When it comes to digging and backfilling, who is right, A or B?

Question

I will bury sibling pet cats in a field behind the back yard, about 3+ feet down into mostly clay soil under about 10-inch top soil. One person (A) says to remove and set aside top soil when excavating; and then backfill last with that. Another person (B) says to not bother because the fallow ground will reconstitute iitself in tiers automatically over time. It is in a Mediterranean climate—dry summers, wet winters.

sciencegravy · Accepted Answer

Neither way is "wrong", and both ways are fine.

"A" will be doing the burial with as little disturbance to the soil and layers.  "B"'s  method is more like the double-digging of a garden.  It's one way to do it.  It's not going to hurt anything.  And topsoil will accumulate on the surface no mater what, and the top 6 inches of soil, even with clay mixed in, will still get worked by microbes and worms to make it all more soil-like.

Anonymous · Answer

A is correct.  Topsoil contains organic material and the subsoil does not, if the soil is truly clay or contains a high percentage of clay, it will be impervious and any organics accumulating on it will be washed away.  Tell B to stop being so lazy, it hardly takes any additional effort to do it right and have grass growing again in a couple weeks.

fluffernut · Answer

Set aside the top soil.  Reconstitution will take eons.

daffyduct2006 · Answer

Doing it A's method, the top soil will be back on top now. B's method will take some time, a long time.

Trending News

When it comes to digging and backfilling, who is right, A or B?

4 Answers