Clay Soil

Nuttygal

Hi everyone, i hope you're all having a good day so far.

I have a small section of land at the side of my house which I was hoping you guys might be able to give me some advice about. The soil is quite clay filled and once I painstakingly pick all of the stones out of it (oh how i'm looking forward to that!!) I'm not sure what to do to improve the soil. I have a lot of last years compost- would it be worth adding it to the clay along with some fertilisers? I'm a total newbie who caught the bug planting in containers last year and would love to grow veggies in my garden but the soil issue is one that confuses me . Any advice on how to improve my soil would be greatly appreciated- Thank you all in advance :):)

nodwah

Is it a new house - if so it's probably builder's spoil and might not be any good for growing in anyway.

I would suggest making raised beds - see other threads about them and I wouldn't bother picking stones out as they might help drainage

Lotus-eater

I think the best way to improve virtually any soil, especially clay, is to add lots of rotted manure, lots and lots.
Your last years compost will certainly help, but won't be enough. As nodwah says, raised beds will concentrate the stuff you add into the areas you need, as well as helping drainage. Depends on the area you have.
If you improve it enough, I would take the stones out, otherwise, I'd just leave them in.

This patch of land down the side of your house. Is it worth improving, does it get enough sun? If not, you will be better concentrating on somewhere else.

Nuttygal

Thank you both very much for your replies,

The house is 3 years old and to be honest some of it may be builders spoil however the whole plot is clay soil and this area doesn't seem to differ much from the far end of the garden which remained untouched when we built here.
Luckily it gets sun for a good portion of the day and I have been looking into which veg do best in partial shade so as to improve my chances of a fair yield. It's all trial and error at the moment for me so anything that grows would be a bonus! I would like to consider raised beds and will look into tis. Ideally I would like to just have a little plot but if this seems unlikely to be viable given the soil then raised beds it will have to be.

Thank you again :T:):)

emiff6

this site will tell you how to go about improving clay soil:
http://organicgardening.about.com/od/soil/a/improveclaysoil.htm

Once improved, clay soil is fabulous stuff for growing.

kim107

I would go with the raised bed idea. I grew up in a house that had a garden of heavy clay and although my parents added lots of compost over the years it was still a pain to work with. We found that making smaller plots certainly helped as it meant we didn't need to walk on the soil - the worst thing you can do with clay soil. One of our neighbours had his garden completely cleared of the builders spoil and had some rich loam top soil delivered as soon as he moved in - it was expensive but I think if my parents were to start from scratch at a new house then they would do the same thing. It sounds like you have a lovely sunny spot so if you can get the soil sorted then you have every chance of success. Good luck with your new veggie plot!

optimus_primera

We have clay soil here, raised beds are the way to go, with of course the benefit of not having to walk on it when its wet, to get to the plants.

As has been said, loads of well rotted manure,with some grit dug in to aid drainage (i used a rotivator). dig over in autumn, and let the winter frosts break down the larger clumps.

Mojisola

Nuttygal wrote: »

I have a small section of land at the side of my house which I was hoping you guys might be able to give me some advice about.

You don't say if this piece of land is up against the house. If it is, be careful not to bridge the DPC if you raise the level.

I wouldn't bother picking the stones out. As the others have said - raised beds and loads and loads of humus, year after year.

savemoney

My garden has clay soil, am slowly over the years improving the soil with home made compost from my compost dalek

Yesterday I got 5 medium sized bags of new compost from it which I made from last Summer/Autumn and I still have around 40% left of it. I will use this in soil and pots sometimes mixed with some sharp sand to help drainage

Best investment I got and all free compost

Old_Joe

Forty years ago I found a useful way to help break up heavy clay was to plant potatoes the first season, placing some manure thus adding some organic material under each potato as I planted.

Keiss_21

Hya Nuttygal

My last garden had both red and blue clay in it (only 20' x 40' long!) My boys actually managed to make pots with some of the clay. :rotfl:

One side of the garden had no plants, so I double-dig it three times in the space of 3 months (oooh my back!), adding compost, grit and peat (25 years ago, & hadn't started worrying about peat supplies). It then became a wonderful weed-free enriched area where I grew an amazing amount of plants over the ten years we were there. The oither side had a few plants in it, I tried digging around the plants and incorporating compost & grit, as well as adding gypsum and "claybreaker"...but to very little effect. The established mahonia just got bigger and bigger, and as it was the only plant liking the clay soil...I let it be! Better to have something than nothing, and the scent of the flowers...mmmmmm.

If I came across another clay garden, I would perhaps put raised beds on one part so as to have crops growing at once. The rest of the plot, I would put the hard graft in...it would take a while, but worth it in the end. Clay soils don't only hold onto the water, they hold onto everything else, so making them very fertile, once you have overcome the waterlogging problem.

Create a path where you are going to walk regularly...and don't change it. It will become compacted very quickly and will be very difficult to break up at a later date. Before putting down the raised beds, break up the surface at least, and possibly any clay pans (solid heavy clay layers), this will help with drainage across the area.

If you want to try and grow plants that can cope with clay soils, then Alder trees will thrive in damp soil and use up a lot of the excess water, though you still have to add organic matter, as dry clay becomes brick, and even more impossible to grow in/break up!! Worked heavy clay soil is loved by many plants with strong taproots that can force their way through the heavy soil...such as roses.

Hope this helps..sorry about the long ramble...and at a rediculous time ...must get to bed!!

Good luck!