[daz]

this is my first attempt at growing veg and alls growing well but i have so many stone in the soil its unbelievable
at the moment when i habe a few minutes to spare i go round wth a bucket and pick them up but that just the ones on the surface

should i carry on as i am
once i harvest go through it with a sieve
or just leave them be as there's no harm in it?

[compostqueen]

it's just the bigger stones which come out. I;'d leave the little uns as there's moisture under a stone, so they say

[daz]

it's just the bigger stones which come out. I;'d leave the little uns as there's moisture under a stone, so they say

how big is bigger?

[compostqueen]

Well anything half a brick sized is too big    A stone about an inch or so wouldn't bother me but then I'm not very fussy    For seed sowing I'd clear the bigger ones out the road though.  You can save some of them for the bottom of pots etc

[daz]

ye i have a big pile of all the ones ive pulled out so far i recon if i took them all out i could make paths between my veg with them

but on the other hand if it no harm in it and nothing needs to be don then thats less work for me lol

[mashauk]

Our site is very stony too, we can't get rid of them, as we riddle them more come up, we just do our best when planting to get rid of any big uns and one day will get someone to take them away but we'll never get all of them out so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[compostqueen]

I watched a guy on the Allotment DVD where they have very stony soil and folks make low walls with them for raiseds beds etc, and for shed foundations etc

[Trillium]

I have stoney soil as well and just make the best of it. As long as they're not boulder size or less (which I do dig out, sometimes with prybars and wedges) veg roots don't mind. Every year after I rotovate, I walk around picking out bigger ones, then after rainfalls when they're exposed. For the carrot beds, I dump the soil through a coarse sieve over a wheelbarrow, then put the 'clean' soil back in so I have reasonably straight carrots.
A friend of mine does pick out every stone he has and so far he has several hundred feet of 6" high paths. I think it's time he started a stone wall  

[crowndale]

My plot is stony too, very few of the others are and I guess over the years they have just removed them all while owners of my plot haven't!  I have removed the surface ones and those exposed by rain and as I dig over a patch I continue to remove the ones I can pick up wearing gloves.  I am making a bit of 'hard standing' at the entrance to the plot so when the tractor comes next autumn with the muck for the plot it won't sink (hopefully) the two feet or so that it sank in Jan!  It is about 8 inches deep at the moment but hard to tell how hard it is while the ground is so dry and hard.

[diggerjoe]

The whole our site is full of stones we are all encourged to use them to fill potholes on the main drive so we all put them in a netting container by the notice board. One near neigbour has riddled his plot must have taken years but his soil at the weekend after all that the sun looks like brown dust not a stone to be seen  :shock: I haven't the time or the patience.

[GreenOwl]

I always weed with 2 buckets.  1 for weeds and 1 for stones and other non-compostable debri (which includes dandelions and green netting 'cause the previous owner used really cheap turf where I now have my veg patch!  :evil:)  I grow fruit and veg at home rather than on an allotment (still no progress on this new site in the village).

My faher thinks I'm nuts 'cause I remove all stones as I find them but I figure that over time it'll get better.  I can see why people in the Middle Ages thought land grew stones!  I can't be bothered to riddle to soil so this is the middle approach.

[Yorkie]

One of the things I remember from geography 2 decades ago, is 'frost heave'.

Basically, water collects around stones which are under the surface of the soil.  When the water freezes, it expands, thrusting the stone upwards (a little).  Smaller soil particles backfill the space when the ice thaws, so the stones gradually work their way to the surface.

I seem to remember my diagrams were particularly illustrative !

Hence one reason why you keep finding stones on the surface of the soil  :idea: