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Compact Soil
Peachy Beechy
Posts: 2
Hello, we've just moved into a new house and the garden hasn't been dug for a very long time so the soil is solid. Would adding a load of top soil help or do I need to pull my sleeves up get digging? Thank you.
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Posts
Not more top soil at this stage. Get some soil improver of whatever source you can. You need lots of fibrous material of whatever sort you can get. A number of places sell cubic meter bags of soil improver.
Not everyone approves of B &Q but I have used their bags of "Peat free compost" just for the improvement of our soil with good results.
You can dig it in or just spread it over the top. The worms will open it up and pull the lovely fibrous stuff down into the soil and it gets much easier to dig. Part of my garden has already had lots tipped on and I emptied the spent tomato compost onto one of my flower beds .
(Where I have recently imported a lot of our local (sandy) topspoil to fill a raised bed the ground is hard. I now need to put on a lot more soil improver on that part to get the bed loosened up. (It takes time and it's something to do when the plants have stopped growing).
Happy growing,
. .
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
Thank you I am weedy, that's really helpful.
If you can get hold of some well rotted manure to put on bare soil/borders etc, that will also benefit it. You can also buy it bagged in garden centres and the aforementioned DIY store
If you're near a riding school or stables, you might be able to get it quite cheaply. It has to be well rotted though if you have plants in the beds, as fresh stuff will have an adverse affect on plant material. You can always stack fresh stuff somewhere in a corner, and leave till spring to use on beds and borders with planting
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
i had the same problem and covered everything with about three inches of Reshredded Mushroom Compost. RMC shouldn't be dug in, it should be left on top of the soil. Leave it well alone for a while - it won't take long till the worms do most of the work for you
If you leave it over the winter, in the Spring it'll be very diggable! If you have any ericaceous plants in the ground already, you shouldn't use RMC around them, apparently. Good luck!
I have found organic compost the best. MrMuck delivers it in bags so easy to move around the garden. My garden was solid clay. I top it every year and now is us lovely soil. No weeds have come up. Unlike the council compost and my own compost which always produces weeds.
I am in agreement with Mike regarding digging. Dig in as much mulch (manure, compost, leaf mould etc.) as you can. This will then work into the soil over the winter, and will be ready to start planting into by March/April. Yes it is hard work, but at the same time as digging it over you will be able to remove any roots and weeds and is well worth the effort.