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Old 24-05-2006, 12:57 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
Jungle Jane
 
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Default Soil trouble in wet New England

I have a new 8x10x1 ft raised bed this year in a higher and dryer part
of my yard because my previous (not raised) beds got washed out by our
recent flooding in this area. So now that we're finally drying out I
got 3 trucks of soil from our landscaping place, and that was fine
except it was pretty wet when we got it. Like cement wet. But I busted
my hump and got it all broken up and raked in and figured I'd give it a
few days to dry out and then break it up and rake it in some more. Well
you know what happens to cement when it dries? It's as hard as a rock! I
now have a garden full of rocks! The average is about an inch or 2 in
diameter and no amount of raking will break them all up. I spent about
an hour last night busting them up by hand and only got about 1 square
foot done! The trouble seems to only be on the top exposed layer,
underneath is nice and dark and rich and loose. Does anyone have a
better idea to break up those rocks of soil? I was thinking of wetting
it down again but was worried that might make it worse. Any ideas? Thank
you, Jane