HI All

We're setting up a new garden, veg plot, polytunnel etc out here in
the far South West of Ireland.

We 'imported' some soil to sort some levels out, and to help bury the
plastic pipes for the geothermal heat pump.

Over here we've just had the wettest winter since the last one g -
or, according to the locals, for the last seven years.

So - we have a very soggy area of bare soil to get started with....

A good proprotion of it will be covered by the polytunnel - which will
hopefully be 'clad' in poly by the end of the week. Unavoidably, the
soil in & around the tunnel has been somewhat trampled and compacted,
as the tunnel build has taken place.

I found a link to the faq - and did the 'mix the soil up in water,
give it a shake and let it settle' thing last night - this suggests
that we have a small proportion of sands and grits, and the rest of
the material is seems to be still in suspension. I'm assuming that we
have a very 'peaty' soil - in some places it 'quakes' as you stand on
it - it's not as sticky as clay.

So - Sounds as if I need to get some sand / grit worked in...?

My plan was.....
Get the tunnel clad.
Wait for the soil in the tunnel to dry out a bit (remove stones etc
while I'm waiting)
Spread sand and (maybe) some peat-free compost
Rotovate the whole lot in

....and, if the current dry weather holds.... ( big 'if'....! )
Do the same with the ground outside the tunnel. Alternatively wait
until later in the year.

Any comments, suggestions etc ??
(I know this is _uk_rec.gardening - but there didn't seem to be a
corresponding Irish newsgroup)

Many thanks
Adrian