Any tips on getting a good tilth?

[caroline7758]

Started late & dug over several patches on the allotment a couple of weeks back. Went back today and the clods of earth were solid! Maybe my fault for digging when it was a bit too wet, but can anyone recommend a non- back-breaking way of breaking up these lumps? I made some progress today by bashing with a rake and a claw-type tool which was left behind by the previous owner, but my arms and shoulders are really aching now!Also, any tips for levelling the soil once it's a reasonable tilth?

[caroline7758]

[adam04]

a rotavtor would do it quite nicly. you also need lots of manure and compost to keep it as a nice tilth.

[tim]

Presumably clay? In which case, can you re-wet it before bashing?

Slicing with a sharp spade can help reduce it

Tilth? Not something that you can expect immediately. Time will tell!

[Svea]

hi caroline,

i have clay soil too and tilth is something that eludes us so far.

two tricks:
if you plant seedlings out, just move the clods to the side and position them between the seedlings. make sure they cant fall onto the little ones. once the plants grow big and the foilage covers the clods, they will over the season fall apart as moiture and creatures act on it.

or, if sowing:
make a seed drill, sow into it and cover with compost (bought or homemade). this way your little seedlings dont have to push through a crust, and also you can clearly tell where you have sown, which is a bonus.

either way, it will be easier next year, trust me. this spring we have not nearly as many clods. so all the hard work last year has paid off :)

[KevB]

Get as much manure involved as you can cope with this autumn, you will reap the benefits next season, especially if you leave the clods of earth to freeze and thaw etc. they will sooon break down with nature! other than that buy plenty of radox!!!
Good fun this lottie lark! Dont you think  ;) ;) ;)
Kevb

[amphibian]

A nicely flocculated tilth alludes me too, my clayey soil forms a skin if it is left as a fine tilth and rapidly clods. The answer is as much organic matter as possible, and don't reduce the soil to too fine a tlth, as many mechanical tillers/rotavators do. I find leaf mold good at holding clumping at bay for a while.

[caroline7758]

Thanks for all the tips- fortunately,  certain parts of the lottie seem to be more clay than others- maybe due to what the previous users did to improve it. I've got some manure but it's not rotted enough to use yet- will definitely get more before next year!

[Mubgrub]

I've got a heay clay and I cheat.... ;D
I lay thick lines of compost on top of it and sow in that!  Or you could try the bob flowerdew thing of station sowing and using a kitchen fork to make a small spot of fine tilth where you sow each seed. :)

[Svea]

Or you could try the bob flowerdew thing of station sowing and using a kitchen fork to make a small spot of fine tilth where you sow each seed. :)

a kitchen fork?????? life surely is too short for this.....

[adam04]

Or you could try the bob flowerdew thing of station sowing and using a kitchen fork to make a small spot of fine tilth where you sow each seed. :)

a kitchen fork?????? life surely is too short for this.....

its just growing for eating to the extreme?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Keep digging in organic matter and over time the clod problem will diminish. It may well disappear altogether if you can get enough of the stuff.

[Mubgrub]

a kitchen fork?????? life surely is too short for this.....

Just on tiny bits where the seeds go, not the whole row.  :o

[mokanoo]

Loads of manure does help if it's rotted down well enough, I had to leave some of the plot because some of the manure hadn't rotted. Digging over before winter helped me because the frost had a good go of the clods.

Just one point that may have been overlooked. Don't use a rake to create a tilth, use the back of a garden fork. It's not the easiest option but it is better than a rake.
good luck anyway.