[greenhead]

My allotment is in Worcestershire which is predominately heavy clay soil.  The only practise I have found satisfactory to produce a reasonable tilth for planting is to dig over with a digging fork then rotovate over in order to break down the lumps of clay - hard work!!  My fork has 12" long prongs and my rotovater is a Honda 201 with digging tines, the standard tines bend out of shape when encountering the clay lumps!   Using the rotovater alone - it just skids over the surface.

Is my approach 'best practise'  comments please.

[lucywil]

I personally think you can't just rotavate, unless the soil is weed free ( nice fantasy!) we either dig first or dig after but either way you gotta dig!

[mumofstig]

Yes, you have to dig/fork over first otherwise you get a hardpan where the tines don't reach 

I think this is what greenhead is saying he does 

Regular cultivation and autumn digging, with the earth left in large clods for the weather to work on, does help break up the lumps.

[mikem]

I also have heavy clay soil.  I dig mine over with a spade, not a fork, at the end of the season and leave the frost to get down to do its job on killing things off but I also thinks it helps to break down the heavy clay.  I then rotovate mine when it is dry enough in the spring when it doesn't stick to the tines.  My concern is that your tines bend out of shape, I have a Mantis and I don't have an issue with theirs.  Clearly lots of compost will help break it down a bit more in future.  If your lumps of soil are too hard for your rotovator then walking over it to break them down will help - but I am 16 stone so that is one occasion when it helps!

[lucywil]

I think this is what greenhead is saying he does 

Yeah, I realise that, was just answering the question Digging V Rotavating or both, sorry I wasn't very clear

[bigben]

I have never used a rotavator but I guess the question I would want to ask is what are you adding to the soil to improve the texture?

Adding organic matter and perhaps a bit of coarse sand will help improve the texture in the longer term and avoid the same issue coming up each year. Dig or rotavate some compost or manure in.

[grendel]

If you are going to rotovate, then dont just do it the once, I alternate direction, then do a last run just before I plant. the rest of the plot gets done many times before being planted. I am lucky with a fairly rich soil, that does rotovate easily (though clogs the spade when hand digging). to avoid panning out I do double dig using the rotovator (going over a section twice) and it does leave a nice ridged appearance before I rake it level again.
Grendel

[greenhead]

Thanks all,  Horse manure - I generally spread over the surface November time (hopefully letting the worms do the hard work)  fork/add 'black stuff' from the Council tip (which I get in bulk 3 1/2 ton load) then rotovate in March.  Been doing this for 5 years but still fetch up clay lumps which do not break down easily.  I envy the people in the East who seem to have beautiful soil to start with.

[prakash_mib]

I envy the people in the East who seem to have beautiful soil to start with.

I envy the rest of the world for the very same reason  . For the peace of my mind I assume no-one has better soil than mine 

Personally I feel you need rotavating if you havent dug during autumn. A quick fork turns, add manure, rotavate, rake. will give you surface ready for planting.
otherwise
my way: quick turn with fork in autumn, cover with manure straighaway, hoe in spring and plant . 

[devonbarmygardener]

I must have perfect soil - neither too loamy or too clay-ey

I've never used a rotovator - digging can be hard work if the ground is damp and heavy but it seems to be enough for me.

One of our old boys uses a rotovator though.

Emma

[Dom2599]

I rough dig over first, then run the rotavator over it from top to botom, then from side to side