Topic: Riddling loads of soil

[jethro]

Why get rid of the stones? Geoff Hamilton (God bless him) used to leave them in, he said they warmed up the soil at night.

[Mimi]

I need to get rid of the stones once I have broken the surface 10" or so with the digger.  As mentioned before, my allotment is unusable, in its present state of total impaction.  Believe me it has to be seen to be believed.  It is almost as if the whole area has had a 'wacker plate' dragged over and over it.  I dont have the time or the energy to compete with it.  So once the crust is cracked as it where,that is when I need to get rid of the rocks, stones, asphalt and various other nasties in there.  Just hope at the end there IS some soil left to use.  ;D

[Palustris]

With regards to the type of riddle used in Archaeology, the problem is that you have to lift the soil into the riddle and then empty out the riddle when the soil had gone through. Believe me, I have done it both ways and a suspended riddle is slower and more hard work.

[Colin_Bellamy-Wood]

Depends Eric, on how much weight you've got to lose.   I'm 10 to 12 kgs over at the moment and looking forward to when I'm allowed to start digging again.   Then perhaps my trousers won't cut me in 'alf !!!

[Palustris]

Well, both daughterand I lost a stone apiece riddling the soil mounds we had here. But naturally when we stopped we both put the weight back on.  So hopefully you will do better than we did. :)

[kenkew]

A few years ago I made a similar riddle to the one mentioned. My straining 'cross wires' were old wire coat hangers. The legs were only short stumps which, when put on the top of the wheel barrow simply stopped it sliding off. The natural slope on the barrow gave me the fall.
I riddled tons of terrible soil in a new plot with it. I ended up with a mountain of clay embedded with weeds which I stacked at the bottom of the garden and covered with plastic. I left it for 2 seasons and worked my way through riddling it! Big job, but I rescued 90 of reasonable soil from what whould other wise be lost.

[Palustris]

Cor.!
If you do want to try using an archaeological type riddle, the one we made was from the sides of an old drawer, 6 ins deep, about 3 feet by 18 inches with a 1 inch mesh wire  base. We hung it from a childs swing using towing rope. Have fun!

[Garden Manager]

Seems to me the best reason for riddling soil is to remove rubbish and extract usable soil (which would otherwise be dumped with the rubbish). Never mind the stones, I have saved loads of soil over the years this way.

I have also been known to use it to EXTRACT the stones from the soil for a purpose. Either to use the stone as hardcore or to clean up gravel (which after a time gets soil mixed into it).  ;D

[Andy H]

get a shopping trolley full of soil and fix bag under it and tie to back of car and whizz down the road, with the state of our roads it would sieve the clay and break the stones up!!!!!!!!!!!!

[budgiebreeder]

 ;) ;) Hey peter watch out!! You've got some competition here as Chief Inventor on A4a.

[gilgamesh]

Why riddle?

Part of my plot has been used (repeatedly I should think) as a bonfire site. It's got lumps of half-burnt, half-melted plastic, charred stubs of bamboo canes, sticks, half-bricks, and mile upon mile of polysummat baler string which clogs and chokes the rotovator.

How to riddle?

Since I'm only trying to get the worst out, I use an old supermarket basket. Fill it up, and twirl it over the area you have just dug out.

[Palustris]

If you read the whole of this thread you will see a very good discussion on the whys and wherefores of riddling soil. The original posting was in response to a request for an easy(ish) method of quickly(ish) removing a large amount of very unwelcome material from an area which had been used as a builders storage area.

[Mimi]

Can I just say that I am not in the least bothered if I should or should not riddle. Also not bothered if anyone else does or doesnt.  I want to, so that I have soil that I can get a shovel into without having to be reduced to using a mattock everytime I wish to plant something..   The patent Marsh Riddle has been a god send to me.  So each to their own.  

[DolphinGarden]

Small scale riddling

Most of my back garden is grass, 95%.  On the little bit of open ground that I have, I recycled the grill from one of those diy barbeque boxes and nailed it to four bits of timber (old skirting board). Then I put a shovelful in at a time and took out any stones or lumpy soil.  There has been some landscaping after building work near my house recently so I stole a couple of bags of topsoil stealthily at night. I riddled it when adding to what I've got.

good luck

[Clayhithe]

I've never riddled soil:  there is just too much of it!

I always riddle my compost,  and put the lumps back onto the heap.
The chicken wire frame sounds good and I'll try it.

In Istanbul I watched workmen riddling sand and cement.   They had a large riddle on two wooden legs at waist level,  and it was easy to rock back and forth to move the stuff about and to tip the lumps off.  Suspending from ropes would achieve the same thing.

My soil was awful clay.  Lots of compost and lots of roots works wonders over several years:  never leave the soil with nothing growing in it.

[tim]

With some experience, I'll go with Eric's solution.

Experience? This is a typical dig in the Cotswolds!!

[djbrenton]

So when you riddle you're not after soil but dry stone walling then !

[kenkew]

Home made large riddle. Mesh is about 3/4 inch by 1 1/2 inches with a wooden frome made to fit. It's on legs that I use on the ground or in this case, on a wheelbarrow where it has a slight slope. I did the entire plot with it when I first moved in.

[Roy Bham UK]

Why can't I see your pictures today Ken :'( ???

[kenkew]

I'll try and re-post it....getting a bit fed-up with loading pics and having them go goo-goo on me!