Crusty Soil Killing my Seedlings...

[Grovsey]

Any tips for erradicating crusty soil.....when I dig it over it's fine then afte rthe first rain it forms a really thick and hard crust which my seedlings dont seem to be able to get through.....

PLEASE HELP!

[lottie dolly]

hi grovsey,it's called capping,i often had it,i read somewere that if you put a strip of wood,like a lathe over where you planted the seeds,then remove once they start to emerge,the idea is,it keeps the soil moist at the same time giving a little protection,i had forgotten about this tip until reading this,i wonder if a strip of fleese would do the same job,experiment,others will be along with more.

[janeyo]

I have some times put a layer of fine compost over the seedlings instead of dirt as it seems to take longer to go clumpy and hard.

janeyo

[Two_Sheds]

I have the same problem. What you need to do is sow your seeds as normal, but instead of covering them with soil (which will cap) you need to cover them with compost (multi-purpose is perfect ... it's also sterile so you will only get crop seeds and not weed seeds coming through).

[rustylady]

Compost is good as Janeyo says. Is your soil clay or sand? Both tend to "cap", specially if worked to a really fine tilth before sowing. I now tend to sow most of my seeds in trays or cells in the cold greenhouse before planting out onto the lottie.

[duggie]

The soil on our plot is clay so I've been putting multi purpose compost in the drills, sowing the seeds then covering with more compost. I figured it would give the seeds the best start but as I'm new to growing my own I may be wrong

[Grovsey]

cheers for the tips...

My soil is mostly pebbles, we are about 25 metres from the beach on the south coast in lancing....pebbles everywhere otherwise I'm not sure what my soil is apart form hugely alkaline.....I have added a lot of my own compost top it. I think if anything its sand that caps it??

Is multi-purpose compoast sterile...I didint know that!! so weeds wont grow in it?

[roitelet]

I have clay soil so it caps as well. I lay fleece over the places where I have sown seed and it seems to work. For most of the time I start things of in modules which I find to be the best solution.

[The Doctor]

I suspect this is whats stopping my carrots from emerging.

Anyone have any advice on how to deal with it once stuff's been planted?

[Novice Gardener]

I was having the same problem with crusty soil, but I think I'm getting over it now. Every evening I've watered the bare soil, then given it a "spudling" (my fave word at the moment ) using a garden claw. I've repeated this every morning, and at last today, my soil looks those lovely pictures of soil that you see in the gardening books. I tried starting seeds of direct in the soil a few weeks ago but had no luck, so I put a thin layer of potting compost down in one bit of the beds and started some seeds of there. Once they'd come through I moved them around, replaced the potting compost, and sowed again. Seems to be working for me

[Two_Sheds]

Every evening I've watered the bare soil

You don't need to. See the resurrected threads on watering, and save yourself some work.