the extra light all of a sudden was a fantastic thing and they went a bit crazy. I think that's the worst thing about Leylandii, the way they rob the light, well and their boring ugliness of course! We've also managed to grow some potatoes this year where the massive Leylandii were just over a year ago, so I don't think the soil can be completely barren. But enriching it is always going to be an advantage, that's good advice from B-aholic.
Good luck with your new plans.

I agree with every thing said, but the need for manure is the most important.then put anything you want in.

I had some HUGE Leylandii taken out just over a year ago and put a veggie patch in where they had been. I did dig in two bins of garden compost, but everything grew well right from the off, so I think it'll be fine.

It depends what you would like to grow, whether it faces South etc., etc. But I grew some lovely rockery plants on a spot where a line of conifers had been, not only that behing them people had apparently used the ground as a dump, so after all the bits of drainpipe, paint tins etc were removed paving slabs up on end were used as a retaining wall and all the rubbish was piled up and covered with barrowloads of dry dusty soil, and Lleylandii droppings and rockery plants planted and they thrived. There's a photo of it in my pics.

Can I ask Jojofly if you had the roots removed and what size where the trees?

Hi

There were 6 of them and huge - couldn't say how high.they were out of control! The roots are still in - we had them cut to the ground but no access for stump grinder. They were hard against the fence so there is a good 6-8 feet in front we can use to plant.

Ah-ha! That makes things more difficult. I assume that you do not have room for a man with a JCB, either - over the fence?
The roots of the trees will stretch out well away from the stump and form a solid mat just where you want to dig. I think that you will have great difficulty in digging a hole for a replacemnt tree. As the leyandii will no longer be growing you might be as well importing large amounts of top soil and raising the height of the garden along this border.
I would build a retaining wall along the border and fill it with good soil.

Presumably you have drilled holes and put in stump killer?
In my experience the stumps will eventually rot you may have fungi grow on them I found on my stumps to leave them be when this happens. I also added top soil as it was possible for me to heighten that area (the stumps werent so obvious then).
After putting in plenty of humas (that's what I found I needed and plenty of it) I think you could plant a tree or if not look at tall flowering evergreens to disguise the stumps and still give you interest. Don't plant near the fence to give them the best chance. Good luck.

The stumps are completely at ground level. We already added a load of top soil as we had a lot to dispose of where we dug out for a parking area, so I'd say it is raised by at least 12 inches. We have not drilled and used stump killer. The tree surgeon assured me they won't sprout! I'll try digging in a load of manure and chopping through roots to make a large hole for a tree. Let you know how we get on. Thanks for the advice.

we couldn't possibly get rid of stumps either, for similar reasons - no vehicle access, large fence etc. No fungus so far, and veg growing happily among extensive ex-root systems! I'll keep you posted. I'm so glad those horrendous trees have gone - : )

Did you know that there are different size stump grinders ?
They're not just the huge ones that are attached to JCBs.

I've had stumps removed in this garden on two seperate occasions and it was operated by hand.

Might this information be of any help to you ?

I will ask - the guys are coming back to some work at the front. The patch of garden where the trees were is accessed down a path next to a brick built shed, so I not sure if there is the width. As it is a contained area it is is easy to raise the soil level. I would like to plant a eycalyptus and/or some bamboo as I would still like some height/ screening. Any advice???

Go for it Jojoflynn I think your choice will work if you water till established.

Conifers don't resprout once they've been cut down -so you don't need to use stump killer. I have to say, my trees were HUGE but, apart from the sawn-off stump (which is nearly 3ft across), I haven't really had a problem with the roots. There are two roots that do stick out into my veg patch for a distance of about 3ft, but I've just worked around them - there was no mat of finer roots at all. The soil was actually pretty easy to work, especially as it had no weeds growing in it due to the shade the tree cast.

That's good to hear. I've not started digging yet! Our stumps are nowhere near that - maybe a foot across - but there were 6 close together. I think it was a hedge that got out of controll!

Same here..... lol