So you think your worst enemy in the garden is me do you? Well lets see what your bifurcated carrots have to say to that. Besides carrot fly they might tell you what they really don't like about your garden is the incredibly stony soil. How are they supposed to put down long, straight roots if they keep hitting stones? By the way the parsnips are feeling pretty sore about this as well.
In medieval times of course children were kept out of trouble and usefully employed picking stones out of the fields. In this day and age of molly-codddling that isn't an option, you will have to seriously up their pocket money first! So what is the gardener to do when faced with angry root vegetables and stony soil?
What you need is a
soil sieve. For sifting large quantities of soil you need a free standing soil sieve, such as a rotary soil seive, or one that will sit in or across a wheel barrow. You can make your own bespoke wooden frame for this purpose that sits across your barrow, supporting a wire mesh through which you sieve the soil. The seived soil in the barrow is then easy to tip back into the beds where you will plant your very happy root veg.
For smaller quantities of soil or for sieving compost in preparation for seed sowing then a small hand sieve will do the trick. You can buy fairly cheap plastic ones or something like the traditionally handcrafted soil sieves above. These are beautiful and pleasant to use. Use them not just for sifting soil but also to separate bean seeds from pods and for dusting a light covering of soil over small seeds to optimize germination. These will hang very neatly and beautifully from a peg on the shed wall.
See also:
Eljer toilet seats
House Remodeling
Wood fireplace inserts
Bunk bed
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