Asked on Mar 17, 2017

Help! Our ground is hard like cement, how can we dig in it to plant?

Karen-home
by Karen-home
We have had not rain for a long time so ground is like cement. What can I do to start digging so I can start turning over the ground to plant grass? How to roto-til an area that is hard packed
  9 answers
  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Mar 17, 2017

    homeguides.sfgate.com/tips-rototilling-hard-soil-36359.html

  • Patti Patti on Mar 17, 2017

    Water the area thoroughly then let it dry out just enough so you can till it without it being too damp. If it is still too wet when you till it, it will just make thinks worse.

  • Paula Smith Paula Smith on Mar 17, 2017

    don't till. let water do the work....mark out the place for planting with hose or string , layer cardboard, newspaper, old rugs, carpet ect...wet the area well. the moisture held under the layers will soften the soil, also kill any weeds growing there,

  • Karen-home Karen-home on Mar 17, 2017

    Sounds like a plan! Once the ground is soften, then I can till.

  • Karen-home Karen-home on Mar 17, 2017

    That was my next thought. We had a 2 inch rain and the next day it was all dried out. Soil very clay like.

  • Karen-home Karen-home on Mar 17, 2017

    I will water real good, lay down some carpet or something like that and keep watering to see if I can get the ground soft enough to go down a couple inches. Very clay like soil.

    • Jennifer Jennifer on Mar 24, 2024

      Please don’t lay something down like carpet you’ll grow a fungus


  • On ce you have completed the above mix in sand and compost. In the fall put all your leaves on the garden area wet down good and cover with plastic for the winter. Next spring till these in. If you have as much clay as it sounds u are not going to be very successful until u amend that ground, two inches of lose soil isn't going to allow roots to develop.

  • Deb3214557 Deb3214557 on Mar 21, 2017

    I spent a day with a shiny new pickaxe to plant some trees beside my driveway a few years ago. They are doing great!

  • Bev15732657 Bev15732657 on Mar 21, 2017

    My Grandmother used to dump the dishwater out around the area she needed to weed...it also seemed to reduce the rapid growth of more weeds as well .

    • Jennifer Jennifer on Mar 24, 2024

      Yeah, because she was pouring chemicals into your soil toxic to plants, animals & humans as well