Hi guys,
Today I have made something that I have wanted to do for a while, I made a soil sifter.
I decided that the soil I had turned over needed going through to get out all the roots and large stones that I don't want there.
I had a plan, and some energy as I have been to the car boot sales today so did a lot of walking looking for bargains.
I got some pallet wood that I had leftover from building the shed.
And while I was tidying up the first day I got my allotment I found some quarter-inch wire mesh, it's a bit rusted but will do the job that I want it for.
I started off by making a square out of the pallet wood and counter-drilling the wood so the screw didn't split the wood.
And what was amazing lady luck was on my side as it fits over my wheelbarrow.
I then took it for a test run and put some dirt on it.
Now, this is a manual sifter so you have to hold the tray with your hands and move it back and forth until the soil goes through the mesh.
I found it to be quite easy to do and I didn't overfill it so it wasn't that heavy either.
Once the soil had gone through the gaps I have lovely fine soil and I can add horse manure into it to make my soil more nutrient-rich.
One thing I found was it got out like 90% of all the roots, there were still some fine ones in it, all the big stones and large muck was left over and I placed this to one side.
The roots will go in the compost bin when that is up and running, the larger muck that's there I am going to place this down where my paths are going to be, this will work well as I am going to turf the path.
Hope you like my sifter and until next time, stay safe.
A sifter is essential equipment: mine is pretty similar to yours and it turned up all sorts of strange and interesting objects in my soil - coins from 1915, you name it
have you got a post on the coins you found @nikv? I'd like to see them, I did find a plastic comb while sifting today, it looked quite new and didn't make sense why it would be there as this allotment has not been turned in years.
Oh your soil sifter is good and practical. Good to segregate materials that remained in the soil. This gave me an idea on how I could trap the white bugs that has been in the soil during winter...
I found a soil sifter in our garage in Spain that was used by our mason while they were building our house. They used it when they needed fine sand to finish a wall with cement/sand combination. I do not have a photo since I am here in Vienna, but its a round one that has a wire mesh attached to a plastic frame ... I haven´t used it though since I have a cactus and succulent garden there. The sifter is similar to this one (Amazon, costs 10Euros) but a bit bigger in diameter.
Nice build! Well sifted soil is a great medium to plant directly into
Love finding or making free things. Good job!
Me too!!!!
Yes, I love it! I really have been meaning to build a sifter... ain't much to it and I have plenty of material I could use for it too.
Looks awesome, and so does your soil now too. Thanks for the inspiration!