Insert a garden sieve: This is how you process soil and compost

From old to new
Use the garden sieve correctly: This is how you recycle soil, sand and compost

The first gardening work needs to be done in spring at the latest: from pulling weeds to sowing new seeds and preparing the soil. The latter should be loosened, ventilated and fertilized – in order to optimize the cultivation conditions for new plants. A garden sieve can help with this.

Depending on the manufacturer, fresh potting soil contains different components, such as compost and peat or fertilizer. This is intended to provide plants with optimal care during cultivation. However, the nutrient content of the soil decreases with each season, so it can only be reused to a limited extent – and must first be prepared with fresh soil or natural fertilizers. A garden sieve can be helpful to loosen up the solid components and remove coarse particles such as roots, weeds and stones. What this is and what you should pay attention to before purchasing it, read below.

What is a garden sieve?

As the name suggests, one is suitable garden sieve for distributing seeds and sieving out soil – or sand and compost. In contrast to a normal kitchen sieve, the meshes (ideally made of stainless steel) are significantly larger and can be varied using special sieve inserts: This has the advantage that you can filter fine and coarse particles from the soil, such as small stones or root residues. Depending on the manufacturer, there are garden sieves of different sizes, and the shape and mesh size can also vary. Below we will introduce you to the common models in more detail.

How do the models differ?

A garden sieve is usually round or rectangular and made of plastic or metal. So that it can be operated by hand, the sizes vary only slightly – unless you choose a so-called pass-through sieve. These are the most common models:

1. The round sieve

Whether out plastic or stainless steel, the shape is always the same: A round sieve is small and handy, so it can be easily operated by hand. There are models with different sized, interchangeable sieve inserts – but some garden sieves only come in one mesh size. For this reason, you should consider in advance whether you want to filter soil, sand or compost.

2. The box sieve

As the name suggests, is a box strainer rectangular and works just like a round model. However, this garden sieve usually has larger meshes so that it can better filter coarse particles such as stones, clods of earth and twigs. Here too there are models made of plastic or Wood – with and without a sliding function to adjust the mesh size.

3. The sieve

If you have a large garden and would like to sift out larger amounts of soil (or compost), one is Pass-through sieve with a coarse or narrow-meshed grid is the better choice. It is significantly larger than a normal garden sieve and is not held with your hands, but stands independently. Then use a shovel to throw the desired amounts through the sieve.

4. The compost sieve

A self-contained mechanical garden sieve is significantly larger and more expensive to purchase than the round or square garden sieve compost sieve, which is operated with a turning spindle. As the name suggests, the model is primarily used to remove foreign substances from compost soil as much as possible – so that it can then be used again.

Buying a garden sieve: tips for purchasing

Now that you have gotten to know different garden sieves, you should think about the following points before purchasing:

The material
As mentioned at the beginning, most garden sieves are made of plastic or stainless steel. Both materials have advantages and disadvantages: Plastic is lighter and more elastic, but can also break more quickly. Metal, on the other hand, is heavier, but also more robust and durable.

Form
Depending on the application, a round or rectangular garden sieve is suitable: During Round sieves are better suited to evenly distributing fresh seeds Box screens while shaking the earth.

The stitches
There are large and small meshes that are suitable for different gardening tasks. For this reason, most sieves have different base inserts that can be exchanged. If this is not the case, you should consider in advance which mesh size is the better choice: fine meshes are suitable for dry soil, medium-sized meshes for coarse and wet soil – large meshes are better suited for large quantities.

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