Having cleared a lot of the undergrowth from my new allotment, I
discover that the ground is quite stony with small pebbles, pieces of
rock etc. I've started raking them up and removing them, but I'm
thinking it could be an endless task, and how important is it anyway,
given that stones do not deprive plants of nutrients, and eventually
will become part of the soil?



Ken Cohen

Eventually become part of the soil !!!!!!!!!!
It will take light years
Rake off and remove as many of the bigger ones as poss every time you
cultivate and use the no dig ......pile on the compost method and you should
have great produce


"ken cohen" wrote in message
m...
Having cleared a lot of the undergrowth from my new allotment, I
discover that the ground is quite stony with small pebbles, pieces of
rock etc. I've started raking them up and removing them, but I'm
thinking it could be an endless task, and how important is it anyway,
given that stones do not deprive plants of nutrients, and eventually
will become part of the soil?



Ken Cohen

In message , ken cohen
writes
Having cleared a lot of the undergrowth from my new allotment, I
discover that the ground is quite stony with small pebbles, pieces of
rock etc. I've started raking them up and removing them, but I'm
thinking it could be an endless task, and how important is it anyway,
given that stones do not deprive plants of nutrients, and eventually
will become part of the soil?

Partly it depends on what you intend to grow and how.

It's hard to produce a good fine seed bed with very stony soil unless
you remove some of the stones as you rake. If you grow in pots/modules
and plant out his isn't an issue.

For roots crops like carrots getting good roots in stony soil might be a
problem.

I would suggested removing what you can as you prepare and rake the soil
etc, but as you say it's an endless task, I wouldn't make it a job in
itself. Also add plenty of organic matte to the soil so as to improve
the top 6 inches in particular, this will help to lessen the stoniness
over time.
--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds
urg Suppliers and References FAQ:
http://www.familyfrench.co.uk/garden/urgfaq/index.html

"bnd777" wrote in message
...
Eventually become part of the soil !!!!!!!!!!
It will take light years

Interesting...light years are measurements of distance...not time...

Rake off and remove as many of the bigger ones as poss every time you
cultivate and use the no dig ......pile on the compost method and you
should
have great produce


"ken cohen" wrote in message
m...
Having cleared a lot of the undergrowth from my new allotment, I
discover that the ground is quite stony with small pebbles, pieces of
rock etc. I've started raking them up and removing them, but I'm
thinking it could be an endless task, and how important is it anyway,
given that stones do not deprive plants of nutrients, and eventually
will become part of the soil?



Ken Cohen

The message
from (ken cohen) contains these words:

Having cleared a lot of the undergrowth from my new allotment, I
discover that the ground is quite stony with small pebbles, pieces of
rock etc. I've started raking them up and removing them, but I'm
thinking it could be an endless task, and how important is it anyway,
given that stones do not deprive plants of nutrients, and eventually
will become part of the soil?


Much depends on your local climate and soil type; a stony soil (which
is usually free-draining) would be an asset in a high-rainfall area; but
in a drought-prone area it might be a problem.

You'll find that stones migrate to the soil surface without any effort
on your part, where you can just rake them off if you want to clear
areas for sowing tiny seeds. A large supply of stones is great material
for making paths, drainage ditches, concrete foundations for shed etc;
or you could bag them up in a couple of layers of old fertiliser sacks
and use the filled bags to make edges for raised beds.

Janet.

Mark wrote:
"bnd777" wrote in message
...
Eventually become part of the soil !!!!!!!!!!
It will take light years

Interesting...light years are measurements of distance...not time...

Surely not. If light has a speed component (186,000 p/h?) and 'years' is a
time factor then most here would have gathered that these stones would take
a bloody long time to become 'part' of the soil. Stop being picky.

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003, Mark wrote:


"bnd777" wrote in message
...
Eventually become part of the soil !!!!!!!!!!
It will take light years

Interesting...light years are measurements of distance...not time...


if you travel with the speed of the light it express time though



--------------------------------------------------------------
Nick Apostolakis
e-mail:
Web Site: http://agriroot.aua.gr/~nickapos
--------------------------------------------------------------

In message , Nick
Apostolakis writes
On Sun, 22 Jun 2003, Mark wrote:


"bnd777" wrote in message
...
Eventually become part of the soil !!!!!!!!!!
It will take light years

Interesting...light years are measurements of distance...not time...


if you travel with the speed of the light it express time though

Well that would get the gardening done quickly then ..........
--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds
urg Suppliers and References FAQ:
http://www.familyfrench.co.uk/garden/urgfaq/index.html

On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 21:21:42 +0300, Nick Apostolakis
wrote:

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003, Mark wrote:


"bnd777" wrote in message
...
Eventually become part of the soil !!!!!!!!!!
It will take light years

Interesting...light years are measurements of distance...not time...


if you travel with the speed of the light it express time though

if you travel with the speed of the light you are probably in the
Tardis.
--
martin

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003, Mark wrote:


"bnd777" wrote in message
...
Eventually become part of the soil !!!!!!!!!!
It will take light years

Interesting...light years are measurements of distance...not time...


if you travel with the speed of the light it express time though



--------------------------------------------------------------
Nick Apostolakis
e-mail:
Web Site: http://agriroot.aua.gr/~nickapos
--------------------------------------------------------------

In message , Nick
Apostolakis writes
On Sun, 22 Jun 2003, Mark wrote:


"bnd777" wrote in message
...
Eventually become part of the soil !!!!!!!!!!
It will take light years

Interesting...light years are measurements of distance...not time...


if you travel with the speed of the light it express time though

Well that would get the gardening done quickly then ..........
--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds
urg Suppliers and References FAQ:
http://www.familyfrench.co.uk/garden/urgfaq/index.html

On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 21:21:42 +0300, Nick Apostolakis
wrote:

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003, Mark wrote:


"bnd777" wrote in message
...
Eventually become part of the soil !!!!!!!!!!
It will take light years

Interesting...light years are measurements of distance...not time...


if you travel with the speed of the light it express time though

if you travel with the speed of the light you are probably in the
Tardis.
--
martin