GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

Persephone · 28-09-2006, 08:26 PM posted to rec.gardens

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 13:46:45 GMT, (jeffrey lohn)
wrote:

We are about to grade a small vacant lot which we own (it's adjacent to a
small commercial building which we're renovating-- location is urban
America... New York City!). The lot get's fantastic sunlight... nearly
all day long..... so we want to plant trees, shrubs, gardens(tomatoes,
etc.), grass.....
We need to order a lot of topsoil to fill in the lot....
Question is: ... is topsoil good enough for planting? somewhere i've
heard that topsoil is not good for planting(has no nutrients??).... but i
have no idea about that.
Should we mix in with the topsoil bags of so called , "tree and shrub
planting dirt" and "flower and vegetable planting dirt"?

All suggestions greatly appreciated

On a slightly different subject: Has that vacant lot been used as a
dog toilet? If so, BEWARE. Extremely serious infections possibly
leading to blindness can happen.

You may want to sterilize the area before adding soil. This can be
done by covering it with clear plastic and letting the sun bake out
the bad stuff. Not sure how long it takes. Maybe somebody can
weigh in on this.

Persephone.