wet soil

is it true you should never work when the soil is wet?

I would say that the more clayish the soil, the more problems you would have from working wet soil. Those clay clods will make hard clods when dry. Looser soil is somewhat more forgiving.

Working wet clay soil will get you concrete. Be patient, it will dry out.

ok--but you know it is going to be really hard to wait!!

you are more likely to hurt yourself or break your tools if you work wet soil. Be patient!

i think it is dry and when i dig in it's still wet--and i keep buying plants and want to get them in---but i will be patient----now i could weed instead but that's no fun!!

LOL!!!

That's certainly what the books say, but speaking as one who has recently, it doesn't matter. It certainly is easier digging the holes. Supposedly it damages the "soil structure", whatever that is. when you water it it turns to muck anyway. I planted 16 hawthorns, 4 snowball bushes, 5 redtwig dogwood, 2 peegee hydrangeas. Maybe some other stuff in the wet ground. these were "sticks", i just stuck the shovel in the ground, wiggled a little, stuck in stick, then stepped around the stick and wet clay smooshed it around the stick. That was a couple of weeks ago and everything is leafing out.

All well and good if you are not clutzy or at least not accident prone. ALL of the gardening-related injuries I have ever had were because I slipped, fell, or otherwise executed some kind of inept gymnastics when it was too wet or tto cold.

It really does matter, Len, but it also depends on the type of soil you are working with. Wet clay will become even more compacted if you try to work with it when it's wet. Thereby making the problem even worse. You just need to bite the bullet and hang tough, it will dry out, it will be tillable and you will get the plants in the ground. We all got the Wet Soil Blues.........LOL

it's too wet for me when the water is enough to seep in my shoes and get my socks wet.

i guess if you had sandy soil you could work with it wet--i have the clay soil

I often work soil when it is wet but I am always working to add structure. Compost, shredded needles, Wood chips or what ever I am digging into the soil to get it going in the spring. I haven't had trouble unless using a rototiller and adding nothing to enhance structure.

If we have wet soil on an archeolgical site, we wait a day or two for it to dry out before we dig. Usually a site in progress is under viscuine so it does not get excessively wet.

If you try to dig wet soil, the soil loses its structure.

Hey, Sofer. Good to see you.

gloria

Define "wet". The issue is catching that perfect balance between too wet to work and too dry to work. Personally, I think working on soil that is too dry is just as harmful to the tilth as working overly soggy soil, and I know it is harder on me. :-)

We've had a very wet early spring, but today was the first rain (about 3/4 of an inch) in a couple weeks. I've got one spot in the yard that needs some fairly major regrading and I want to core aerate the yard. I'll be watching and checking the soil moisture over the next couple of days to catch that "just right" moment.

That just is it we have moist only, never wet, and just in the spring to work soil. Therefore my attempt to ammend.

You talked aboaut accidents. I was out adding cow manure to mine and fell in. Good thing it was at least from a bag and not right from a cow. I still think I smell like cow manure and that was a year ago. Anyway, I am sure a lot more careful now

planolinda,

My wife and I have first-hand experience with clay soil. The best bet is to wait because it will get very hard. Our soil became so hard in one corner of the garden it took a pick ax while I double dug the soil.

The structure of the soil is basically the organic material that is naturally or "artificially" placed there by some sort of amendment, such as compost or by plants growing.

We have experienced the same "symptoms" in our soil, in early spring, where the soil is dry in the first inch or two but sopping wet six inches down.

The best test is to grab a hand full of soil, squeeze it into a ball. If the ball crumbles up easily when thrown back on the ground or pressing it through your fingers, its ready to work. if the soil wants to say in a mud ball or don't really "crumble" then its too wet.


wthex




This message was edited May 7, 2008 9:49 PM

The best soil is soil with structure and carbonacous material to make it productive to worms and all will become well. Look at your soil and make the decision to add compost and structure.

If you have clay soil, add gypsum and it won't matter. I will not allow the molecules to stick together so the water will soak in. It also alows the water to continue to soak on down therefore it dries out sooner.

Here is proof.

do i buy gypsum by the bag?

or the truck load.

i remember gypsum was one of the rocks we had to learn in earth science in high school!

I get 50 lb. bag for about $8. at the feed store. One bag will go a long way. Works like magic.

oh--ok--

I never buy anything anymore. I don't till either. I add compost or organic mulch to the surface and let the worms, bugs and mother nature take care of mixing it for me. My soil has changed from goopy (when wet) or rock hard (when dry) clay, to a nice black rich soil over time. It works for me. I love lasagna gardens!

My favorite organic mulch is free- leaves which I hoard in fall for composting the next year. At that time I also mulch all my planting beds with think layers of mulched leaves and sometimes a few grass clippings. Next fall I think I'm going to make one compost bin full of nothing but wet leaves to make leaf mold.

Karen

do you always chop up your leaves

Most are somewhat chopped. Some I suction up with my leaf vac, which has a 10:1 mulch ratio. Some, my husband collects as he mows the lawn, and they get chopped by the mower. I also collect my neighbors leaves. One neighbor uses a leaf vac/mulcher similar to mine and the other 2 use mowers. Occasionally a neighbor will rake, and those might or might not get chopped after I get them. Mulched ones break down faster in compost and stay in place better when used as mulch. Whole ones do work OK too, though.

My neighbors are glad to get rid of their bags of leaves, and they deliver them to my house and leave them in the driveway. It doesn't get better than that. And free, too.

And, no tilling or digging.

Karen

well i have been collecting leaves, layering lasagna beds and composting with leaves--but i do not chop them and so they are slow to break down but i just plant right in them as they are breaking down and are part way composted and it seems fine so far--but still that hard clay soil underneath---

I have seriously nasty clay here in my new neighborhood, nicely compacted by construction equipment three years ago. When it's too wet out to play in my dirt, I just fling trowelfuls of spent coffee grounds wherever I want to improve my soil. The local coffee shop saves 'em for me (one to five gallons a week) and the worms go nuts aerating the clay.

I love it when wildlife does my gardening for me.

Worms + microherd + coffee grounds = great workers.
I do the same here, especially when I hit a vein of blue clay. Coffee grounds are like catnip for worms...wormnip?

Throw in some rock flour and gypsum, and stand back!

Yes and a six pack of beer rapidly drank while watching the worms do soil amendments. LOL

And once the beer's "spent" it can add valuable nitrogen to the compost pile.

Yes in the form of Urates. Most thoughtfull PP. LOL