Hi all,

I've just moved into a relatively new build home (2 years old) and have decided to attempt to create a vegetable patch. The actual area of garden is raised from the house level and is surrounded by a brick wall.

Started digging and 10 cm's down there is a layer of foam/plastic material which seems to cover the whole garden surface, this is not the same as the plastic lining protecting the wall. Now initial thoughts were that it covered the building debris left behind, however a curious look underneath shows that it just covers the natural clay.

So does anyone know what this layer of material is, what it is for and basically can i rip it out in order to sink a border fence in and refill with top soil?

Thank you for any help!

On Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:21:59 +0000, Matt of Calne
wrote:


Hi all,

I've just moved into a relatively new build home (2 years old) and have
decided to attempt to create a vegetable patch. The actual area of
garden is raised from the house level and is surrounded by a brick
wall.

Started digging and 10 cm's down there is a layer of foam/plastic
material which seems to cover the whole garden surface, this is not the
same as the plastic lining protecting the wall. Now initial thoughts
were that it covered the building debris left behind, however a curious
look underneath shows that it just covers the natural clay.

So does anyone know what this layer of material is, what it is for and
basically can i rip it out in order to sink a border fence in and refill
with top soil?

Sounds like a spot where an above ground pool was installed, not a
garden... without more information I can't advise what you can/canot
do... but naturally if it's your property you can do whatever you like
so long as it's legal. How large an area are you talking about? How
high above grade is this area? How is this area situated in relation
to the house or other buildings; distance and elevation? A few photos
would help a lot.

Sounds like a spot where an above ground pool was installed, not a
garden... without more information I can't advise what you can/canot
do... but naturally if it's your property you can do whatever you like
so long as it's legal. How large an area are you talking about? How
high above grade is this area? How is this area situated in relation
to the house or other buildings; distance and elevation? A few photos
would help a lot.[/quote]

Depth 1 ft 3 inch
Length 19 ft 4
Width 11 ft 4

The sheet is located approx 4 inches down and you can see it as a white colour on the picture. The sheet has also been found by the shed which is 14 ft 6 away from the corner nearest the property.

Matt of Calne wrote:

Sounds like a spot where an above ground pool was installed, not a
garden... without more information I can't advise what you can/canot
do... but naturally if it's your property you can do whatever you like
so long as it's legal. How large an area are you talking about? How
high above grade is this area? How is this area situated in relation
to the house or other buildings; distance and elevation? A few photos
would help a lot.

Depth 1 ft 3 inch
Length 19 ft 4
Width 11 ft 4

The sheet is located approx 4 inches down and you can see it as a white
colour on the picture. The sheet has also been found by the shed which is
14 ft 6 away from the corner nearest the property.

what is the 1'3" depth describing? depth of
the clay? sand or gravel or ?

the 3" on top is what? topsoil or mulch or ?

does the material let water soak through?

does the entire area drain ok or does
water collect any place? before you put in
a wall and gardens, get the drainage figured
out, that saves a lot of troubles later...

what kinds of things do you want to grow?
any deep rooted plants will not do well
with the barrier. so you have to either
go up or remove the barrier.

if the barrier is in place because of
toxic soil considerations that wouldn't work
very well. any chance this is an old
reclaimed industrial site or waste site?
i don't know the laws in your country and
such about this sort of disclosure by the
seller so...

right now i'd agree with the pool base
hypothesis. might extend it to an abandoned
outbuilding base of some type (perhaps a
greenhouse). this seems the simplest and
most logical answer, but doesn't make sense
for a newly built home... so color me
confused too.


songbird