How fine should soil be?

alfharris8 · May 2020

Hello, have grown flowers from seed for years and a few edibles in containers but am preparing a veg patch for the first time. Have sifted soil through a quarter inch which feels lovely like sand but am now wondering if this is too fine but have no idea how the soil should be. Any advice gratefully received. Thanks

Wayside · May 2020

I'd have thought compaction is your enemy. Once you get roots in there, use mulch, and/or add organic matter that's probably all good for drainage/absorbtion etc. Just use boards and avoid standing on it. What's your soil type? What's underneath?

alfharris8 · May 2020

Hello, thank you for your reply. Not sure what the soil is. Having always done more container gardening where you use compost this is a new thing for me. When we dug out the earth it was quite stony and there is what I would describe as shale at the bottom. Have a pile of smaller pieces of earth and some small stones left in the unsifted pile. Should I consider replacing some of that to allow for better drainage? I have still to include some compost also. It was more a concern that the soil was too fine if there can be such a thing. It's a joy to rake.

Posy · May 2020

Is it very sandy? Clay soil comes in big solid lumps, sifting is not an option, but sandy soil can be very fine. Instead of adding compost, I would dig in composted manure. You can often get this from local horse owners who are glad to give it away, but garden centres sell it in bags, too.

alfharris8 · May 2020

I think it must be sandy as it has sifted quite well. Thanks both for the replies so soon after my posting. First time using this so really pleased.

Wayside · April 2021

I think this is an excellent question. And I'm sorry I couldn't offer any sage advice. I don't really understand what makes for a good soil. My compost pile always seems to have more going on in it, then sifted beds. I'm on chalk, and I diligently sifted out the rubbish and large stones in the beds. Added compost, and if you look at it today, it looks like pure chalk again. The organic matter just disappears. For a yew hedge I did dig in bags and bags of horse manure. But I'm not sure how necessary that is, considering I've seen them growing in pretty much bare chalk. I wonder if the very fine parts are good or bad, I figure these can silt.

I was reading about chalk and flint fields, and supposedly in a study the de-flinted fields were less productive. But it didn't really offer an explanation. Flints were removed I think because they wouldn't play well with ploughs. But perhaps the flinted fields weren't ploughed and the ploughing was bad. No dig is meant to be beneficial. Who knows?

I've noticed soils in this dry spell, just appear to go grey like concrete when sieved. They look pretty barren and lifeless after the process.

The variation in soils between hot and wet spells is mind bending. You'd think our garden was a concretey dust at the moment. Given a bit of rain, some part start to cake and slide like clays. The good bits are the bits that are full of plant.

I'm always amazed at trees and plants that find a niche in say a rock-face, where there doesn't appear to be much in the way of soil at all.

My understanding is that soils are born from eroded rock, and organic decay. It may take millennia, but it just happens. And nature seems to be an ace gardener. I think I'll try and root out a book on soil.

Apologies for the brain dump.

Loxley · April 2021

There's no need to actually sift the soil (unless it's full of glass or rubbish) and doing so unnecessarily could damage the soil structure. Dig in bulky organic matter eg well rotted manure, and if needed, remove large stones (rake or pick out by hand).

How fine should soil be?

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