[canon can]

Hi all,

I have my work cut out, I have the use of a piece of waste land which has not been dug for many years, could be even a hundred years or more!!

I can not get a spade or fork in, the soil is that hard, even though the ground has had plenty of rain. I am no spring chicken so I have bought a rotorvator to help. It is very slow but once I have got the lumps of chalk out, the soil breaks down lovely to a fine tilth.

BUT the problem is IT STINKS!! I smells like the bottom of a pond!! I have done a Ph test and it is as near as makes no difference 8.0.

Has any one had this problem? What can I do? Can I plant it or will things not grow, if my vegetables do grow, can we eat them?

I will be grateful if as many of you can pass on their thoughts and ideas please or would it be best to leave it for another hundred years and put my name down for an allotment!!

[love-my-plot]

I read that  introducing sulphur into chalky/alkaline soil will lower the PH ... but sounds like you'll have a LOT to do.
Sorry, not sure what else to suggest  but hope ypu manage to find an answer to your problem.  

[Yorkie]

It rather sounds as though the ground has been compacted by something in the past, if it's still that hard after all that rain?  Would you have any way of finding out the site's history?

I'm also wondering about the smell - I'd always thought that was more associated with waterlogging than anything else.  If there's no symptoms of waterlogging (I assume not), could there be any historical contaminants on the area?

Someone else will correct me if I've gone off on an unhelpful tangent ...  

[wighty]

Could be past contaminant.  The Council here (in their wisdom) purchased some land to make more allotments due to demand.  When the land was tested (after they had bought it) was found to contain mercury and so is now no use at all.

[gobs]

8.0 is perfectly good for most things, nothing to worry about. the soil always smells when worked, after a longer period and damp the more so. It gives out a lot of gasses when turned, some fail to smell it, but it does smell.

I don't think you necessarily have to worry about something there.

[agapanthus]

Ours was exactly the same. It's what is known as sour. It's had no goodness put into it and it has'nt been worked. After a while the smell does go.....and once you've put plenty of rotted compost/manure into it it will be fine!

[richyrich7]

I've just dug up thee patio and the clay under there stinks vile, waterlogging in my case.

[noshed]

Funnily enough the smellier the stuff you dig in - manure, compost etc, the better it will all be. What you are aiming for is the sort of smell you get from walking in the woods - aerobic decomposition, not drains - anaerobic decomposition.
Comfrey tea however is in a different category.

[canon can]

Thank you all,

I do feel better now that I have read your replys. The rotovator scraps off the earth with the tines  like a tunnelling tool cuts under the English Channel! And it is nearly as quick!! Then the earth chunks are soon broken down to a fine tilth.

I did treat my self to a 6.5 H.P. Briggs & Straton engined rotovator, not a cheapy import off eBay.

Although the ground is hard, it is not water logged

I will get another section rotovated and cleared and put as much composted matter as I can get my hands on and leave it until next spring and see if that sweetens the plot up a bit.

Thanks again for your input.

[Aidy]

I've just dug up thee patio and the clay under there stinks vile, waterlogging in my case.

Are sure you its not the none of the last tenants  

[peapod]

I've just dug up thee patio and the clay under there stinks vile, waterlogging in my case.

Are you its not the none of the last tenants  

hehe I was thinking Brookside myself  :shock: