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Hi there! We started on our new allotment a couple of months ago when it was just uncultivated couch grass. We have been digging it over, laying out beds with horse manure etc, but are finding it really difficult to get it to the really fine tilth suitable for seed sowing. Others next to us just rotavated it repeatedly to get it to that stage but we dont have that luxury and have done it all by hand... it has got to golf ball size stage, some smaller, but it dries to a rock-like consistency and I am not sure how to get it any finer! Please help...

Add plenty of organic matter and rake, rake, rake. Don't let the soil dry out too much as it'll set solid (as you may have already found out). I use an azada - allows me to get a fair bit of momentum and clout to break up the big stuff. I then dig in loads of compost and just keep raking, and azada-ing (?) until it breaks down. Then I rake some more, or use the hoe to loosen it up.

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Updated - 25th August

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As HeyWayne says, it's hardwork. I like the phrase "good spade husbandry" as advised by the council letter when I got an allotment.

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Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

Thank you sorry to sound dumb Wayne, but when you say "rake" do you mean to rake all the lumps of earth off? What do you do with them then? The rake doesnt seem to break them up...

Hit 'em, that's what I do. I don't just use the rake to "rake", I hit the earth (so the prongs dig in if you see what I mean), and then rake backwards and forwards. Sometimes I even hit the earth with the ends of the rake - holding the rake with the prongs facing sideways. You could even use the back of teh rake for some extra oomph.

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Updated - 25th August

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Ah hah - the penny finally drops! (sorry, its a long fall....) AND I have ordered an azada - many thanks Wayne!

rake, thump, swear, rake, bash, pick, rake, drag, swear.

That's usually my routine. I've recently taken to using a seive too on small er areas - I have loads of stones.

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Updated - 25th August

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I rarely sow seeds into my soil. I usually sow into pots/modules and don't let the wee things out into the big wide world till they can take care of themselves. Old softie, me! It means though, that if the soil is still a bit lumpy it's not a great problem.

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It takes more oil than vinegar to make a good salad dressing.

vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated Aug 29th 2008

If you don't fancy breaking your back and can stretch to about £35 for the day, you can hire a rotavator. Look in yellow pages under 'Tool Hire'. They will probably want a bond as well, which is usually in the form of a cheque for £50 which they give back when you return the machine. Sometimes, they will even deliver and retrieve it all in the price

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it and if you ain't going to eat it, don't kill it

This is what works for me. Rake the bed somewhere near to level then use the rake as a 'tamper' whacking it down vertically like a piledriver. After you've done this over the whole bed start raking it again ' but with the rake handle close to vertical and only doing a couple of inches at a time 'wavering' over the bed and shuffling backwards.

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Rotovator high spin speed and slow forward movement....... Lazy git but hey, it works for me :-)

It depends what kind of soil you started from Spud. It could take 10 years of raking and bashing to get it to a fine tilth. But you can plant some seeds in anything - but for the rest, sow them in compost and plant them out when they have 4 true leaves. Or rake out a baby trench, fill it with compost and sow your seeds there. It will all work out. Good luck.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

We had a similar problem on our plot last year, until another plot holder showed us her hand held Wolf rotorvator! Basically its a hand held rotorvator thats operated by your own ohysical effort, you just run it backwards and forwards, and the tines break up the clumps to a fine tilth fairly easily and very quickly! The Wolf range are not cheap, but very good, and have a removable head system that allows you to take one handle to the plot and several heads, so lessens the amount of stuff you have to take back and forth, and easy to change over! We regularly use the 4" hoe and the 8' rotorvator heads!

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Blessings
Suzanne (aka Mrs Dobby)

'Garden naked - get some colour in your cheeks'!

The Dobby's Pumpkin Patch - a blogspot work in progress!
Last updated 10th August 2008 - updates!

Thank you, thank you!! I feel a lot better now... I have sown everything into pots first anyway so that is a relief to know that it will be okay. Thanks also for the tip about the Wolf thingy, Mrs Dobby, I will go and have a look. I quite enjoy all the digging etc but its was getting a bit depressing having neighbours whose plots look smooth as a beach and wondering what I was doing wrong!

Glad the info was of help, there's a thread we posted about them a while ago, link here
Wolf Hand Rotovator & Push/Pull Hoe

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Blessings
Suzanne (aka Mrs Dobby)

'Garden naked - get some colour in your cheeks'!

The Dobby's Pumpkin Patch - a blogspot work in progress!
Last updated 10th August 2008 - updates!

Hi, when we sow our seeds I have to say say '1 lump or 2' as we arrange the lumps of solid clay around our little seeds!! Actually, that's the quickest way to have me jumping around in frustration and threatening to give it all up & quit. We ALWAYS plant into pots at home first then plant out on the allotment after emtying a grow bag onto the bed first.
xxxx

I had a patch last weekend that was literally lumps, but had to get it to a fine tilth to get 50 odd onion sets in.

I added some coffee grounds, some burnt soil from another patch of the lottie, some mustard that had grown on a patch at home as a green manure and some sand. I dug it in for ages but still had lumps.

All the lumps got taken out and put into a pile ready to be broken down once they had dried out a bit, and bingo - a fine tilth. It took a while but all the sets sent in last weekend and are looking good now.

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Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trial underway with onions, lettuce, tomatoes and calabrese.