Land too precipitous to grow anything on? (5,5)

I believe the answer is:

sheer waste

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'land too' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'precipitous to grow anything on?' is the wordplay.
'precipitous' becomes 'sheer' (I've seen this in another clue).
'to grow anything on?' becomes 'waste' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sheer'+'waste'='SHEER WASTE'

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I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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