Kitchen Garden Forum

I'm really baffled by my new plot: there are virtually no stones in the soil. Is this a good or bad thing?

When I do come across them, they are ENORMOUS.

Also intriguing me are the large numbers of pieces of broken orange plant pots. This used to be a farmer's field years ago. Would these pots be connected to farming?

Some people I know claim that stones are good for the soil because they help it heat up more quickly in the spring. What's your reaction to that?

Do stones aid drainage? Is that perhaps why my heavy clay doesn't drain? I've worked in clay before, but that had lots of stones mixed in.

Boulder clay.

In 2013 when I took on the half plot next to my existing half I started the stone removal process.
Before I had sown or planted anything I removed 15 wheelbarrow loads.

I make a point now across the entire plot of picking up and removing medium to large stones as and when I see them.

As time has gone by I think geologists might have got it wrong, at least when it come to allotments. Water does not wear stones away, it encourages them to grow

Mind you, I don't want to remove them all because there is a noticeable difference in drainage and aeration in the ground when no stones exist.
However I do try and remove, by sieving if need be, as much stone as possible from the proposed carrot, parsnip and beetroot beds.

Pa snip - us geologists are never wrong as I say to my husband when he tries to argue otherwise (he's a chemist).

I remove larges and medium stone - we have a lot of Flint. I've reused some as a path. I think keeping small ones in does help drainage, certainly on my plot. Maybe that's why my carrots are better in the raised bed which Is full of home made compost?

I think the rocks would need to be exposed to benefit from the sun to add any significant heat - and would also probably depend on rock type? In France (certainly chateau Neuf de pape) they rely on rocks to heat up to during the day to extend the heat during the night and keep the lovely vines warm.

Rocks at depth also quite warm but that would have to be some serious root growth in those carrots to benefit from the heat

Pawty wrote:Pa snip -

In France (certainly chateau Neuf de pape) they rely on rocks to heat up to during the day to extend the heat during the night and keep the lovely vines warm.

oooh Chateau Neuf De Pape !!!! May Weee, Was that one of Del Trotters Peckham Market specials.

Pa Snip wrote: Water does not wear stones away, it encourages them to grow

Doesn't their growth rate depend on how deep you planted them?

Pawty wrote:Rocks at depth also quite warm but that would have to be some serious root growth in those carrots to benefit from the heat

This is why you must be extra careful not to plant your stones too deep.
The correct planting depth can be derived as follows;

Take the inverse of the stones diameter in inches, multiply that by five and that is the depth the top of the stone should be under the surface in inches.

If you were to plant a ten inch stone it would be half an inch down, if you miscalculated and planted it at five inches you run the risk of a micro-erruption, the lava from which could cause havoc over at least a square yard. Competitive stone growers, especially those going for the largest igneous boulder category have to exercise extreme caution, it is generally considered safer to start with sedimentary pebbles, working up a size each season, this is because they tend to fracture rather than actually melt, reducing the risk.

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I am really really glad our local horticultural & craft show does not have a grow your own 'pet rock' section. Far too complicated for me.
End of the day trying to plant these things correctly and I'd be stoned out of my mind.

However there is a simpler calculation than the one Peter quotes.

Take a winter squash and divide the circumference by the diameter and for your calculations you can use pumpkin pi

I don't bother growing stones I stick with my asbestos bush and my bicycle spares tree both of which are doing really well on the plot,

Barry, if you want some extra stones, I've got hundreds going spare if you want... Found a glut of then growing when I dug out for my raised beds lol

Thanks for the kind offer of the stones. I'll pass, thanks...

However, this area is weird. There are practically no stones in my soil, but go two fields away and there are TONS. I simply can't figure how the farmer it able to grow anything between the great lumps of stone that he digs up.

This might be a heavy clay area, but that field is weird.

I put stones around the base of brassica plants to hold in moisture during the summer months and keep away beasties.

At my previous allotments, one of the plot holders made the most beautiful mosaicas with stones recovered from the site.

Does anybody use their stones on top of mypex to form paths?

Agree Pa!

Damn stones do grow! They come in useful though as I collect them over the spring/summer after they've worked their way to the top over winter, (mostly thanks to Mr Mole)! I put them in buckets that have a wee hole or lost the handle & then in winter they hold my plastic down.

Not that successful to date as weights, as you see from my posts, but it takes a load of stones from my plot to fill those buckets! Only bother to clear the beds for root crops though - & funnily with that extra attention those damn stones grow best in there! Leave the rest of the beds as believe it aids drainage & aeration.

Westi

I believe stones gradually work their way upwards in any case (no mole help needed), as they 'float' in the soil. Our allotment is above the well-known Craven Fault, a geological fault which continually produces stones on the surface though I wouldn't say that the plot is terribly stony overall. We have cultivated and dug this plot over more than 30 years and are always surprised how every year large stones have worked their way to the surface again.
We use the collected stones to make a French drain at the bottom of the plot.

Hi Monika,
We have the very same difficulties with rising rocks and some are really large and considering the beds are generally dug a full spit deep
and we get them only a couple of inches below the surface the following season and the largest was only an inch thick but was actually 36" long by about 8" wide. Certainly this is an annual occurence.
JB.

Around here stone picking was known as rembling....get a cart load and skell them in a gate hole as booning.

Clive.