Soil is hard as cement

I need to use a pick or jackhammer to break soil to plant anything. What could be used to break soil down to be able to plant in it?
  11 answers
  • Debbie Debbie on Aug 17, 2015
    Water it deeply for a few days and see what happens.
  • Candye Candye on Aug 17, 2015
    You may just have to do away with your soil altogether and replace/plant with a good potting mix.
  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Aug 17, 2015
    You need to put gypsum into the soil. Sounds like you have a lot of clay. Once the soil starts to soften add amendments. Peat Moss when planting. Use a good garden soil. All of this will eventually change your soil. In the mean time if you want to plant chose different pots and make container plantings. Once your soil amends depending on the time of year you can then transplant.
  • Margaret Margaret on Aug 17, 2015
    Mix sand cow manure& peat..Maybe 2 sand to 1 of others.I have done the several times over years.Good luck.
  • Rita Wozniak Rita Wozniak on Aug 17, 2015
    IF you get it broken up.soundl like you have clay soil.. . put lots of sand and peat moss in it.. along with a good helping of loam.. needs some air in it to keep it from packing so hard.. amend it with some aged manure.. and go ahead and plant in it.. make sure the water drains out of it too.. dont need it to drown what ever you plant..
  • Mcgypsy9 Mcgypsy9 on Aug 18, 2015
    Gypsum is great for softening soil but it takes time. It definitely doesn't happen over night. You need to add gypsum every spring and even several times throughout the spring summer early fall to get it to soften. It could take a few years even. I did "some" planting in the soil. I watered it down and then dug out holes even though it was really rock hard. Get a very narrow and long shovel with a nice point. The narrow shovel is much easier to get into the ground with. About 6 inches across. I took some of the dug soil, Black Cow manure and some potting soil and mixed them together and used that for planting. About 1/2 and 1/2 on the soils and about 1/4 on the manure. Everything that I planted is growing beautifully. Good Luck!
  • Danielle Danielle on Aug 18, 2015
    It takes several years to really soften up heavy clay soil, I know this from hard (pun definitely intended) experience. There are some great suggestions here already but here's one other and I can tell you it does work. Daikon radishes. Plant them, in fact, over planting a little is fine, water them and watch them jackhammer a good foot and some down into your soil, because they will. They're very cool and kind of terrifying that way. Harvest a few if you like to eat them and then when winter hits cover the ground with clear plastic and let them rot right into the soil. It's DYI compost. It can take up to 3 years and I would recommend following the other suggestions as well, they will all help. You'll have great soil eventually, just have patience. Good luck!
  • Melissa Edwards Rebry Melissa Edwards Rebry on Aug 18, 2015
    We live in MS and have very hard red clay on our property....sparks would fly when we hit it with the pick ax...yeah....so first we used a heavy duty tiller to break up garden and flower bed areas....making it dig down as deep as it would go...then tilled in peat and top soil (that has alot of sand in it) and our plants have done well. We tried the pick ax thing...but after many sore muscles and blisters..we found the tiller works great without much effort...so good luck!
    • Mcgypsy9 Mcgypsy9 on Aug 20, 2015
      @Melissa Edwards Rebry I think this is about one of the best ideas I have heard so far!! I would also add the gypsum to this mix you did as it really does do a great job of softening. I think I'm going to rent a tiller come planting time! Thanks for the tip!
  • Sai1475099 Sai1475099 on Aug 18, 2015
    You might skip trying to reinvent your soil and go for raised beds. Many plants only need six to ten inches of planting depth... If you are talking about planting a tree, the tree's roots will inevitably reach your hard, non- draining layers, so it is best to plant native species that have adapted to living in that tough environment.
  • Suz1343480 Suz1343480 on Aug 19, 2015
    Raised beds ;)
  • Keith Widgington Keith Widgington on Aug 20, 2015
    Gypsum is a great way to do it. You could also use dish soap just mix in with water and pour in your soil. But the best wat is to add organic material yo your soil through compost either bought or made yourself. Keep all your coffee grinds and tea bags and add them to your soil. You'll need to break up the clay (never when after its rained and and mix in lots of compost topsoil and some peat moss to help lighten the soil. Hopefully the area you're working with is not too large. Good Luck.