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May 9, 2008
What to do with Excess Soil
We have about about 2 tons of excess soil from digging a patio in our backyard. Anyone have any ideas what to do with this? We have bought and filled all the planters and window boxes we could ever use and transplanted to other areas of our yard already.
Comments
advertise free fill on craigslist. Usually done by developers willing to truck it someplace but worth a shot.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 1:12 PM
inner city soil will be lead contaminated - ours is... from leaded petrol pollution etc
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 1:48 PM
Try calling BBG (Brooklyn Botanic Garden) and ask for their City Garden Outreach office to see if anyone could use it.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 3:14 PM
agree with 1:48. soil within brooklyn city limits is overhwelmingly contaminated with lead and other heavy metals. do a kindness to your neighbors, and don't give it to anyone for their vegetable garden.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 3:41 PM
also: describe this in cubic yards. i worked for years in landscaping and boulders are measured by size, soil by volume.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 3:54 PM
I recently read a report by National Geographic that said that lead isn't really absorbed by vegetables, and that what would end up in edible things from bad soil is less harmful than what's found on non-organically farmed produce.... I for one feel fine after my Brooklyn dirt tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, etc. last year!
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 7:09 PM
Just so you know, what you have is not soil, as in high quality top soil, it's fill. It's not the stuff you should put in containers, unless it's just the bottom because it will be too heavy (I don't know about lead) with clay,etc. Anything below the first few inches of soil is not the good, loamy stuff you want for container planting. For that, you need potting soil.
Posted by: Cobblekrill at May 9, 2008 8:01 PM
call in the trash haulers to take it away -- Greg's express, Dun-Rite etc. They pay at the dump by weight, so soil/fill can be a little more expensive.
Posted by: hoffy at May 9, 2008 8:25 PM
7:09,
First of all, a tomato is a fruit. But generally, i've read that fruits grown in leaded soil don't absorb much if any and any lead present is well below the harmful amount. I do think leafy vegetables are a different story though.
Posted by: guest at May 11, 2008 11:18 PM
You could shape it into a terrace and plant it.
Posted by: guest at June 7, 2008 7:14 PM
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