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New ground, should I compact or not

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  • #1

    New ground, should I compact or not

    I've just dug over a patch which hasn't had anything growing on it for many years, but has been a wood store, with almost no rain getting to it.
    It was very very hard and is in big clumps of clay soil, I've added alot of council compost, see other thread, and dug it over again. But it still must have alot of air in it.

    My sweetcorn must go out today if possible, as it's rootbound almost and today is the only chance I have for a while.

    Do I walk it and compact it a bit, or do I plant as it is? Any other thoughts?
    "Orinoco was a fat lazy Womble"

    Please ignore everything I say, I make it up as I go along, not only do I generally not believe what I write, I never remember it either.
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  • #2
    I'd only walk on it to compact it if it was brassicas going in, roots need air too!

    Good luck with the council compost - fingers crossed
    Jiving on down to the beach to see the blue and the gray, seems to be all and it's rosy-it's a beautiful day!

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    • #3
      My sweetcorn threw out roots close to the ground to stablise them, I'm sure - they were in loose ground - I just firmed them in when transplanted.. have done the same this year, and despite being battered by winds, they seem ok so far!

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      • #4
        It's not the loose ground that's a problem as such, it's the bloody huge, rock hard, bits of clay soil in there.

        Anyway, I've started planting now, so it's too late
        "Orinoco was a fat lazy Womble"

        Please ignore everything I say, I make it up as I go along, not only do I generally not believe what I write, I never remember it either.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by womble View Post
          It's not the loose ground that's a problem as such, it's the bloody huge, rock hard, bits of clay soil in there.

          Anyway, I've started planting now, so it's too late
          I have a big spork and use it to chop up those huge hunks of yellow clay in my garden into teeny tiny pieces. It takes a long while to do, but the result is worth it. I also keep telling myself that the better I dig over the ground in my beds as I start this year, the less work I'll have to do in the future. It almost makes it worth it. Lol! Took me 2.5 solid days of work to do my last bed. But it's gorgeous now.
          I do Charity Wild food walks. Check out www.msitu.co.uk

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          • #6
            I chopped up alot with my azada, but my back can only take so much. Over the winter I'll cover it with manure, which IMO is much the better way of improving the ground, rather than half killing yourself
            "Orinoco was a fat lazy Womble"

            Please ignore everything I say, I make it up as I go along, not only do I generally not believe what I write, I never remember it either.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by womble View Post
              which IMO is much the better way of improving the ground, rather than half killing yourself
              No, no. Dig until you drop, then your body will feed the ground as it decomposes.
              Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
              By singing-'Oh how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
              While better men than we go out and start their working lives
              At grubbing weeds from gravel paths with broken dinner-knives. ~ Rudyard Kipling

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              • #8
                If it is heavy clay, once you have broken it down for planting I'd say you should do your damnedest not to walk on it at all. Clay will compact all by itself.

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                • #9
                  Wish my soil was full of air! Air and water are good...............lack of air and water is bad!
                  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)

                  Diversify & prosper


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