Poor soil

Acid loving plants would thrive well, Rhododendron, Camelia, Azalea, Hydrangea to name but a few, all love fertility so add manure or fertilizer. If you want a vegetable crop potatoes tolerate acid well, all the above need water they don’t like dry conditions

Perhaps try to rake or sift out as many as you can.

I am just waiting for the neighbours to cut down their Leylandii - I'll even help pay!!

ps - a neighbouring cat seemed to think that my heathers made a good lavatory, whether it was just a favourite spot or whether heather attract cats I do not know.

Scant chance of removing the pine needles, jalima I’m afraid. We will just have to work with them☹️.

Local farm manure dug into the soil.

Heathers like ericaceous soil so perhaps need to be in a corner away from the other plants, unless your other planting also likes acid soil.

My heucheras got vine weevil, sadly, but check exactly what type of soil they like before you invest in them.

as everyone else says, compost and any type of soil improver and check to see if your would-be plants like rich soil, if so then add manure, which you can buy in bags.

I bought compost which was suitable for shrubs to top-dress roses, clematis etc and it is supposed to enrich the soil for five+ months.

Try to remove all the pine needles.

Have you checked the pH of your soil?

I created a new flower bed in similar conditions. Over the winter I dug in soil improver, manure and general compost, all bought at the local garden centre. Everything I planted grew and did well.
If your growing heathers they prefer ericaceous soil so I’d use ericaceous compost.

Improve your soil!!

I don’t think heathers need particularly rich soil, gd. They like acid soil though so
a dose of miracid would help.
But if you want to improve your soul, compost is the way to go. If you don’t make your own, it might be worth asking your council if they supply it. Ours composts garden waste from the green bins and sells it back to us.