Advice on clearing, preparing plot for planting

Rad

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Hello,

I'm new to the forum. Thanks in advance for any info.

My wife and I just bought our first home in eastern New York state and our yard has an area about 1/5 of an acre that is full of brush (wild black berries, thistles). I would like to clear the plot and enclose it as a garden, but i'm not sure how best to do it. I was thinking to rent a bobcat, clear everything then have top soil delivered and spread over the cleared area.

Could I just dump the topsoil ontop before the brush starts to sprout ? Do I even need to have top soil delivered?

Any other thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
 
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If you rent a bobcat make sure it has a ripper attachment. If you don't get all of the roots you will be fighting stuff forever. 90' x 90' shouldn't be that much of a problem. Anything that sprouts after you "get rid of it" can easily be removed by using a product called Greenlight Cut Vine and Stump Remover. Probably the most difficult to remove will be the berry vines. Before you order soil grow a small garden first. You may not need any soil at all.
 

Rad

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If you rent a bobcat make sure it has a ripper attachment. If you don't get all of the roots you will be fighting stuff forever. 90' x 90' shouldn't be that much of a problem. Anything that sprouts after you "get rid of it" can easily be removed by using a product called Greenlight Cut Vine and Stump Remover. Probably the most difficult to remove will be the berry vines. Before you order soil grow a small garden first. You may not need any soil at all.

Thanks, Chuck. After I use the ripper attachment to get up the roots, should I push all that churned soil off the plot? Do I need to replace the layer of top soil?
 
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I'd say if you have berries and weeds growing well without help, your soil is probably just fine, so rototill and go. :)

Canadian thistle (if that's what you have) is evil, evil stuff with roots that can go 30 feet deep. Rototilling may actually encourage it to grow more profusely and as advised above you may have to resort to other methods to systemically kill the roots.
 
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Thanks, Chuck. After I use the ripper attachment to get up the roots, should I push all that churned soil off the plot? Do I need to replace the layer of top soil?
If it were me I would put all of the uprooted stuff into a barrel and burn it. As far as the soil goes, for at least the first year all I would do is basic organic techniques. Adding organic materials such as compost and only use organic fertilizers is the best thing you can do. If, after a year of gardening things aren't right consider adding soil. There are other things you can use besides soil.
 
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Agree with Chuck, if you have stables near you they may be able to offer well rotted manure or you can buy pelleted chicken manure (organic matter) at garden centre's here.
 

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