what plants can i grow in my clay soil garden

Diane_239

Hi can anyone offer any advice please i have two large gardens and they are made from clay soil i would love to able to put some plants around the boarders at the front and plant some veg in the back garden. does anyone know anything about planting in this kind of soil.fed up of just having grass to mow.

I do have loads of tubs with plants in.

Davesnave

It depends how bad the clay is, how much of a hurry you're in and what you want to spend. Although the gardens are large, you can work on the soil in small areas at a time, adding stuff like composted waste from your council (see if they do bulk deliveries) and some grit to open up the clay. It depends on your locality as to what organic matter you might find cheaply - like spent hops in brewing areas, farmyard muck in country places - because buying bags of soil improver from the garden centre will be expensive for anything except really small areas.

The main thing with clay is to keep off it when it's wet. It usually has enough nutrients and it's just the lack of air in it which makes it a hostile environment when wet & cold.

The main plants that won't put up with clay are Mediterranean types, like lavender & salvias, or alpine types, like rock plants. You might also have problems with some praire type plants, like echinaceas. Fussy trees, like fancy acers, are probably best avoided too. (Having said that, I have one ten years old in some pretty grotty soil.)

There are masses of plants that will grow in clay though. A bit of experimentation, avoiding the obvious no-nos, and a little bit of soil improvement will probably reveal dozens that will do well. If you Google 'Gardening on clay' / 'Plants for clay' you'll get loads of suggestions.

lightisfading

Our garden is solid clay (you could make models from it) - my veg beds are now really really good soil.

My advice would be to dig, dig dig (with fork not spade). Add in as much compost/manure as you can lay your hands on, plus some sharp sand. Mix it all in well, and use the fork to break up any lumps. And don't walk on it ever!!! as tht compacts the soil and undoes all your hard work.

It's quite hard work but it does the trick!

Lotus-eater

My advice would be the same as lightisfading but to add to that, to use raised beds, within a couple of years you could have really good beds. I know people who have just stuck a raised bed on the ground and used bought in soil to fill it, instant perfect soiled raised bed!
(not me, I'm too :money: and don't like to give in )

mrs_moneyspinner

I have very small garden north facing with clay soil - these are what grow in my soil: lavender, roses, honeysuckle, a passion flower climber, apple tree. rhododdenron, bulbs do better - lillies in particular, tomatos and cucumbers but they do better in bags.

V_Chic_Chick

I have a veggie patch in clay soil. The only compost that has ever gone into it has come from anything I've planted out, and it has not seen manure or sharp sand in the last decade or more at least. I do not add fertiliser as a rule, but do add those organic slug pellets which make them crawl off and die elsewhere.

All I do every spring is remove all the weeds that came in during the end of the last growing season, or beginning of this one, and then dig it over (using a fork - I'm not heavy enough to sink a spade in!) several times, working backwards. There seem to be more and more earthworms there every year, which has to be a good thing.

My perennials include raspberries (not invasive as apparently they *should* be - they are in semi-shade), blackcurrants (planted last year, failed to fruit, hopeful for this year), various herbs including fennel and mint and strawberries. Annuals that have gone into the beds in the past few years are various types of beans, peas, sweet peas (not edible!) and others that I can't think of right now! Tomatoes are in containers on the patio, but that is so that they have more sun and are close enough to the water supply rather than anything else.

Good luck!

nodwah

Hi, clay soil is normally very high in nutrients but like the others have said it does need breaking down with sharp sand and organic matter of any type you can get your hands on. It's normally very good for growing brassicas on - cabbagey type things but not great for carrots and parsnips. One problem with it is that it dries out in the summer and goes brick hard so you really have to watch and be careful with watering.

Diane_239

hi thanks for the tips everyone once the weather in proofs i shall start getting down to some serious digging theres a local farm near by so shall find out about getting some manure.

emweaver

not sure if this is the right place to post but im sure it will be moved soon if its not.

my dh has taken to gardening lately and has dug out a patch of grass to grow some flowers in bit like a border. but the soil is very clay


can we plant flowers in clay soil ? or do we need to do something to / with it first?

*MF*

Some plants will grow, and like the fact that a clay soil will retain moisture - but I am not enough of an expert to tell you which plants - sorry.

I am faced with the same problem - very heavy clay - so I have been adding soil conditioner and manure over the past few years - bought at B&Q - maybe not the cheapest but a large bag (100l - I think - but don't hold me to it) was about £4.00 for the conditioner - and it has made a big difference.

Not an expert on this - but hope the info helps.

Nile

Hello emweaver

I'll move your thread to the 'Greenfingered' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile