glass in soil

I recently had a dig out of an existing flower bed in preparation for a stone patio. Fortunately I had another job nearby which required the 14 or so tonnes of soil that I dug out. This decent dark in colour soil seemed perfect for filling in old vegetable squares that are to be seeded with grass. When raking the soil I found bits of broken glass (old looking bottles) as you usually find, along with the usual assortment of smashed china. Nothing that rang any alarm bells, was to be expected from an flower bed in an old village house. It was good fertile dark soil at the end of the day. Saved me money by finding a new home for it and the customer got the soil for free.

Today I got a phone call from the customer complaining that the soil is littered with glass and the usual moaning followed - 'it's for a children's play area so I don't want any glass cutting them, he would never of accepted it if he knew about the glass etc....' I didn't notice the glass and I handled it many times, it did not strike me as a problem, I am conscientious I might add, I do good quality work.

I went and had a look straight away and quite frankly it looks pretty good. If it were my garden I would seed it and not worry about it. I looked at it closely and there are no big bits but there are some tiny bits of glass if you look closely.

Would these little bits be any problem at all with a layer of grass over them? I cant see them cutting through the glass and hurting someone but I would be grateful for a second opinion.

I might just get an extra couple of tonnes of clean topsoil and dress the whole area to keep him happy.

What are your thoughts please?

Replies

Claire Brown July 31, 2012 at 10:10pm

In my experience from our community garden, glass has a very bad habit of finding its way to the surface, even when you think you've cleared it completely.
Sue/Bayleaf's Traditional July 31, 2012 at 10:48pm

If most people knew what was beneath their lawns they would be horrified. especially on new builds.

The cheapest way would be just to sieve the surface as you say you didn't notice the glass so there can't be that much there and probably if you gave it a little more attention he would be satisfied.

If you're going to seed it maybe a top dressing of top soil would help otherwise turf it bearing in mind that we still have a full month of summer to go through

Sue
thedirtydigger July 31, 2012 at 11:07pm

exactly. I have done a lot of raking in my time and have seen exactly what is underneath the grass in some gardens. this soil looks good. ahhh some people.

its definitely going to be seeded so will just get some topsoil in and apply a top dressing. got to be the easiest and most time effective way.

thank you everybody for your opinions.
briggsandscrapem August 1, 2012 at 6:51pm

Its sods law mate, maybe in the same situation in the future you will have to get the customer to go and inspect their free soil first to see if its up to standard. Just pick the surface bits out and stick a thin layer of bought in soil down to stop him mithering.

Good luck and don't let it stop you helping others who might appreciate your efforts.

Love your user name.
Debbie Merryweather August 1, 2012 at 9:55pm

I agree with Claire Brown, I have an allotment where I regularly find shards of glass on the top of the soil, that seem to appear overnight no where near where I have been digging.

Having also worked in Children's Day Care for a number of years - you can't be too careful with other people's children;))

Good luck with this one.
PRO

Phil Voice August 5, 2012 at 9:42am

"get the customer to go and inspect their free soil first to see if its up to standard"

Good advice - this approach can eliminate a multitude of potential problems.
Dave Warden August 5, 2012 at 1:46pm

I've just landscaped a small area of a school that required digging out a sloped flower bed, considering the kids had been pottering about in the bed I was amazed at how much broken glass we found. Not just small bits but several large pieces (broken jars, bottles etc) that could have done serious damage to small fingers.
Craig Downey August 6, 2012 at 12:02am

I think most gardens have glass in them, it just so happens that he can see the soil in this case and so can see the glass, tell him it's nothing unusual. (like Tom jones said)
thedirtydigger February 12, 2013 at 10:42am

Thank you for all of your comments and advice. An update to this dilemma.
I spent a day raking the soil over and over again. 3 tonnes of fresh/clean topsoil was placed on top at my expense. It turned out absolutely perfect.
So basically the customer got a new lawn for free. Not even a thank you. Needless to say I will not be working for him again.
ahhhh the working life of a landscaper...
Steve London Stone February 12, 2013 at 5:24pm

Good luck and don't let it stop you helping others who might appreciate your efforts.

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