What is Sifting the Soil?

A number of gardeners have asked "What do you mean when you say sifting when you talk about soil rejuvenation." 


Cheryle ready to sift the soil in her bed

That is really a good question and it isn't necessarily obvious. Sift? You sift flour and sugar together when making a cake to lighten the texture but how does that work with soil rejuvenation and bed preparation.

 In the garden we use a huge wheelbarrow as our "bowl" and have a piece of hardware cloth nailed into a wooden frame as our "sifter". Place the frame over the wheelbarrow, shovel dirt on top of it and then move the dirt around with your hands.

Sifting removes lovely critters like these grubs (Yuck).  Grubs are really bad critters to have in your vegetable bed since they eat the roots of your tender seedlings. The other bad bugs you want to look for are wireworms and centipedes.

Wireworms eat into root vegetables which spoils them and centipedes eat tiny earthworms. You want earthworms in your garden bed because they are beneficial to your soil structure. The earthworms aerate and leave behind worm castings which is highly desirable.

The other reason you sift the soil is to remove rocks and sticks as well as make the soil "fluffy". If you are trying to grow carrots the lighter and fluffier the soil the better. Also, if a carrot hits a rock or stick, it has to grow around or over it and you end up with carrots that aren't straight and perfect.

The good news is that once you sift your bed to remove "stuff" you don't have to sift it again unless you add amendments that have large bits of "stuff" in them.

Vicki