Hi thereI have recently moved house and just cleared a large very overgrown garden of rhodendron bushes

Hello Toadman,
I read that the rhododendrons suck all the moisture out of the soil and also drop a layer of thick leaves and it's these 2 things that prevent other plants from growing, so maybe if you rake up all the leaves and enrich the area with compost other plants will grow, now that the bushes have been removed.

Rhododendrons do not poison the soil but they do seriously deplete it if nutrients. You'll need to add a lot o compost and humus rich material before you can grow anything else. You did get all the roots out?

I agree will Mg - Rhodies don't poison the soil. I have three rhodies on my property - all with minor plants growing all around them - bulbs, rubeckias, irises. Everything is fine. You'll just have to recondition the soil as you would would anything else that's been growing in the same place for 20 years. Throw on a couple inches of rich humus compost and you're all set to replant.

Thank you everyone! I was worried I'd have to dig out all the soil. The garden is huge so would have been hard. I have access to well rotted horse manure from a stable would this be OK to use? Bit worried about pesticides / antibiotics it may contain. Thanks
Ps I'm totally new to gardening so know zero!!!

Ps - Moon growe I'm still working on the roots and stumps - they are huge. I'm hitting them with an axe and digging them. The plot is an acre so it's a lot of work...

Welcome to GoY Toadman. We are all novices learning together. Well rotted horse manure is fine to use. Medications & pesticides would be inert by now (broken down as well).

Thanks Bathgate. Very helpful. I've added a photo showing the clearance I'm doing. I've now cut down all the Rhodies on the left and right . Happy- I can now see the large pine tree whose trunk was totally hidden ..

welcome to GoY Toadman. as already said the soil will need lots of manure adding to improve the nutrients etc. The leaves may well have made the soil quite acidic. as Rhodies and the pine are doing well this suggests it is an acidic soil. bear this in mind when you consider which plants you'd like to grow. most plants are neutral with few needing acid soial or alkaline soil.

as for the stumps you can add a chemical to help kill the stump [called stump killer] and speed up its decay. Getting as much out as you can by digging/axe/sawing is worthwhile as it will reduce unwanted fungal activity. Though you will have fungi present in the soil naturally.

keep a ' photo diary' of how your garden progresses. You can save them on here and then write blogs to show us how you are getting on. we'd love to watch how your garden develops. :o)

Once you've removed all the roots from an area then start adding the compost, AS BG says well rotted horse manure will be fine as will spent mushroom compost; in fact, any organic matter. This is a long term project so don't expect t o see results instantly. With an acre of land just keep working away slowly and think NOW about what you want it the garden.

You could hire a stump grinding machine - that would help get out the stumps and large roots much more quickly. Although stump killing products such as SBK prevent regrowth, they don't really speed up decomposition much - it'd still take years. Agree with the need for plenty of composted materials to be added... if you don't have time to dig it all in, just spread it across the top - life forms in the soil will work it in for you.

Sbg may be thinking of "stump remover", which is essentially saltpeter. I've had very inconsistent results with that, but that may just be our low humidity.

Rhododendrons only have very shallow & fibrous surface roots. With a garden spade, simply slice down a circumference a couple feet out from the main stem. The stem should pop out like a lollipop.

Hi everybody, thanks so much for the advice. Great ideas and will start taking photos as I go. The roots and stumps are pretty hard to get out so I think maybe the grinder could be a good idea!!

I do hope you will find the time between digging and sawing and grinding to keep us all up to date on this project! I. for one, will follow with great interest!