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My house was built in 1952 and the basement was dug out from under the house at a later date. The way they did this left a perfectly sized (approximately 12"x40", about 4' from the floor) space with red clay, which I have 3 bags of good soil (50 quarts each) I plan to displace/augment that with. Presumably, there is no foundation beneath this column of clay - which is enclosed with mere cinder blocks - but I don't quite have a way of determining that definitively.

My question is: assuming I don't grow anything very tall - should I just dump the soil on top of the clay? or should I use the plastic from the bags of dirt (or something more durable) as a parchment? I don't plan on planting anything that would threaten cinder blocks, although I definitely plan to make a question about that, later (we're limited to cat-friendly plants, so).

Or, perhaps I'm a lunatic for wanting to plant in this space, and you good people would rather discourage me from doing so.

Any which way, I'm happy to hear any thoughts & opinions...

EDIT This is what the space looks like:

Image

Jurp
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rm-vanda
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    Why not using raised beds? Much easier for water handling. – Johannes_B Apr 23 '22 at 04:18
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    I would discourage you from putting dirt on your basement floor and watering it. – Johannes_B Apr 23 '22 at 04:19
  • It isn't the floor-! it's... an interesting sort of side space.... i'll attach a photo... – rm-vanda Apr 23 '22 at 04:26
  • Also, we already have an outdoor space with plenty of tomatoes, peppers, and herbs... just trying to figure out how to best utilize our indoor space as well – rm-vanda Apr 23 '22 at 04:34
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    What I'm seeing in your photo is what we in Wisconsin call a crawl space. Here, it's typically floored with a foot or more of gravel, but yours has a clay bottom, right? I'm assuming that there is a gap between the top of the inner cinder block wall and the top of the clay. Is that right, too? If so, how big is that gap? – Jurp Apr 23 '22 at 10:35
  • At the moment it's about 3 inches, but I was thinking I may remove around a half an inch so that the bag of dirt can sit comfortably in the space without spilling over. The bags of dirt I have are about 3" thick, so that should work perfectly. My thought was to lay down the bags of dirt and simply cut the top of it in a sort of H pattern and fold out the extra plastic to it lay down to separate that dirt from the clay. – rm-vanda Apr 23 '22 at 15:44
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    I would discourage the idea of growing plants which will cause an increase in moisture underneath a living area. Mold grows well in dark moist areas and could be a health hazard – kevinskio Apr 24 '22 at 11:48
  • Do you have enough electric power available for lighting ? I suspect not in a house that old . – blacksmith37 Apr 24 '22 at 16:01
  • Oh yeah, we only have 100 amps, but these two LED lights don't draw enough to be of concern. – rm-vanda Apr 24 '22 at 20:28
  • And no worries @kevinskio - we plan on planting things that won't require much water - and things like bromeliad are supposed to ward against mold, even. – rm-vanda Apr 24 '22 at 20:30
  • For the record, I wound up digging it up about 8 inches, since the wife wanted a canna lily... and everything is planted, now. I will add an answer to this sometime in the next week or two, but I'd still accept another answer with the right info. Thank you all! – rm-vanda Apr 24 '22 at 22:59

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I'd be quite concerned about water leaking from your plants into the surrounding area. I presume you are in a place with winter. You will be risking water-ice damage to various things behind the wall. Also, moisture is going to be a potential cause of mold and various related issues. Personally, I would not try to grow anything by just putting soil directly on any of the surfaces in the picture. Even with a water barrier, it could easily cause big moisture issues.

You might be OK if you use containers that are completely watertight, at least as "catch basins" under your plants. If you go that route, be very vigilant for condensation. Be very aware of the need for ventilation and temperature control. Various plants will respond very differently to this sort of situation.

One of the comments suggested tables for your plants. This is far better. You can get them to plant from all sides. You can see if you have water leaking and correct it immediately.

Rohit Gupta
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Boba Fit
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