Topic: Top soil from sub soil

[Ishard]

Can I make topsoil out of subsoil?

The reason I ask is because I want to make some more raised beds and I have run out of 'imported' topsoil.

I plan on removing some topsoil from an area that I haven't planted and lay on the subsoil newspaper, straw, some sand and then chicken manure ready for next year.

Will this work to make the sub soil into topsoil?

My topsoil has very little substance and is very sandy but my subsoil is very clay based.

[tishop]

I've heard that the clay in subsoil can become a 'sump' for pollutants such as heavy metals. Whether this is true or not I can't say, but personally I would play it safe and wait to find another supply of quality top soil.

[Robert_Brenchley]

You can, but it takes years. Just keep adding bulky organic matter every year.

[Garden Manager]

Believe me I have tried and its not been that sucessfull. I created a new border once just by digging up part of a lawn forking it over and planting into it. The soil underneath was quite poor and I couldnt change it, just put whatever compost i had spare to improve it. This was 5 years ago and I am still struggling to get anything bar the toughest shrubs to grow there.

Another thing i have tried where my soil is thin (overlying chalk btw) is to break up the top layer of chalk, pick out the biggest lumps and flints and mix soil with it to improve the depth. This has really only created more subsoil.

So really it is a struggle to make topsoil from subsoil without copious supplies of compost or manure.

Can you not 'borrow' and topsoil from elsewhere? it would be better thn subsoil, even iof it is not quite the same quality as the topsoil you have used elsewhere on your plot. Perhaps you can find someone who is doing some landscaping and has some they want to get rid of? Whatever you do you should really try to kee topsoil and subsoil seperate. it is something i have not done in the past and regretted it. I do try to now where possible.

[Ishard]

Thanks for your replies they have helped me make the decision as to what to do.  :)

Im gonna buy some more topsoil and hang the expense lol

[Tee Gee]

Im gonna buy some more topsoil

I go along with the others on this one about how difficult it can be but be careful as to where you buy it!!

Quite often topsoil is sourced from building sites and here lies the potential problem!!

Local & National government want developers to use 'brown field sites' to protect the green belt which is commendable but!!!! what was on these sites prior to planning permission being given???

Quite possibly factories who's owners may have been a bit lax in the way they got rid of 'waste products' and because they were dumping on their own land it was not seen as a problem.

But now that they have left!!you may find that the ground (including the topsoil) may be contaminated.

Now I don't want to scaremonger but my advice is based on experience of the process e.g. my daughter bought some topsoil when she renovated her garden and you could smell the oil residues in it as we moved it.

So all I have to say is try and see where your soil is coming from before buying.  It has been known for a supplier to show the prospective customer what he/she is supposedly getting, only to find that when it arrives at your garden it is not of the same quality.

So my advice is; check again before tipping it off the vehicle because the load you have received may not come from the pile you saw but from a more inferior source.

As I say; I don't want to scaremonger but these things happen!!

[Garden Manager]

Like i said before you dont nessesarily have to spend money on more topsoil. Soetimes people want to get rid of it and would be happy for you to take it away. there is also freecycle. I often see offers of topsoil on my local one or you could place a request saying you need some and see what response you get. You will probably have to collect rather than have it delivered though.

[tonybloke]

It is possible,but involves mixing base minerals and lots of organic matter. Topsoil is manufactured commercially, see www.green_tech.co.uk

[redimp]

Isn't double (bastard) digging about turning the top layers of subsoil into top soil.  You dig off to the top layers of soil and temporarily remove them, stick in loads of organic matter, then stick to top soil back so that the worms mix the top soil, the toppish layers of the sub soil and organic matter together so that eventually you increase the depth of the top soil.  I have been doing this with mine although I do only have a spit or less of topsoil to start off with.

[saddad]

That's how it works Redclanger... we will all have come across areas in gardens/lotties that have never been worked, under sheds etc... where the soil is nowhere near as deep/good as elsewhere.....
 ::) The question is how long did it take, our site was set up in 1920 and some plots have clearly been loved and worked for all that time and others haven't!!
 :'(