Soil Depth

A site visit was undertaken on the 23rd of March, 2018 and included the digging of test holes across the site to view the soil matrix and profile as well as identify the location of key features within the proposed site. The site images of 6 of the 7 test holes are shown on the next page. It was intended to dig more holes but due to the extremely hard material it was only possible to manually dig past the surface in a few areas.

At each successful test hole we were unable to dig further than between 200mm and 300mm as a concrete slab was found at the bottom of every test hole. When considering this in conjunction with the spread out nature of the test holes the team concluded that it is very likely there is a concrete slab beneath the whole site. As a result our plans for preparation of the site have adjusted to allow for the following; 4 of the 10 plots will be planted into with the existing soil depth (400m2), the remaining 6 plots (600m2) will have supplementary material added sourced form the area north of the garden 01 site.

This area will be cleared of vegetation and the soil deposited onto the 6 plots to achieve a 500mm soil depth. It is expected that the 500mm soil depth will be adequate for successful plant growth however this will be monitored with Garden 01 and additional material retrieved if required for Garden 02

Soil testing