[yorkiegal]

Our new plot is basically just a big square of grass and a nightmare to dig. I can't get the spade through the turf. I strimmed it the other day but it's still bad. I had a quick go with a rotovater today but it's just too wet and I gave up. How dry does the soil have to be for me to be able to rotovate? The earth just kept clogging up the blades today.

[catweazle]

a fair bit dryer than it is now, idealy it should be the same as when you've just watered your plants... if that makes any sense. a bit damp but not wet

[chriscross1966]

It does depend a bit on the rotavator... something like a Howard Gem or 700 really doesn't care, it's going to rotavate it .... the same would be true of a big British Anzani or a Trusty, .... that said maybe not the best idea unless you're going to cover the whole thing with cardboard  or some other weed stopping mulch and plant things like spuds or squashes through it....

[fatcat1955]

Before you rotovate you need to clear the ground of weeds/grass. You could weedkiller the lot or cover with something to smother the weeds. Personally i would (weather permitting) Glyphosphate weedkiller the lot, wait till the grass/weeds have died. Then rough dig the ground( fork it over) then rotovate. Spread a general purpose fertilizer over the plot, wait 3 week's for the weed seeds to germinate , hoe the weeds down and then get planting. As you can see this is a long process so you might want to do a small area at a time to give you some land to use this year.

[yorkiegal]

thanks for the advice. Even if all we harvest this year is toms in the polytunnel and some beans and peas, that will do for me. I must get the peas out because they're taking over the house. I'm quite happy to concentrate on building the fencing and getting the ground prepared for next year. I'm joining our sites gardening club soon, part of which involves taking care of the local schools plot so I'll get some practice on there too.

[spuriousmonkey]

Instead of digging with a spade, you can also try using one of those larger hoes meant for digging. I don't know the correct technical term.

My soil is such a heavy clay that I basically have given up on digging and turning the soil with a spade. It is most of the time impossible. With the hoe it goes quite easy.

[gremlin]

I can't get the spade through the turf.

Try a fork, or a pickaxe  Other heavy digging tools are suggested on this forum, like mattocks and adzes?, but I haven't used them.

When you start fantasising about JCBs or pneumatic drills ..seek help

[allotmentann]

A lot of people who use azadas' swear by them. Personally, being small and light weight I like to use a fork and that works really well for me. I quite like to leave the ground I have cleared bare for a few weeks anyway, as I like to go over it several times before planting to try and get rid of the pernicious weeds as much as possible. I hate having to lift something I have planted to remove bindweed or thistles.

[yorkiegal]

It's not the soil  that's tough. It's the grass that's been growing on it for about 5 years. I've strimmed it all but it's a nightmare to get through. A fork works best but it's going to be very slow going. Think I'll get the weed killer out.

[gremlin]

The fork is to get through the grass to rip it into tussocks. ("Turf" would be way too posh) Then I had to let the soily tussocks dry for weeks, periodically going back to turn over the tussocks to help them dry  and bashing the soil off the roots to separate out the grass for composting.  I had so little soil that the other option of stacking the tussocks all up in a corner and letting them rot in their own time wasn't good.  It may work for you.

It took a long, long time (months)....but I won

Good luck

[ilan]

Take the top layer off as turf cut it a square at a time , then stack it in a corner face to face  with a layer of cardboard on top like a giant multi layer sandwich this will rot down over the next year to form a nice loam  then I would use a digging hoe to break up the under soil and work in as much compost as you have or grass cuttings and cardboard Personaly I would keep clear of stable manure as it is seldom well rotted and is full of weed seed , but you can add to your compost heap or bury it at least a ft down

[allotmentann]

Hi Yorkiegal I have a grassed section of my plot that I am trying to remove. Like you, the soil beneath the grass is good but the tough part is removing the layer of grass. If you can find anyone who has an azada to have a go with, you might find that this speeds the work up no end. The azada gets easily under the grass surface and slices up strips. I also find that the azada removes just a small layer of soil with the grass, where as the fork pulls up loads of soil which I have to remove from the roots. Once the surface is removed with the azada it is far easier to fork over. (The azada does need to be one of a weight that suits you though, the angled handle means that you don't have to lift it very much to swing it, but if you use one that is too heavy for you it could be very tiring!).

[yorkiegal]

have been reading up on the azada and it looks fab. Shame I can only seem to buy it online though.

[yorkiegal]

thanks very much for the reccommendation for Pextons. I went down there this morning and the very helpful chappie suggested I use a mattock, which I have now bought and am going to try out on the plot this afternoon. I did get a few funny looks walking through the city centre with it though lol.

[Anton]

Ilan, you spoke of adding as much compost and "cardboard" as you can. How do you add the cardboard? In shredded pieces? And doesn't it use up the oxygen as it decomposes?

Anton