How clean soil?

[Claire6272]

I have a small area of ground formally used by builders to wash out their buckets and dump waste, I have dug it over removing visable rubbish and would now like to plant it up. Ideally I'd like a few vegetables but am concerned about how safe they would be to eat, weeds had grown freely and appeared healthy. What would you advise? Many thanks.

[Frank97]

I used to be a plasterer so am guilty of washing buckets in gardens, as far as I know the products won't be harmful otherwise they would poison the builders who used them in the first place.

[Claire6272]

very good point!! many thanks

[AlBags]

Yes .. There are not many builder's waste materials that will harm a flower bed. Excess cement and lime maybe (alkali) but that's about all.

[Maydup]

But the builders wouldn't have been eating the contents of their buckets..................

I'd assume the worse and try a couple of ideas.

1 - Hose the soil down to dilute and polutents.
2 - In the first year grow produce such as peas and beans that are picked above ground rather than root veg. Although they draw water from the soil the beans etc will have processed it more than root veg.
3 - Also avoid tomatoes and friut which have a higher water content.
4 - Post on a gardening forum to see what the experts say

[AlBags]

lol Maidup ...

It's not Seascale you know! : )

[Maydup]

lol - I know, but cement powder is most definitely to be avoided.

Taken from a construction website - Surface water run-off also carries other pollutants from the site, such as diesel and oil, toxic chemicals, and building materials like cement. When these substances get into waterways they poison water life and any animal that drinks from them. Pollutants on construction sites can also soak into the groundwater, a source of human drinking water.

[Frank97]

I agree diesel and oil would be bad but I don't consider them to be building materials, why would a builder be washing out buckets of them anyway?

[Claire6272]

Thank you for all your responses, much appreciated. I’m going to dig out and replace soil; and beans and peas it will be for this year. Sorry to be dim but what is seascale - googled and came up with a place in Cumbria!!

[Maydup]

Seascale is a village in Cumbria and close to Sellafield. There are questions and discussions about the whether they have suffered radioactive pollution from the site.

[Claire6272]

Cheers Maidup. Note to self - must read more thoroughly ;-P