[victoria_plum]

I have been testing our soil lately, and did the jar test, revealing we have silty loam (5% clay, 65% silt 30% sand) and a ph of 7.5  We are on a bed of chalk.

What I don't understand is why our soil cracks.

I expected the soil test to show up clay, because of the fact that if you walk on the soil it compacts and it cracks and dries out very quickly.  The cracks don't seem to be great deep things, just surface cracks.

Does anyone know if this is typical of my soil structure.

I am adding manure and mulching flower beds with forest bark to add organic matter.  But I guess it is just manure for the veg beds.

Should I be watering the soil regularly.  My potatoes are in and the soil is cracking on the surface.  When they are up I can dig a little around them to break the soil up a bit, and hoe.

Does anyone have any suggestions??

[mumofstig]

is is just the very surface soil that is cracking in a sort of layer?  this is known as cracking and it's what happens here as well........doesn't seem to bother plants, but seedlings have trouble getting through unles you water gently.

Sorry, that should have said crusting or capping....I either cover seeds over with compost, rather than soil or remember to water gently every so often, to keep the soil soft

[jondav]

You seem to have the same type of soil as me,this type of soil is very fine almost a silt,the symptoms of this kind of soil are that when it rains or you water a thin cap forms,if you dig this soil in dry windy conditions you will see some of it literally blow away just like fine dust,what im doing is digging as much organic matter as I can find,on the plus side, this type of soil is very free draining,so no waterlogging.Hope this helps best regards

[Yorkie]

Have you tried regular hoeing?  I think that has seemed to work to prevent the 'cap' on my plot in recent (!) hot summers

[victoria_plum]

I'm not sure if mine is free draining or not... when it is compacted, eg if you've walked on it, or it has not been dug enough, puddles form. But on the other hand it does dry out quickly generally, then going cement like. Is yours like that?  It's weird!

[jondav]

puddles do form on my ground to,but they quickly disappear,the ground does go very hard when dry like now,the main prob i find is that some direct sown seeds cant push through the mudlike cap that forms,I think I will have to plant in pots first then transplant,like I said the best remedy ,as far as I can see is loads of well rotted compost dug in,thing is when I first had the plot it did nt seem as bad,maybe i ve pushed the fertility a bit too much,it now needs loads of manure etc to replenish it,

[victoria_plum]

Sounds exactly like my soil. We discovered when growing grass seed that the way to make it work is to scatter compost over the seed.

I've sown some gypsophila direct and sprinkled compost over it... seedlings looking very happy currently.

Thanks for your knowledge of the soil.. I am not alone! Woop woop!

[MoreWhisky]

As Yorkie says Hoe it   

[mumofstig]

As Yorkie says Hoe it   

but you can't hoe if you have seeds under the crust, all you can do is keep the top moist till the seedlings are through.
That's why sometimes it's easier to backfill the seed drill with multipurpose compost which won't crust over