Looking for a donation of topsoil....

Last post 24-07-2009 11:29 AM by Digger. 23 replies.

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18/06/2009 09:49 AM
Wimbish Kitchen Gardens Location: Saffron Walden Joined on: 15 Jun 2009 Posts: 2	Reply \| Contact We are a group of gardeners who live on Carver Barracks, Wimbish near Saffron Walden, Essex. The Barracks land is managed by Defence Estates and we have just gained permission from them to establish a plot of allotments for military families on an adjoining airfield site. 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)) who are based at Carver Barracks are able to clear the land for us, and we have secured funding for the small amount of fencing we require. However, we are in desperate need of some topsoil – the soil here is heavy clay!! Does anyone where we might be able to get a donation of top soil? We have access to some organic matter (composted leaves and grass cuttings) so this can be applied to our plots, but it’s not enough on its own! We are looking at clearing an area of 10m x 70m. Many thanks for your help!!

18/06/2009 09:49 AM

Wimbish Kitchen Gardens
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Saffron Walden
Joined on:
15 Jun 2009
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We are a group of gardeners who live on Carver Barracks, Wimbish near Saffron Walden, Essex.

The Barracks land is managed by Defence Estates and we have just gained permission from them to establish a plot of allotments for military families on an adjoining airfield site. 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)) who are based at Carver Barracks are able to clear the land for us, and we have secured funding for the small amount of fencing we require. However, we are in desperate need of some topsoil – the soil here is heavy clay!!

Does anyone where we might be able to get a donation of top soil? We have access to some organic matter (composted leaves and grass cuttings) so this can be applied to our plots, but it’s not enough on its own! We are looking at clearing an area of 10m x 70m.

Many thanks for your help!!

18/06/2009 11:17 AM	In reply to
miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,976	Reply \| Contact You could try Freecycle (www.uk.freecycle.org/) - there will probably be someone who wants to get rid of a load of soil. I'd be careful about it, though, and check the soil before you accept it to see what's been growing in it. If it's full of weeds or rubbish then you'll cause yourself another problem. Importing top soil isn't necessarily a good solution for dealing with clay and if the soil is light, it can just make things worse by clagging it up even more. You might want to think about improving the soil you have by adding sharp sand and large amounts of compost to break up the clay. This takes a couple of years but it will be good soil, and, anyway, clay is full of nutrients so take advantage of that.

18/06/2009 11:17 AM

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miranda
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Oxfordshire
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You could try Freecycle (www.uk.freecycle.org/) - there will probably be someone who wants to get rid of a load of soil. I'd be careful about it, though, and check the soil before you accept it to see what's been growing in it. If it's full of weeds or rubbish then you'll cause yourself another problem.

Importing top soil isn't necessarily a good solution for dealing with clay and if the soil is light, it can just make things worse by clagging it up even more. You might want to think about improving the soil you have by adding sharp sand and large amounts of compost to break up the clay. This takes a couple of years but it will be good soil, and, anyway, clay is full of nutrients so take advantage of that.

21/06/2009 11:15 PM	In reply to
bigsusan55 Location: North-West London Joined on: 14 May 2009 Posts: 144	Reply \| Contact I agree with Miranda that topsoil is probably not the solution. Plenty of sharp sand and organic matter is what is needed - my garden started as heavy clay and is now wonderful for growth. Rotted manure is probably easier to obtain in large quantities than compost, but check out the thread on contaminated manure elsewhere on this forum. And when we say "compost", that is the stuff made by rotting things down in compost bins, not the stuff you buy as "compost" for containers. That is mainly peat. While it would help your soil it's not a very environmentally friendly way of doing it, and expensive. Susan B

21/06/2009 11:15 PM

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bigsusan55
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I agree with Miranda that topsoil is probably not the solution. Plenty of sharp sand and organic matter is what is needed - my garden started as heavy clay and is now wonderful for growth. Rotted manure is probably easier to obtain in large quantities than compost, but check out the thread on contaminated manure elsewhere on this forum. And when we say "compost", that is the stuff made by rotting things down in compost bins, not the stuff you buy as "compost" for containers. That is mainly peat. While it would help your soil it's not a very environmentally friendly way of doing it, and expensive.

Susan B

21/06/2009 11:39 PM	In reply to
squirrel Location: West Suffolk, almost Cambridgeshire Joined on: 28 Jul 2008 Posts: 51	Reply \| Contact Why don't you try Uttlesford District Council for some free compost? They seem to have "giveaways" from time to time as it says here on their website.

21/06/2009 11:39 PM

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squirrel
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Why don't you try Uttlesford District Council for some free compost? They seem to have "giveaways" from time to time as it says here on their website.

