We have had a few dry and warm days here and although the wet soil has meant that I haven’t sown anything outside yet, I have been getting the soil ready. Most areas have been mulched with mushroom compost and areas for the potatoes have been dug. The raised beds have proved their worth because the soil in these is better drained, partly because of the added sand put in last year as well as their height above the surrounding soil. I am very careful not to tread on them where possible but it was necessary when they were dug, earlier in the year. The soil is heavy clay and not very stony but the excessive rain over the past months has exposed the stones so it looks a lot stonier than it really is. It has not been a cold winter, just wet, so the soil has been broken up by frost only a little over the past months.

The task now is to break up the soil surface ready for planting and sowing and to level it. It is important to sow the seeds in fine soil or they will be covered too deeply.

There are several ways to do this; bashing with the back of a fork (not very elegant or efficient), hoeing, raking (not an easy job if the soil is on the heavy side) or with my Wolf Soil Miller. This is not a commercial blog so I can recommend plants, companies and tools I personally like and although I have written about this tool to the benefit of advertising teams in the past it was only because I really rate this tool.

Dug-over soil with mushroom compost added

Lots of tools in the Wolf range are odd-looking beasts because their design was originally based on agricultural tools and principles. The soil miller is a cumbersome instrument when you pick it up but once placed on the soil and actually used it all makes sense – a bit like a penguin; you wonder why a bird would be such an odd shape and then you see it in water and all becomes clear.

Breaking down the soil surface with a soil miller

The soil miller has an oscillating horizontal blase at the back that slices through the soil about 1-2cm below the soil surface and four star-shaped tines at the front that break up the soil that has been loosened by the back blade. By pushing and pulling across the soil you can easily and quickly transform rough soil into fine tilth.

Soil after preparation ready for sowing and planting

Within a few minutes you can get your soil ready for sowing, as long as it is dry enough. The process will level the soil to some extent but you can also rake the soil to level it more accurately and remove large soil clumps and stones. All I need now is a few dry days and some warmth and I can get sowing.

soil preparation, soil tilth, sowing seeds, sowing veg, wolf soil miller