How to get a fine tilth on stoney,clay soil

[CADS]

Hi everyone

The soil on my allotment is clay with lots of stones and I worry that my veg seedlings, onions, potatoes etc won't 'take' unless I can break down the already dug over beds into a fine tilth.

I don't have access to any organic matter to put into the soil yet. This will be the first year I will be growing anything after spending spring and summer year clearing and weeding my new but previously used allotment.

Any ideas/recommendations will be great? Any tools you favour/ recommend I get too?

Many thanks
CADS

[FionaH]

Sow everything you can in pots and plant out when they are large enough to cope with chunky soil. Try using multi purpose compost in the sowing hole.

[Glutton4...]

^^ Yup - wot she said! ^^

Wise words of wisdom from the Gardening Hobbit!

[Aberdeenplotter]

Too late for this year but the trick with difficult soil is to get it dug in plenty of time so that the winter frosts can do the hard work for you.

[Poddington Pea]

I am pleased with the above answers! I tto have clay soil with stones, glass, nails, toy cars, coins....bricks, bones. You get the idea! I've pulled out everything I find as I dig and got most of my beds sorted early, but my squash, courgettes and tomato beds are still very lumpy. I was going to post about this and ask whether it would be enough to use multi purpose in the planting holes, now I know!!
Many thanks
x

[zazen999]

Big big tip for clay soil.

Cover with cardboard for the winter. Seriously - the soil underneath come spring will be SO friable you will nearly wet yourself. Ok, that's just me then...but it will be good

Oh, and grow a green manure in it if you can.

[jackie j]

I sowed some seeds the other day and tried it in the ground by first giving it a good dig, then added a row of compost, then sowing the seeds along the line and sprinkled more compost on top.
I mainly grow the plants in the greenhouse first then make the hole bigger add compost place plant in hole add more compost and soil. Firm around plant and water. Its one way of getting better stuff in the soil and hopefully will help next time its dug.

[Snadger]

Don't garden on clay soil but mine dies have loads of stones. To get a fine surface tilth for sowing I use the rake with the handle almost vertical. The stones I rake off are gathered up and spread on the paths!

[FionaH]

Big big tip for clay soil.

Cover with cardboard for the winter. Seriously - the soil underneath come spring will be SO friable you will nearly wet yourself. Ok, that's just me then...but it will be good

Oh, and grow a green manure in it if you can.

She is absolutely right! Card board is your friend!

[Glutton4...]

Raised beds - Yes, I'm a cheat! Anything for an easy life!

[Dane End Dolly]

our soil is heavy clay and fuill of flint and large stones (I spend hours de-stoning the soil), we just keep turning it over and are hoping in time it will break down. thanks Zaz for the advice on cardboard, i will try that this winter

[roitelet]

To get a fine tilth on any soil first rake it with a wide toothed rake. Stamp all over it and repeat several times. Continue using a finer and finer rake and you will finish up with a fine tilth.

[SarzWix]

Mine also is clay, heavily laden with stones, broken glass, random lumps of metal etc. I grow as much as possible in pots and cell trays and plant them out at a decent size. But I also try and get as much as possible covered in cardboard and manure or just plain straw over the winter, and it's starting to make a difference now. Although the stones and glass are still there, it's a lot easier to rake and start getting rid of some of it now.
Carrots and parsnips, I take out V-shaped trenches and fill them with compost & sifted soil and sow into that, which also does the soil some good Too expensive to grow many that way, but eventually the soil will be fit to grow them in with only a small line of compost to sow into. I hope....

[susieq100]

In the Potteries the soil is heavy clay - cardboard and FYM have done the trick for me at the allotment. And before I had access to FYM, just cardboard. I am also digging in/raking in grass clippings into the flowerbeds at home ... after 3 years I do at least now have some 'soil'!

[CADS]

Thank you very much for all your suggestions. I will be on the hunt/collecting cardboard over the next several months.