Poor soil

Before putting the cardboard down, I hand weeded any large obvious weeds. But the only ones that appear now have blown in as seeds.

One thing I will have to tackle before we consider planting anything is getting rid of the extraordinary number of snails that have been thrown up by the upheaval. They have thrived in all the cover. There were fist sized clumps of them (breeding?), and we left a lot on the surface in the hope that the birds would deal with them, but I fancy that in the long run, they will have to be removed by now hand.

I wouldn't worry about your Rozanne yet, Jalima. I have several different geraniums which all disappear over winter but come back like weeds in the spring! Have a poke around where it was. I bet you'll find it has a nice solid 'base' just waiting to spring into life again...
I bought my Rozanne cheaply from B & Q a couple of years ago from their 'very sad plants' section. It's thriving and flowers all summer long.

Question. Does the cardboard trick stop docks and nettles in their tracks?

I like Wargrave Pink But it does take over. I bought a little collection of new ones three years ago. Some are doing better than others. I think some varieties are just too "over-bred".

Splash does very well in the shade, I love hardy geraniums, they are so useful for filling bits of borders and weed suppressors.
I did love heucheras but have gone right off them now.

I used to grow Johnson’s Blue, which I adored, but it very quickly got out of hand and took up too much space. The one I have in my current garden is quite compact for a cranesbill.

I may plant some more of the cranesbill geraniums but a couple more I have don't flower for long and become rather untidy.

The sun has broken through so I'm off out to inspect Roxanne, chop back an overhanging penstemmon and give her some light!

There are over 68 types of Cranesbill geraniums, large and small, with flowers from white through pink and blue to almost a black purple.
They are one of the most useful plants. Splash is a very pretty one, meduim sized with white flowers striped with purple.

Jalima I have a perennial geranium that gets “accidentally” cut down to the ground on a regular basis, but bounces back with a flourish. I should have room for a couple on this new site and I like the look of Rosanne. It’s odd how the dogs still stop, even though there is nothing to sniff at and pee on now, as if they can’t quite work it out!

my favourite is Rozanne
I bought one last year, I think it was you who recommended it shysal and it was lovely.
It has disappeared but I'm hoping it will grow back again this year - or have I lost it?

It's expensive but you would only need to put a little in each hole with a bit round the edge to encourage the heather to spread. The ground sounds quite acid anyway.

You can get a peat free ericaceous compost now. Thereby helping to save the peat bogs. www.amazon.co.uk/Melcourt-Sylvagrow-Ericaceous-Compost-lime-hating/dp/B07CVGSM6L/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=peat+free+ericaceous+compost&tag=gransnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1550961302&sr=8-4

Yes, a big bag of ericaceous compost dug into the existing pine needly soil should support heathers.

Another idea would be to look out for some building works in your area where they're digging down into the soil. They might have some to spare, useful topsoil.
We got some that way once.

Yes Foxy, that’s wat I did on my reclaimed part of the garden. It was sloping so I built a barrier where the join with the lawn was. Then I laid cardboard and back filled with a large amount of anything going cheap at the garden centres. I ended up with about 30 cms/ 12 inches of good soil.
After 2 years all the plant, large and small are thriving.
DH used the same method on the new raised beds in another part of the garden. All good.

I wonder if the ‘no dig’ method might help. I watched something on TV, where they laid cardboard over an area, covered it with a good layer of manure and then a good layer of compost, and planted straight through. Apparently, the cardboard then disintegrated and worked into the ‘poor’ soil aerating it. This also helped with being able to weed easily. The rhs.org.uk site is really good, for help and advice.

Last* not that!

It’s ok to plant hardy plants now, or once you’ve improved your soil, but beware of that years ‘beast from the East’.
I’d keep an ey on the weather forecast and have some fleece or cloches made from plastic bottles to put over anything tender.
Have you drawn a planting plan, so that the plants at the rear get planted first, it’s easy to over plant a new bed. I’m speaking from experience ?.

I would just buy some bags of soil improver. I like your choice of plants. The Heuchera and Geranium (my favourite is Rozanne) grow all around my garden and the soil is rubbish!

I don’t think it’s too early to look for plants gd. And if you get them in fairly soon, they’ll have chance to get a bit established before any dry spells in summer might make daily watering a necessary chore.
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All off the above is very reassuring and taken on board, with thanks (even Janea’s suggestion for improving my soul ? - could do with a little of that!!). I looked out at it this morning and it looks a bit like a large shallow grave with rocks! I had blueberries (or at least, the blackbirds had blueberries - I had few!) in the back garden, but I want a bit more impact (but subtle!) in the front. I am not losing sight of the fact that we are still in winter and it’s too early to look for plants, but at least I have something to think about.

I was using a bradall to spear and remove the B** vine weevils from the base of my heucheras.

I am now awaiting for my vine weevil nematodes to arrive.
I am a gentle soul really .

We visited a garden last year where they had covered the soil under Blueberry bushes with pine needles because they help make the soil acid which is what Blueberries like. So Heathers and dwarf Rhodendron should do well in the situation you describe.

Our soil is poor acid sand, we live next to a heather moor so I planted a variety of Heathers, Azaleas and Rhodendron and Camelias which all do well.

Pine needles will compost if you just leave them where they are.
They add air to the soil, so although they take a long time to break down, they're quite good composting material.

All the above!. Just to reassure you. We had a small forest of Christmas trees felled to create a community garden. The stumps were tugged out and everyone despaired as it looked quite barren However, we raked and dug and then planted potatoes. We got a fine crop.
The next year we dug in compost and grew plenty more veg.
Good luck with your garden. I'm sure it will be lovely.