Big Things for Holding Earth

[General Woundwort]

This is not for personal use, but a query that's in my mind.

I've read of construction sacks - the type lifted by cranes - being filled with earth to give mini-allotments of some 25 m^2, and to be used in urban areas without suitable land.

Can anyone give me more details?

[Snadger]

Can't say I've heard or seen these GW. Dumpy bags could be used but they are only one metre cubed................ 25 dumpy bags?

You'd need a fair auld crane to shift a 25 tonne load in one go!!!!!!

[rana]

You'd also need a heck of a lot of soil.
I use the 1M bags for turning leaves into leaf mold. To use as planters they would need a sturdy support structure to keep them to a near decent shape.

[chriscross1966]

I've been growing in 1m cubed bags this year .... got them and the topsoil/manure I put in them off freecycle.... been good for sweetcorn, seem OK for potatos, seem OK for squash and onions, probably not big enough for full-size maize as well as making the resulting plants unfeasibly tall though I'll try dwarf peas in them next year cos it'll save some of the bending down and might protect against rabbits....ditto Jerusalem artichokes as it will protect against rabbits and their rather annoying habit of volunteering ...

chrisc

[jacob marley]

There is a company in East Birmingham that sells top soil delivered in them dobby bags approx a tonne in each one @£45 a bag 25bags £1125 for a garden a tad expensive to my mind....jacob

[General Woundwort]

Doubtless I was over-estimating the size. I'm content just now with various Zimbabwean-style land-reclaimations I've preformed, and was mostly asking 'cos of a discussion I'd just had about a new allotment consultation process by Highland Council.

[Guzzik]

B&Q used to sell bags of top soil like that. Don't know if they still do though. On another note, if you want to "Do it yourself", B&Q sell the most wonderful of items for carrying soil or weeds in, "HIPPO BAGS" one can get an "ordinary" sized one for under a tenner and a BIG one wot can take a bath in length.................

[taff]

I know there are some of these 'gardens' in London, but I can't remember where.
They seem to work quite well, similar to keyhole gardening, and the depth of bag means you can grow pretty much anything you like.

[zazen999]

Do you mean this?

LFA2008 - London Festival of Architecture - Grow Bags: Urban Allotments

[General Woundwort]

That's it, Zazen. I'd seen it on summat like Country File.

[geoff]

You could get the large builders sacks for free by looking out for someone who's having a lot of building work done. Or ask a few builder's merchants, they collect them and dump them, so they'll probably be glad to find someone who wants the old ones

Remember that they are intended to be for single use, so the materials will not be the best quality. After a while the plastic will degrade and the bags will split