What now??

[Looby-Blu]

So, today I have managed to dig two out of four of my veggie beds (about 120cm x 100 cm).

Digging into my lawn wasn't so bad. Easier than I thought it would be at least. There were no nasty surprises underneath. A few big stones and a billion worms, but nothing I couldn't handle.

So what do I do now? The earth is quite clayey (is that even a word??) and I'm planning on adding a bag or two of multi purpose compost to it. But do I just spread it over the top or does it need mixing in?

I've lifted and turned the earth with my gardening fork and dug it and crumbled the ground as best I can - taking out any big stones and stuff.

Does anything else need doing to it? How far down do I need to lift up? It seems so compacted underneath. And do I need to mix in my compost?

[TEB]

If its compacted you may have to double dig the bed, i.e to 2 spade depths, I would mix in the compost

[IgglePiggle]

Does anything else need doing to it? How far down do I need to lift up? It seems so compacted underneath. And do I need to mix in my compost?

If its really hard your gonna have to double dig

Double digging - gardening advice from the RHS

Rather you than me! My soil is really really light

[Capsid]

Veg aren't deep rooted. I don't see the need to double dig. If you have lifted and turned the earth then just fork in the compost.

[SarzWix]

It depends just how compacted it is below, if it's tooo bad, then you might have drainage problems later. I'd probably dig a test trench to find out - dig the soil out of a strip to about the depth of a spade, and put the soil in a wheelbarrow or on a tarpaulin, then, pour a bucket of water into the bottom and see how long it takes to disappear. If it's seeps away quite quickly you should be ok. But if it sits there unchanging for a while, then you will need to break the subsoil up too, which means double-digging...

Clay soil can be a pain, but the longer you work it and add stuff, the better it gets, and it holds onto nutrients much more than sandy soil, so don't despair

[Looby-Blu]

It depends just how compacted it is below, if it's tooo bad, then you might have drainage problems later. I'd probably dig a test trench to find out - dig the soil out of a strip to about the depth of a spade, and put the soil in a wheelbarrow or on a tarpaulin, then, pour a bucket of water into the bottom and see how long it takes to disappear. If it's seeps away quite quickly you should be ok. But if it sits there unchanging for a while, then you will need to break the subsoil up too, which means double-digging...

Clay soil can be a pain, but the longer you work it and add stuff, the better it gets, and it holds onto nutrients much more than sandy soil, so don't despair

That IS useful - I'm going to try that tomorrow. I'm not sure it is compacted REEEEAALLY badly - but i'm thinking because its all been under turf for the past 30 years that it must be pretty squashed.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow - thanks all!

[taff]

I only single dug the beds I made, in their former lives they were part of an untouched lawn that's been there for years.It's clay soil as well.
I added some home-made compost, some cow manure, and just sort of mixed it in by twisting the tines of the fork through what I'd already dug and crumbed up. I haven't raised the volume by much, will plan on doing that slowly over the years with compost and manure.
The runner beans loved it, also the spinach (when I pulled some of that up the main root was over a foot long) last year, the garlic seem to be enjoying it so far this year.

[SarzWix]

The fact that you found lots of worms is a good sign though, because they aerate the soil by moving through it. Hopefully your single dig will be enough