Kitchen Garden Forum

Are these any good? The ones I've seen advertised are about 75 kg when full of water, is this heavy enough?
Sandy_v

That is 165lb or 11stone 11pounds.

That leaves two questions.
Heavy enough for what function?
Obvious question.

How big is it?
The width and diameter will give you the contact patch and hence the ground pressure.

Heavy enough to smooth all the mud around beds and chicken coops that we've churned up in our clay soil over the winter, the similar damage we've done walking over grass because of builders stuff and the mess left after we clear the mole hills etc etc.
We thought if we did it once the soil was dampish but not still semi-liquid it would mean that it dries out flat, instead of lumpy.
The rollers we've been looking at are about 50 cm wide, which sounds like a reasonable width for what I want.

I do not believe you will achieve anything doing that.

If you were rolling sand you'd achieve a result, on clay all you are likely to do is smear the soft layer of grease on top of the compacted clay. That or push a ridge of mud up until the roller won't move.

I garden on best Hertfordshire Clay, I weigh just under 20 stone and take a size 11. One of my feet does not leave any appreciable dent in the soggy paths at my allotment. I do leave slip marks in the greasey layer.

Neither my Hayter or Sufflolk Punch mower's, both with rollers, make any discernable difference to the paths bumps, the Hayter murders molehills though, , buggers its blade in the process.

Compare me to your roller.
280lb on a 10"x3" contact patch.
280 / (10x3)= 9.3333lb per square inch.

Versus

165lb on a 20"x2" contact patch.
165 / (20x2)= 4.125lb per square inch.

Shall I come round and walk your paths?

Seriously though, your money, your choice.

Alternative I used to do in my chicken run. Wait till better weather, rotovate, let the chooks have a worming frenzy, then rake, tread, rake, like preparing to seed a lawn, hey presto, new path... for a while.

I agree with Peter - you,d be wasting your time.

After repairing the mess when it's drier, I would prepare for next winter and get some paving or tracking sorted out. There are lots of plastic (recycled) mesh type things available now (try builders merchants or LBS horticulture). Or make wooden edges and infill with scalpings.

Mole

This plastic mesh,I have seen the sort of thing you mean in public places, doesn't it get slippery when wet and/or sink into the mud without trace?
I suppose it would help stop the moles surfacing

We've got a 250Kg roller, and that is O.K. if the soil is soft, otherwise you need to make a seedbed to stand a chance of rolling it level with a water filled roller.