[harry]

Looking round my neihbours allotments on Sunday i noticed some of them had seed beds where the soil was very fine whereas mine was quite lumpy no matter what i did. Does this matter when you come to plant

[strangerachael]

Only if you're sowing very small seeds such as carrots. The seed wants to be in as close contact as possible with the soil to germinate. If you can't achieve a very fine 'tilth' by raking, you could scoop out a shallow drill and fill it with sieved soil/compost to sow your seeds into. Bigger seeds such as peas and beans, and small plants don't mind it a bit lumpy.