Premium quality garden soil has a loose, crumbly structure. Disturbing components such as thick clods of earth, stones and old roots must go so that plants can happily extend their roots into the garden soil. This guide is packed with practical tips on how to properly sieve garden soil.
How can I sieve garden soil correctly?
To sieve garden soil properly, you need a soil sieve (€32.00 on Amazon) with a mesh size of 6-7 mm, a spade, a mortar bucket and a waste bag. Dig out the soil, remove any coarse impurities, fill the soil into the sieve, shake it and collect the sifted soil in the bucket.
Tool requirements and preparation work
Before you start sieving garden soil, please have the appropriate tools handy and carry out important preparatory work. You need a spade, a used, clean mortar bucket, a large garden waste bag and a soil sieve (€32.00 on Amazon) with a mesh size of 6 to 7 millimeters. How to prepare the sieving process expertly:
- Dig up soil to a depth of 20 or 30 cm
- Excavation manually cleaned of stones, roots, weeds and other coarse contaminants
- Alternatively, throw the excavated material through a sieve
Collect the coarse plant residues in the waste bag provided. The remains are generally not suitable for disposal in the compost. If you make compost soil yourself, you have no interest in re-spreading any weed seeds or pathogens it may contain in the garden this way. Collect the separated garden soil in the mortar bucket.
Sifting garden soil correctly – this is how it works
After the preparatory work, you can devote yourself to the fine work. Gradually fill the pre-filtered soil into the soil sieve with one hand. Shake the sieve vigorously with your other hand. You can either collect the sifted soil in a bucket or let it trickle straight into the bed. Thicker clods of soil may need to be additionally crushed by hand so that they fit through the narrow mesh.
Improve Sieved Soil
Sifting garden soil is an excellent opportunity to improve the quality. You can then optimize wet, clayey soil with fine-grained quartz sand. Garden soil that is too sandy and dry can be improved to suit plants with ripe compost soil.
Tip
With green manure as a recovery treatment, you can prepare inferior garden soil perfectly for the planting plan of your choice. Native plants with deep roots loosen up compacted garden soil in a natural way. Sow lupins, sunflowers, rapeseed and similar deep-rooted plants between May and October. After 4 to 12 weeks, the plants are cut off and incorporated into the soil as dried mulch.
