river silt

[lesley gates]

Hi i am new to this site and in the spring I will be faced with the task of getting rid of tons of river silt !! I am also in the process of turning about 1/4 acre into a veggie plot , my question is ,,,, is the river silt of any use whatsoever in my garden daft question i know but??? someone has to ask them

[poultrychat]

I don't know the answer to your question but I just wanted to say it doesn't sound daft to me at all, the only thing I thought of was that it could maybe aid drainage but hopefully someone else will be able to tell you more

[Jaxom]

Lesley. G. If we were in Egypt I would say you have black gold on your ground, as silt from the river is what lead to one of the greatest ancient civilisations in history.
In order to answer your questions more information would be needed. Why is their silt on your land? Where did it come from? In this day and age of pollution, the rivers can carry more than goodness.
Jax

[lesley gates]

thanks both !! glad its not to daft well its klike this we have bought a small property in the marais (like the norfolk broads) region of France and we are going to try and grow all of our veggies, we live on a small island with four other houses and the water that goes around towards the back of our property has silted up, the water has slight usage (diesel) weekends in the summer, its a small tributary off the main river which I think goes from Lille out to Gravelines and the Channel. Of course I am praying that it will be good for my garden (trying to be as organic as possible) as the thought of bagging and dumping it (well the sheer scale of the amount of work) is horrifying, far better if I can use it like a mulch or for raised beds etc. I am off to france now until weds so please do not think me rude if I do not answer thanks lesley

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Lesley! Welcome to the forum. As Jaxom said river silt is full of nutrients and would be good for your soil. However, todays problem is pollution and you just don't know what the silt could be holding. I am not a chemist but surely you could soak some of the silt in water and then test the water to see if it contained any chemicals. There must be simple testing kits that you can buy. Check out if there are any industrial sites along the river or any heavy traffic.

Hope we can help you.

[lesley gates]

thanks lesley am trying your suggestion had a holed boat so filled it up and am going to plant my pumpkins in it later on this year am having a running battle with the moles (how did they get on the island!!! ) getting into my compost bins seems we both love the worms !!

[Lesley Jay]

Lesley by pure chance when looking at a fruit catalogue I have found something to get rid of moles. It is mole bombs. Sounds a bit like a war movie! You just bury these bombs in the ground and the moles can't stand the smell. They are perfectly safe to humans and to gardens and they last between 2 to 5 years. They are at www.kenmuir.co.uk