I am newly retired and I am finding the soil in my back garden too
heavy to work. I am now racked with pain. Planting is ok, but working
the soil is too much.

One solution would be to get someone in to break up the soil each
Spring but I have just read that grit would be a solution but I wonder
where to get it. I think I would need too much for it to come in bags
at a reasonable price.

I live near South West Manchester. Could anyone advise me on how and
where to get grit and how much it costs?

Best wishes

Colin

wrote in message
...
I am newly retired and I am finding the soil in my back garden too
heavy to work. I am now racked with pain. Planting is ok, but working
the soil is too much.

One solution would be to get someone in to break up the soil each
Spring but I have just read that grit would be a solution but I wonder
where to get it. I think I would need too much for it to come in bags
at a reasonable price.

I live near South West Manchester. Could anyone advise me on how and
where to get grit and how much it costs?

Best wishes

Colin

Look in your yellow pages for sand and gravel suppliers.

Steve

wrote:
I am newly retired and I am finding the soil in my back garden too
heavy to work. I am now racked with pain. Planting is ok, but
working
the soil is too much.

One solution would be to get someone in to break up the soil each
Spring but I have just read that grit would be a solution but I
wonder
where to get it. I think I would need too much for it to come in
bags
at a reasonable price.

I live near South West Manchester. Could anyone advise me on how
and
where to get grit and how much it costs?

You'd still have to dig it in, so don't bother. I don't know about
you, but buying it in bags would scare the pants off my bank manager.
You don't need to dig at all: just break up the holes for any new
plants, hoe if necessary for weeds, and chuck on a mulch of compost
when you've got any. Plants want to grow; and if any don't like the
conditions you provide, grow something else instead: it's as easy as
that. Just enjoy it, and never do anything that causes you
discomfort, let alone pain. This is meant to be _fun_.

--
Mike.

On Fri, 13 May 2005 21:15:02 GMT, wrote:

I am newly retired and I am finding the soil in my back garden too
heavy to work. I am now racked with pain. Planting is ok, but working
the soil is too much.

One solution would be to get someone in to break up the soil each
Spring but I have just read that grit would be a solution but I wonder
where to get it. I think I would need too much for it to come in bags
at a reasonable price.

Would it not also be a good idea to cover the area with several inches
of good compost, WRM or mushroom compost and leave it for a few
months, even over winter, for the worms to work it in. You will find
the soil much easier to work then. I'd do that rather than using grit.
I use mushroom compost, and the soil is so much easier to fork over
where that has been added.
Could you get someone in with a rotovator to break it up for you
initially?

Pam in Bristol

I live near South West Manchester. Could anyone advise me on how and
where to get grit and how much it costs?

I believe that the best is agricultural grit which is fairly small and very
sharp. But it is not so easy to get hold of in bulk. I have a clay garden
and I have purchased 10 mil gravel from a builders merchant. They usually
stock 10 and 20 mil gravel. You could also use sharp sand, but sometimes it
contains some salt. I am also told that sharp sand tends to clog a bit more
because the particles are all a similar size. I bought a 1 ton bag of 10
mil gravel a couple of months ago and it cost about £34 delivered (a couple
of miles).

Loads of any organic material is good. I recently spoke to someone at
Harlow Carr RHS garden, who said it did not really matter if old compost or
leaves were properly composted or not. You need to add lots of bits to make
drainage channels and to break up the clay. Also organic material combines
with the clay to increase the clay particle size in addition to any
nutrition it provides. It is of course the tiny clay particle size that
causes all the problems.

Peter

On Fri, 13 May 2005 22:28:02 GMT, "peterlsutton"
wrote:




I live near South West Manchester. Could anyone advise me on how and
where to get grit and how much it costs?

I believe that the best is agricultural grit which is fairly small and very
sharp. But it is not so easy to get hold of in bulk. I have a clay garden
and I have purchased 10 mil gravel from a builders merchant. They usually
stock 10 and 20 mil gravel. You could also use sharp sand, but sometimes it
contains some salt. I am also told that sharp sand tends to clog a bit more
because the particles are all a similar size. I bought a 1 ton bag of 10
mil gravel a couple of months ago and it cost about £34 delivered (a couple
of miles).

Loads of any organic material is good. I recently spoke to someone at
Harlow Carr RHS garden, who said it did not really matter if old compost or
leaves were properly composted or not. You need to add lots of bits to make
drainage channels and to break up the clay. Also organic material combines
with the clay to increase the clay particle size in addition to any
nutrition it provides. It is of course the tiny clay particle size that
causes all the problems.

Peter

Thank you for so much help.

It looks as though compost is the best bet. I have three composters
and until last year used to compost everything. But then we lost the
habit while we were having a new kitchen put in and we never got the
habit back. I'll use some old compost and be on the look out for
mushroom compost in bulk.

Thanks again.

BTW I have grown giant decorative dahlias for over 30 years. I didn't
realise that until recently.

Colin

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 May 2005 22:28:02 GMT, "peterlsutton"
wrote:




I live near South West Manchester. Could anyone advise me on how and
where to get grit and how much it costs?

I believe that the best is agricultural grit which is fairly small and
very
sharp. But it is not so easy to get hold of in bulk. I have a clay
garden
and I have purchased 10 mil gravel from a builders merchant. They usually
stock 10 and 20 mil gravel. You could also use sharp sand, but sometimes
it
contains some salt. I am also told that sharp sand tends to clog a bit
more
because the particles are all a similar size. I bought a 1 ton bag of 10
mil gravel a couple of months ago and it cost about £34 delivered (a
couple
of miles).

