Reclaiming an unfinished residential building site for agriculture

[tomobrien2004]

Hi,

I am considering trying to reclaim for agriculture a 4-acre field. It was going to be a housing estate, but once the boom burst in Ireland the builder went bankrupt. The top soil in the former agricultural land was stripped, and seems to have been then covered in a gravel cover. The field now is a mixture of some housing foundations (about 6-7). I was looking for advice on how much topsoil would be needed, and if you could just cover the gravel with topsoil, or would you need to remove the gravel first etc. I have been looking at some strange stuff on how to recover old-mining sites, but can't seem to find any definite information. I could just not be using the correct terms - the internet is a big place!

I need your help!!!

Tom

[eco4560]

You need to spend some time looking at what you have on site and regard each thing as a resource not a problem. Once you have this mind set you can work out how best to use it. You may decide that piling the gravel up to one side means that you can use it later for a purpose - like making paths or in cement. Is the topsoil still on site? The easiest way to start would be to sheet mulch and plant green manures to dig in to work up some soil. Buying in topsoil would be expensive and you may not know what is in it...

[permup]

I would use the gravel as paths by leaving it where it is, and building raised no-dig garden beds on top of it. Check out my free "how to" guide on no-dig gardening at www.permup.com to see how.

[tomobrien2004]

Is the topsoil still on site? The easiest way to start would be to sheet mulch and plant green manures to dig in to work up some soil. Buying in topsoil would be expensive and you may not know what is in it...

The topsoil has all been removed. The site had a slight slope, so they in effect made a terrace of the site, with up to 3/4 feet off topsoil removed at the top of the site, to about maybe 1 foot at the bottom.

It seems to me i have two main options:
1. remove all the gravel/stones and try and repair the soil below it
2. cover the gravel/stones with new topsoil and go from there

With the second option, I have really no idea how deep the top soil would need to be, and what would be the likelihood of most roots being able to break through the gravel barrier.

Tom