22/06/2009 06:15 PM	In reply to
Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743	Reply \| Contact Why don't you not bother, compost from the council is usually the stuff that they collect from everyone on the recycle route, so you don't know what's in it? and neither does anyone else, and if the council say that it's the stuff collected from recycling they can't have a clue what's in it either, it could contain anything from chemicals to taoxic waste to pernicious weed seeds etc... digger

22/06/2009 06:15 PM

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Digger
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Why don't you not bother, compost from the council is usually the stuff that they collect from everyone on the recycle route, so you don't know what's in it? and neither does anyone else, and if the council say that it's the stuff collected from recycling they can't have a clue what's in it either, it could contain anything from chemicals to taoxic waste to pernicious weed seeds etc...

digger

22/06/2009 06:51 PM	In reply to
squirrel Location: West Suffolk, almost Cambridgeshire Joined on: 28 Jul 2008 Posts: 51	Reply \| Contact Well, there definitely won't be any weed seeds in it as the stuff is composted hot. Neither will you find any diseases. I have used council compost before and while it isn't as good as the home made stuff it was perfectly fine to improve the heavy clay on our allotment.

22/06/2009 06:51 PM

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squirrel
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Well, there definitely won't be any weed seeds in it as the stuff is composted hot. Neither will you find any diseases. I have used council compost before and while it isn't as good as the home made stuff it was perfectly fine to improve the heavy clay on our allotment.

22/06/2009 06:54 PM	In reply to
miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,976	Reply \| Contact I've used it too and one thing I will say is to watch out for chips of glass. We had a long discussion about this a while ago - questions were asked of councils and it turned out that there was no guarantee of there not being toxins in the mix. It may or may not be significant that farmers, in Lincolnshire at least, aren't allowed to use it.

22/06/2009 06:54 PM

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miranda
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I've used it too and one thing I will say is to watch out for chips of glass. We had a long discussion about this a while ago - questions were asked of councils and it turned out that there was no guarantee of there not being toxins in the mix. It may or may not be significant that farmers, in Lincolnshire at least, aren't allowed to use it.

22/06/2009 07:50 PM	In reply to
Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743	Reply \| Contact Well squirrel they don't guarantee that the compost will be weed seed free it's too easy for it to get contaminated, i hope you didn't import any chemical crap into your allotment,some of the lawn chemicals are nasty and people can't all be trusted to dispose of unwanted/illegal chemicals properly and they may be tempted to chuck them in the re cycle bin, our local council no longer allows people to have compost from them. digger

22/06/2009 07:50 PM

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Digger
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Well squirrel they don't guarantee that the compost will be weed seed free it's too easy for it to get contaminated, i hope you didn't import any chemical crap into your allotment,some of the lawn chemicals are nasty and people can't all be trusted to dispose of unwanted/illegal chemicals properly and they may be tempted to chuck them in the re cycle bin, our local council no longer allows people to have compost from them.

digger

22/06/2009 08:01 PM	In reply to
squirrel Location: West Suffolk, almost Cambridgeshire Joined on: 28 Jul 2008 Posts: 51	Reply \| Contact Well, I suppose nothing is ever guaranteed. You can see that with the contaminated manure and I am quite sure my home made compost is full of seeds as at the moment I seem to have tomato seedling shooting up everywhere. I appreciate your concern, digger, but just wish you could express it in a slightly friendlier manner.

22/06/2009 08:01 PM

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squirrel
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Well, I suppose nothing is ever guaranteed. You can see that with the contaminated manure and I am quite sure my home made compost is full of seeds as at the moment I seem to have tomato seedling shooting up everywhere.

I appreciate your concern, digger, but just wish you could express it in a slightly friendlier manner.

22/06/2009 08:37 PM	In reply to
Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743	Reply \| Contact squirrel: I appreciate your concern, digger, but just wish you could express it in a slightly friendlier manner. I'm not sure what you mean squirrel old fruit? do you think I come across as unfriendly? can you give me an example please? digger

22/06/2009 08:37 PM

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Digger
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squirrel:

I appreciate your concern, digger, but just wish you could express it in a slightly friendlier manner.

I'm not sure what you mean squirrel old fruit? do you think I come across as unfriendly? can you give me an example please?

digger

22/06/2009 08:54 PM	In reply to
squirrel Location: West Suffolk, almost Cambridgeshire Joined on: 28 Jul 2008 Posts: 51	Reply \| Contact I just found the wording a bit harsh. I was only trying to help with a suggestion and didn't think starting a reply with "Why don't you not bother..." was very nice. But then I think I might just be a bit overly sensitive in that regard or maybe misunderstood something.

22/06/2009 08:54 PM

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squirrel
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I just found the wording a bit harsh. I was only trying to help with a suggestion and didn't think starting a reply with "Why don't you not bother..." was very nice.

But then I think I might just be a bit overly sensitive in that regard or maybe misunderstood something.

22/06/2009 09:03 PM	In reply to
miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,976	Reply \| Contact It's hard to convey our meaning in text, squirrel, but sometimes things come across more abruptly than is meant. Don't take it to heart. Digger is a good bloke and he's from That Lancashire, where they call a spade a spade.

22/06/2009 09:03 PM

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miranda
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It's hard to convey our meaning in text, squirrel, but sometimes things come across more abruptly than is meant. Don't take it to heart. Digger is a good bloke and he's from That Lancashire, where they call a spade a spade.

22/06/2009 09:15 PM	In reply to
squirrel Location: West Suffolk, almost Cambridgeshire Joined on: 28 Jul 2008 Posts: 51	Reply \| Contact Thanks miranda! Yeah, I completely understand what you mean. I was just taken a bit aback but now think that I probably just over-reacted.

22/06/2009 09:15 PM

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