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Coal in the garden...

PlantyPruPlantyPru Posts: 142
in Problem solving
So I'm digging out a big patch under the neighbours conifers where I'm going to put grasses and hostas but the old chap who lived here before us had a habit of dumping all the coal at the top of the garden... I'm getting out what I can but there will still be a lot left buried, will it be detrimental to the plants going in soil full of coal?
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  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    It used to be a regular thing to use ashes from the open fire to make garden paths with.  Was he a miner? They used to get free coal. Some got more than they used, and sold any spare on.  Looking at the pit tips that are now grassed over, any bits of coal in the soil doesn't harm plants. Many of the pit tips in Notts are now nature trails.
  • PlantyPruPlantyPru Posts: 142
    I couldn't tell you if he was or not but there's a good possibility with where we live. That was my thinking too, I'll just carry on getting the big chunks out and not worry about the rest. Thank you 
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I occasionally turn up bits of coal in our front garden (guessing someone had a load delivered there at some time). The plants don't seem to mind it but it's not as nuch as yours. I think I would remove what you can but no need to worry about getting every last bit. Treat it like stony soil (ie it might make the drainage sharper than it would be otherwise). The hostas would appreciate extra compost/manure dug in to help retain moisture.
    ..
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    If we discover any in our garden our house deeds say it belongs to the Duke of Rutland. I doubt he was a miner!
    Rutland, England
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    That's one way if getting rid of the big lumps. Bag them up and leave them on his doorstep.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    The towns of Mons and Charleroi are surrounded by hills entirely made of slag from the coal mines and, since the mines have long closed, they are now covered in trees, grasses, wildflowers, nature reserves.

    I wouldn't worry but I would add plenty of well-rotted manure and garden compost to help plant roots get established and growing well.   Gardens need to perform faster than re-wilding.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    Perhaps hostas might need a rethink, but you have plenty of options that would actually like it there (presumably very free draining and rubbly) and grow better than in normal garden soil.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • PlantyPruPlantyPru Posts: 142
    Well it could be worse, I could have an old Hoover to dig out too..... Not the first one we've ever found in this garden either 
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I wonder how archaeologists thousands of years from now will account for the strange burial rites involving electrical appliances.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    In our previous garden we dug up a pram.....still upright (sans enfant) which shows how deep the rubbish was in that part of the land.
    Our very successful Rock garden was built on the ridge of cinders and coal which went down the centre of the garden. It does tend to make the soil acid, but not terribly so.
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