Stony soil

[Rohen]

I have excessively stony soil Is it worth building a big riddle and sieving it all or should I not bother?

I spent two hours in the greenhouse yesterday sieving by hand and cleared a 2 foot by 3ft little patch with no big stones and it felt good because the soil was easy to dig and plant after that but I doubt I would have the patience to do a hand sieve again

[Millymollymandy]

No, don't waste your time and energy, because they will just rise out of the soil again as soon as it rains!

I seem to always garden on stoney soil. If you are sowing seed, you can rake off the bigger stones but then you have the problem of where to put them. Nowadays I don't bother, I just hand pick out the stones from the drills as I'm putting back the soil over seeds. Once the plants have emerged they don't seem bothered by stones!

I have a use for the bigger stones, I use them to mark the end of a row of seeds. I put in a label one end and a big stone the other, to tell me where I've planted.

[Shirley]

We've got very stony soil too and we've left it - it helps with the drainage and keeps some heat in the soil too. Obviously you'll need to rethink if you are growing carrots - we're doing ours in a raised bed to avoid the stones.

[Jack]

Gidday

Yeah don't worry about it, just keep heaps of good organic matter on top and she'll be hunky dory.

[the.fee.fairy]

I chuck any big stones i see in the corner for a wildlife refuge. Other than that, i leave them.

Am i right in thinking that the only problem with carrots and stones is that they don't come out of the ground that nice straight shape? I'm not bothered about strange shaped carrots, as long as they grow!!

[Millymollymandy]

My carrots aren't bothered by stones - sometimes they make interesting shapes all by themselves but they are so big and strong no stone would dare mess with them!

[wyrdwoman]

Am i right in thinking that the only problem with carrots and stones is that they don't come out of the ground that nice straight shape? I'm not bothered about strange shaped carrots, as long as they grow!!

Thats what I wonder about. Everyone says not to plant them in stony soil due to the weird shapes they make, but I don't mind weird shapes as long as they taste good. Also, would stony soil affect other root crops like beetroot and turnip? I have never seen anything about that on other sites.

[Millymollymandy]

No it doesn't - well I haven't grown turnips but beetroot grew fine with no lumps! Parsnips OK as well.

[Rohen]

Yes I was going along with the raised bed idea because now Ive got impose order on the chaos


I built one from old decking for the garden to grow strawberries in so I was thinking about replicating that for the allotment


Now I just need 2.4m lengths and 1.2 m lengths of decent decking I shall have to go skip hunting

[Thomzo]

I too have a very stony garden. A lot of it is tiny fossils though so they are really quite pretty.

I pick out the largest stones and use them to make paths. I've also used them to make a gravel garden for my herbs and a gravel area in front of the chicken run where it used to get really muddy. It's saved me a fortune on gravel. - Ah, that reminds me "chucky stones" - another translation!

I did plant beetroot for the first time last year and they all had little indentations all over them. It didn't really affect them but I assumed it was the stones.

I also gave up riddling. It takes far too long. I just pick them out by hand whenever I am digging or weedling.

[the.fee.fairy]

Sounds pretty with the fossils. Have you made your path out of them? That sounds really attractive - a fossil path.

[Thomzo]

Well not all of them are fossils and they are very tiny but they are quite an attractive cotswold stone colour so it is quite pretty.