Loads of any organic material is good. I recently spoke to someone at
Harlow Carr RHS garden, who said it did not really matter if old compost
or
leaves were properly composted or not. You need to add lots of bits to
make
drainage channels and to break up the clay. Also organic material
combines
with the clay to increase the clay particle size in addition to any
nutrition it provides. It is of course the tiny clay particle size that
causes all the problems.

Peter

Thank you for so much help.

It looks as though compost is the best bet. I have three composters
and until last year used to compost everything. But then we lost the
habit while we were having a new kitchen put in and we never got the
habit back. I'll use some old compost and be on the look out for
mushroom compost in bulk.

Thanks again.

BTW I have grown giant decorative dahlias for over 30 years. I didn't
realise that until recently.

One word of caution about mushroom compost - I bought some five or six years
ago and had a nightmare of chickweed seedlings everywhere I used it!

Neil.

Thank you for so much help.

It looks as though compost is the best bet. I have three composters
and until last year used to compost everything. But then we lost the
habit while we were having a new kitchen put in and we never got the
habit back. I'll use some old compost and be on the look out for
mushroom compost in bulk.


Hi Colin, I live in the Isle of Wight which I know is as much use to you as
a Chocolate Teapot, BUT, our Council have a wonderful waste service which
incorporates a composting service. All the world and their sons take their
garden waste to a depot, chuck it over the wall, a huge shovel loader scoops
it up and puts it into a shredder to cry about, it automatically heaps it
all up nice and shredded, they cart it away, sort it, they then must leave
it for quite some time, bag it and sell it. I 'believe', (have to careful on
this newsgroup about telling fibs), but I believe they do sell it in bulk.
Get in touch with the people who do your waste and see what can be done. Got
room for a tipper lorry to dump you a load?

Then let the worms do the rest ;-))

Mike

Hi Colin

If you have a heavy clay soil grit will turn it into concrete and be
very hard to work. Add Peat or compost. Get someone to rotovate it.

Derryl


I am newly retired and I am finding the soil in my back garden too
heavy to work. I am now racked with pain. Planting is ok, but working
the soil is too much.

One solution would be to get someone in to break up the soil each
Spring but I have just read that grit would be a solution but I wonder
where to get it. I think I would need too much for it to come in bags
at a reasonable price.

I live near South West Manchester. Could anyone advise me on how and
where to get grit and how much it costs?

Best wishes

Colin

Pam Moore wrote:
Could you get someone in with a rotovator to break it up for you
initially?

....or possibly just buy one. There are some reasonable ones on
flea-bay at the mo.

Chris Bacon wrote:
Pam Moore wrote:
Could you get someone in with a rotovator to break it up for you
initially?

...or possibly just buy one. There are some reasonable ones on
flea-bay at the mo.

Anybody who finds digging a bit of a strain would be unwise to start
using a rotavator (how _do_ they spell that thing?). Anyhow, my
impression is that the OP was talking about routine cultivation in an
ordinary garden, rather than starting from scratch -- I could be
wrong, of course -- so digging isn't necesary at all.

--
Mike.

On Mon, 16 May 2005 11:23:16 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Anybody who finds digging a bit of a strain would be unwise to start
using a rotavator (how _do_ they spell that thing?).

My spell checkers on OE and Word don't seem to have it. Google has
already come up with 2 variations!

Pam in Bristol

Mike Lyle wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
Pam Moore wrote:
Could you get someone in with a rotovator to break it up for you
initially?

...or possibly just buy one. There are some reasonable ones on
flea-bay at the mo.

Anybody who finds digging a bit of a strain would be unwise to start
using a rotavator (how _do_ they spell that thing?).

You don't have to bend down! It's better if you get one that drives
via the wheels. A small one is excellent for patch cultivation, or
running up and down rows. I'm spoiled by having a Howard "350", but
that would be excessive for a very small garden.

Anyhow, my
impression is that the OP was talking about routine cultivation in an
ordinary garden, rather than starting from scratch -- I could be
wrong, of course -- so digging isn't necesary at all.

I don't know, he seemed to be talking about digging - "Planting is ok,
but working the soil is too much.". P'raps he'll elucidate.

In article , Pam Moore
writes
ld be unwise to start
using a rotavator (how _do_ they spell that thing?).

My spell checkers on OE and Word don't seem to have it. Google has
already come up with 2 variations!

Chambers English Dictionary gives both 'rotovator' and 'rotavator' but
the second is more commonly used to describe a rotary cultivator.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

Alan Gould wrote:
In article , Pam Moore
writes
ld be unwise to start
using a rotavator (how _do_ they spell that thing?).

My spell checkers on OE and Word don't seem to have it. Google has
already come up with 2 variations!

Chambers English Dictionary gives both 'rotovator' and 'rotavator'
but
the second is more commonly used to describe a rotary cultivator.

My Collins gives verbs spelt both ways, saying in its definition that
the machine is a "Rotovator", but rather stupidly doesn't define the
noun or give its origin. The capital letter is there, though, which
tends to confirm my impression that it is, or was originally, a
trade-name...

COD, on the other hand, _does_ give the noun, saying the o version is
a variant of the a form. It says it's British proprietary, as I
suspected. They must have gone out of business, though, as a
superficial Ggl yielded no clear sign of its existence as a specific
brand-name. It did, however, produce the following bit of
Arthur-C-Clarkeishness: I knew the principle, but the name startled
me.

http://fixedreference.org/en/2004042...her_propulsion
A rotovator is a rotating tether. A spacecraft in one orbit
rendezvous with the end of the tether, latching onto it and being
accelerated by its rotation. This is not free. The tether's angular
momentum changes. They separate later, when the spacecraft's velocity
has been changed by the rotovator.

--
Mike.