Thanks Pam,

I guess I should clarify my comments lest I be tossed into gardener's hell
for planting in clumped soilg

For ten years I've tilled in at least 18 inches of horse manure into soil
that was originally glacial till. I have a fairly large area to do (approx
1600 sq ft) and to find enuf dry periods to do the rough, time consuming
tilling in the spring is tough.

I often end up with some clumping but before I'll plant, I'll do a final
tilling. My issue was that the term "damage" sounded irreparable.

--

Barry


"Pam" wrote in message
...


Brynk wrote:

Thanks Dwight
I wasn't sure how tilling wet could "damage" soil structure
I guess it could temporarily clump the soil, but I don't think that
would be
classified as "damage"

There have been seasons when continual rain and my tardy soil prep
resulted
in till wet or delay planting.

Working with wet soil (soil that is close to its water saturation level),
whether using a tiller or working by hand with with regular garden tools,
leads
to compaction or the loss of pore space between soil particles. This
reduces the
amount of oxygen in the soil and complicates drainage as well as making
the soil
environment less hospitable to microorganisms, resulting in poor plant
growth.
That is why it is recommended that one not work (or even walk on or allow
livestock to graze on) wet soils.

There are scores of articles addressing this issue if one does a simple
search
on google - it is a pretty widely recognized phenomenon.

pam - gardengal