A stale seedbed is one that has been about for a bit, so that there has been plenty of time for weed seeds to germinate.

The seedbed is prepared so that the soil is in fine crumbs. This is called a tilthe.
If the seedbed is left, weed seeds will germinate.

These weed seedlings can be removed when they are tiny, by raking the soil. The roots will be pulled out of the soil, and if left on top they will die.

The seedbed should be raked whenever the weeds emerge. The longer this goes on, the more weed numbers will be reduced, and the better the stale seedbed will be. It is much easier to produce a stale seedbed in the garden if the bed can be covered with some sort of polythene to keep it dry - such as a polytunnel.

The soil needs to be dry:

• to allow the rake to be pulled easily through the soil
• for the rake to pull the seedlings out
• to allow the roots of the weed seedlings to dry out & die

This stale seedbed will make a perfect environment for carrot seeds to be sown in.

vegetable garden