Soil like concrete!

[Cosmo and Dibs]

I weeded and dug over a bed on my new allotment. I broke it down as much as I could, and it looked ok to me.

That was only last week.

Yesterday, I went to plant some spuds, and found that the top soil had turned almost to concrete. I couldn't even crumble it with my hands.

Anyway, it was ok underneath, so I stuck my spuds in. However, I tried to mound/earth up the spuds but it was very difficult. In the end, the mounds are just a pile of concrete lumps with a sprinkling of compost on the top.

I'm worried about how I'm going to earth them up when they grow through, as there is hardly any loose crumbly soil left. What can I do?

Can I earth up using the stuff in my compost bin? Or would multi purpose compost be better?

[Marthaclematis]

I would use the stuff in your compost bin. it will be expensive otherwise. Do you have worms living there? If so just mulch on top and they will drag the good stuff down. Potatoes too help to break up the soil..... this is your first year but it will get better in the years to come. Compost dissapears fast if you have good life underneath.

[Cosmo and Dibs]

Yes, there are plenty of worms in the bed.

I'll get on to it on Monday.

Thanks.

[SarzWix]

That's what happens with clay soil unfortunately. It gets better with added manure/compost etc, but if it gets baked by the sun after you've raked it fine it does seem to 'set'... Some of my beds are fine because they've had a lot of stuff added, but some are terrible for this problem.
There's a few things I do to combat it, depending what I've planted:
The potato beds are covered with straw, which I pull back to earth up, then spread over again. The onion bed I covered with cardboard until I was ready to plant, then took it off and sprinkled compost over. Carrots I draw out a drill then fill it with MP compost and sow into that.
In all except the carrot bed I'll be adding as much muck as I can lay my hands on every winter, which does help a lot


Oh yeah, and, if it's already set hard, try earthing up after it's rained, much easier when it's damp!

[PAULW]

How about

Growing Potatoes in Straw

[Snadger]

Mulch heavily with anything organic!

[NOG]

Mix you home made compost with grass cuttings and use that.

[Two_Sheds]

I would just mulch with grass clippings. They are fab (not too thick at a time, and water before & after you add them).

They will eventually be turned in, and enrich your soil.

[Cosmo and Dibs]

I'll get my hands on grass cuttings asap.

But for future reference can I use that soil enricher/improver I've seen in the compost section of B&Q? It comes in large bags.

[Alice]

Yes you can use the soil improver stuff from B&Q. Your soill needs all the organic material it can get to stop it panning over like that.

[Saraheliz]

I know how you feel, just been on my plot (my first plot this year) and it is like big lumps of concrete boulders, dreadful, at least u have worms, I have only had one worm so far.
I have put fleece over the carrots just sowed hope that keeps some moisture in.
I am going to add as much organic matter as poss but it is expensive.
good luck have u found a way to break the big clods up when you dig, or don't you have them? I find it so time consuming, maybe someone here has a shortcut to doing it or maybe I just have to keep at it.

from
Sarah

[Two_Sheds]

I am going to add as much organic matter as poss but it is expensive.

doesn't have to be ... make as much garden compost as possible. Start a compost bin at work for teabags and fruit skins, and ask a local grocers for their veggy waste too.

[Matt.]

You sure you're not allotmenting on Utah salt flats? It looks incredibly white.

I think the above comments are good and I'd second recommending using grass clippings on spuds. They really do work well on holding in water.

View the composting thing on a longer term basis. Start making stuff now that you can use in a years time. Aim big because it really shrinks in volume. As for this year just see how things go and don't expect masses. You'll probably get only a few tubers per plant not the hundreds you see in the container adverts.

[Cosmo and Dibs]

At the plot there is a heap of what I presume is leaf mulch (it's rotted leaves, by the look of it).

Could I use that?

[Two_Sheds]

Leaf mulch, rotted leaves, whatever. It's all compost.