[Mosslane]

Just been raking over my little plot in the garden, it is like a dust bath!!!!!!!!!! We live at the bottom of a sandstone ridge and the soil is mainly sand, despite all the stuff I have added over winter.

We haven't had rain now for about 10 days and with the sun it gets it is so dry on top. There is a bit of moisture once you go down a couple of inches but if it gets any drier I shall be getting the hose out

Think it is time to mark out my spud trenches and hope the frosts end soon.

[JayG]

Mine's not quite as sandy as yours but nevertheless much too sandy for my liking (never gets waterlogged though!)

It also loses nutrients very quickly, and added humus doesn't hang about for long either.

Advice previously posted on here suggests to keep adding manure to bulk it up but of course there are limits to how much you can get hold of, and ultimately it will still try and revert to the "S" word!

I can only suggest making the most of any manure or compost you have by making sure it is added where your crops are going shortly before or even at the same time as planting/sowing if it's not too "fresh", and also remember that hungry plants will almost certainly require additional feeds compared with those grown on more retentive soil.

(I'm doing an experiment this year with some solid clay donated by a neighbour who is a professional gardener to see if I can make a more permanent improvement to part of my plot but it's too early to say yet whether that is going to work!)

[plum crumble]

you have both made me realise how lucky I am with my loam! Crikey. 

[Trikidiki]

Funny. I was looking round my plot and noticed how dry the surface was. Some of the beds are starting to crack all over the surface like a dried up puddle.

It's great beause I can start soil preparation in the middle of winter but know I'm going to pay when it gets warm and dry. I've just installed a 1000litre water tank to supplement the eight water butts, but know its not enough.

I'm getting in as much bulky organic matter as I can scrounge.

[mumofstig]

I managed to dig my beds finally last week and I've noticed how quickly they are drying out since then:(

Digging in the spring seems to make the soil dry out quicker than when they are autumn/early winter dug.
Does anybody else think that this makes a difference?

[andy135]

My plot is easy to dig, it's getting the soil to part from the spade that is the problem.
My first year with no rotted manure or green compost after last harvest means I will struggle this year. I have ordered 4 large bales of peat to mix in with it,(please, no bleating about depleating natural resourses as 90% of peat extraction goes to be burnt in power stations).  I'm using a minimal amount and it's only this one season to help with moisture retention in the summer...................(what's that?). 

I have a large manure bin which is shortly to be filled with fresh stuff, and I am in the process of building a couple of large compost bins so next year should be much better.
I'll just plant what I can and feed as often as necessary.