Weathered soil...

[TortoiseBea]

Basically, I am moving my outdoor enclosure to a sunnier position in my garden. The area I am moving it to is currently a vegetable bed (a raised one). I put 2 or 3 bags of compost there about 10months ago and the enclosure is going to be moved onto this area with the compost as the flooring. My question is, I know topsoil is supposed to be used, will I be able to put the enclosure straight onto the compost soil bearing in mind it's been there nearly a year? Or will I need to move all that and replace it with topsoil still?

sorry if that isn't explained properly :P

[Bindi]

I would think that any fertilizers or chemicals would have been washed away or utilized by the plants that you had in there by now....

What do others think?

[TortoiseBea]

Yep, I hope this will be the case and I can use it

[linda]

hi i asked a friend of mine who is a horticulturist about the compost
here is my question & his reply
hope this helps


hi paul
i wander if you can help me
how long does your average bag of shop bought compost
hold its fertiliser nutrients etc
my friend has a raised garden added 3 bags B&Q type compost 10 months ago
since then she grew flowers etc in this area
now she wants to place her tortoises in this area
usually we advise steralised top soil as substrate for tortoises
but she is asking would the area of old compost now be relatively free of anything that was in it
cheers linda

Hey Linda, hope all is well with you.
B & Q brand compost is highly peat based, and tends to be leached of nutrients relatively quickly, so 10 months of 'wear' should have safely depleted the medium of its nutrient value - especially considering your friend grew flowers in that bed followed by a notably cold and inclement winter.
So the tortoises should be fine, especially if your friend could mix some play sand into the top couple of inches of compost to add some weight and stability to the soil. x

[TortoiseBea]

Thanks a lot Linda!
I'll try the sand idea I think