Sub soil? Or base of old driveway?

[DIYNotIan]

Hi

Over the last year or two we've been landscaping our garden to get it looking nice and to create more areas for growing veg. We created a new parking area which allowed us to dig up some of the old driveway and convert it into beds. I've been digging today in one of these beds to get ready for growing. I had previously put some top soil on the bed from elsewhere in the garden, so it now has a good few inches on top. However, beneath this is a light coloured sandy and stony "soil" and to my untrained eye I'm not sure if it is subsoil, or the base layer of the old driveway. Can anyone with more experience tell what it is by looking at these photos?

The old driveway was shingled. In fact, the shingle you can see at the top of the first photo IS the old driveway (we kept some of it as a path).

I'm thinking of bagging up some of the sandy / stony "soil" and getting rid of it so that the top soil is deeper in the bed. Does that sound like a good idea or a waste of time?

Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

Huge thanks

Max

 

[DIYNotIan]

Hi again

A quick update... I have dug down further now in a nearby spot and the light coloured sandy stuff goes on and on. I'm down almost 4 foot, and 3 and a half foot of it is this same sandy stuff. I initially thought if it was some kind of driveway base layer, but would it be anywhere near that thick/deep is so? Yet on the other hand it seems a little "unnatural" to be subsoil, although - to be honest - I'm not too familiar with such things so that's a very uneducated guess.

We are on a septic tank where we live, so it might have something to do with the soakaway???

Any guesses?

I'll dig a little deeper and take some photos to add to the thread.

Cheers

 

[r896neo]

Regardless of what it is you should loosen it up under proposed veg beds. If it drains ok then I wouldn't worry, spend your Time on a good thick layer of rotted manure this will improve structure and fertility.

If the sandy stuff doesn't drain well then dig it out.