Does this soil look OK?

PeteW

Hiya,

I've been on the hunt for soil to fill my newly raised beds with and have now been offered a decent amount by a local freecycler.

I've just been to pick a load up and it looked a bit clay-heavy so I was hoping you guys could offer your opinion on whether it would be OK to use.

I know it's hard to tell from a low quality phone picture, but it's worth a go:



Thanks,

Pete

foreign_correspondent

it looks like it contains quite a lot of clay or sand - it is hard to tell from the photo... is it topsoil? It looks almost like it has some builders sand in it..but that could be the photo... are those orangey lumps sand, clay, or stone? Is that a big lump of concrete or something on the right? It would be wise to fish anything lke that out, you could riddle it.

What are you hoping to grow in it? Do you have any organic material to mix in with it?

Wookey

Looks like dried out clay, is also roots in there which would lead me to thing there will be weed seeds in it to. It will require a lot of work to break the clay down, adding compost, manure and working it in as well as allowing the frost to get at it. Personally i would pass on it.

amcluesent

That's more like sub-soil! Avoid...someone's been digging out foundations.

Zazen999

Dry some out in the oven. Put in a jam jar - half fill the jar. Add warm water nearly to the top and shake it up. Leave 24 hours. Shake it up again. Leave to settle another 24 hours. Take a photo and show us.

Don't skimp on drying it out, if you don't it takes ages for the clay to absorb the water again and it won't break up properly.

You ideally need a mix of sand, silt, clay and organic. The different types will settle at different rates and any organic will float.

Personally, I don't mind clay; and have a lottie with lots of heavy clay as the top soil had been scraped off and used by the nurseries across the road years back. You just have to know what you have in order to improve the qualities to make it closer to 'ideal'.

valk_scot

Hard to tell, but unless it's riddled with toxins then most soil has potential. I'd pick out big stones, lumps of concrete and tree roots etc then mix 50:50 with bin compost or at least decent garden soil, plus some sort of nutrients such as Growmore or pelleted chicken manure. If it's sandy then it will be pretty free draining but you can correct that over the next couple of years, If it's clay add in some sharp sand and make sure not to compact it. You can also buy cheap soil testing kits at B&Q etc, to tell you if you need to lime. (Though it's too late to lime this year...do it in November.)

TBH though I've never bothered to top up any of my fixed/raised beds when I dug them. The mere act of double digging a raised bed (as you should, when you first set them up) plus the obligatory load of manure or home made compost will usually raise a bed two or three inches all on it's own, plus over the next year or two you can top dress with bin or mushroom compost and the soil level will rise naturally. The soil level in my beds sits six inches above the path and I've never acyually "filled" them as such. It's only in the gardening comics and TV shows that they haul in £££££s worth of expensive soil to top up these beds, you know. Most of us just dig up and rearrange what we have, plus make a lot of compost.

PeteW

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

As for the lumps in the soil, there aren't any boulders or concrete, it's just lumps of soil, or clay or sand or whatever it is! It's been raining all morning so the soil was pretty wet which is why it's so lumpy. It also means it's hard for a layman like me to tell if it's sand or clay that's in there. My initial thought was clay though.

If it goes in, it'll be mixed with manure (as much as necessary, I've a good supply) and as much compost as I can - I've got a full 330L compost bin 70% of which is ready to use, and a couple 120L B&Q compost sacks, plus anything more I can blag!

I've built my beds quite high (about 15 inches) in an effort to help my back problems, and to keep the toddlers out! So I need a bit more than just digging it over.

I'll do the jam jar thing and upload a photo in a day or two.

Thanks for your help, you're all wonderful!!

Pete

valk_scot

If you're making 15" deep beds and you have coarse lumps in that soil, chuck them in as a base layer, mixed with some sharp sand. Will improve the drainage.

PeteW

What is 'sharp sand'? A special kind of sand? There's a great big bucket of sand by my shed that's been there since I moved in - no idea what kind of sand it is though!

oldsam

PeteW see my post about topsoil on your other posting - the test for soil quality is simple - squeeze some together in hand if stays as a lump reject it. But if is good it fall apart when you tap the lump , I see you want to fill raised beds , Get the best by using compost to encourage the the worms to work for you, Go on line to Kitchen Garden Web site for more information about raised beds or Irish lazy beds .

valk_scot

PeteW wrote: »

What is 'sharp sand'? A special kind of sand? There's a great big bucket of sand by my shed that's been there since I moved in - no idea what kind of sand it is though!

Sharp sand is a type of builders sand and cheaper than say the smooth less abrasive sand required for sand pits that toddlers use. But in your case, any sand will do. If you've got a bucket of unwanted sand then by all means mix it in with your clay-y soil, as long as it's uncontaminated by oil or chemicals. (I have a small bucket of sand + oil inside my shed door, for cleaning and oiling my garden tools.)