Guv Bob wrote:
"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
User Bp wrote:
In alt.home.lawn.garden Guv Bob
wrote:

How's a good way to break up hard soil? Since it's all level, my
first thought is to soak it good for a couple of days. I wonder
if renting an aerator might also be good.

If your soil is like mine, there's a very narrow range of moisure
levels at which it's workable. I understand local farmers refer to
it as "36 hour soil", which is the schedule window for plowing.

Too wet and it's like warm tar, too dry and it's extremely hard. In
the middle, it's rather crumbly. I'd soak a patch and poke it each
day after. _Maybe_ you'll find a day when it's workable.

HTH,

bob prohaska

Hereabouts this is called "Sunday soil", too wet to work on Saturday
and too dry by Monday. The problem with working it on Sunday is
that it will always stay the same, you haven't addressed the problem
of why it is so hard on Monday.

Appreciate all the good info. For breaking up the soil, what about
adding a weak solution of detergent as a wetting agent in one of
these hose attachments?


If that is all you do it will not achieve much. Yes you do need to wet the
soil but then you need to alter the texture and enable to hold a good amount
of water by itself in future.

Gypsum and other clay breakers cause the clay to clump rather than stay
plastic. Organic matter lightens and loosens and allows organisms from
algae and bacteria up to worms and arthropods to live in it and assist.
Good soil is living soil not a bunch of minerals. You are aiming in the
long run for a good balance of particle size and particle type. If you
don't address the issues of the soils composition, texture and balance then
all the watering and physical breaking are just temporary measures. Good
soil neither needs nor benefits from frequent major cultivation although
that may speed up the improvement process at the start, doing it without
cultivation at all is quite possible but takes longer.

D