I'm involved with a community garden on a site that was formerly used as a rubble dump during the refurbishment of a housing estate. Silver Birch have grown to form a perimeter around the garden and we use raised beds for vegetables as we can't really determine what's down below.
But rubble, old tiles and goodness knows what else are a fact of daily life for us and the plants in the garden adapt. We've moved a lot of rubble for safety purposes as we need to have clear, accessible paths for people. What remains provides an amazing habitat for a range of beetles, slaters, frogs and toads.
Your points about soil imports are great. Historically the garden has had a delivery of top soil once a year and not much composting. I've really upped our composting this year in the hope that next year we won't require that additional soil.
I'm involved with a community garden on a site that was formerly used as a rubble dump during the refurbishment of a housing estate. Silver Birch have grown to form a perimeter around the garden and we use raised beds for vegetables as we can't really determine what's down below.
But rubble, old tiles and goodness knows what else are a fact of daily life for us and the plants in the garden adapt. We've moved a lot of rubble for safety purposes as we need to have clear, accessible paths for people. What remains provides an amazing habitat for a range of beetles, slaters, frogs and toads.
Your points about soil imports are great. Historically the garden has had a delivery of top soil once a year and not much composting. I've really upped our composting this year in the hope that next year we won't require that additional soil.