On 1/11/2014 12:47 PM, Fran Farmer wrote:
I've been away for more than a month, and although Himself did a lot of
watering, there are some places where the soil has dried out to such an
extent that it's now baked and water repellant and all attempts at
normal watering (ie hoses and sprinklers) are proving fruitless.

How have others coped with this other than puddling and making mud pies?
This does seem to work, but I'm sure there will be some reason why I
shouldn't do this even though it can't be because of soil structure
since where there is none to begin with once it's as dry as a chip. I
also do not like using soil wetting agents since I've never been able to
find out what it does to earth worms and I know they will return
eventually, once it rains or the winter comes and the weather cools.


With a hose-end sprayer, apply a mix of water and mild, unscented liquid
soap. The soap will act as a wetting agent. You want it unscented so
that it does not attract bees, hornets, and wasps.

After you get the soil a bit damp, apply a generous amount of gypsum.
Lightly water the gypsum to just damp it and prevent it from blowing in
the wind. Two days later, water it a bit more to start disolving it but
without any runoff. Two days after that, water it well (but not to the
point of runoff) to start leaching it into the soil.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary