what plants can i grow in my clay soil garden

emweaver

thanks think ill build it up with compost and get plating lol

Tiby

My garden soil is clay too, and over the past few years I have discovered that Dahlias love clay( with a bit of sunshine).

emweaver

where are you moving it too? it was only moved to this section today

Witsend_2

I have clay soil and have grown many plants and veg well, most from seed and although it has taken around 3 years it is beginning to fill out. The perennial plants that seem to like it are as follows
Red hot poker (sorry I dont know the correct name)
Lupins
Lillies all kinds
Lavender (in a hot spot by tree roots)
Grasses
Forgetmenots
Bulbs (dry spots by the hedge)
Seedum
Delphiniums
Pirimula
Clamatis
In fact the more I think of this the more I think it would be quicker to list what you can't grow. Just go for it plant what you like and if it says free draining on the lable put a couple of handfulls of pea shingle and sharp grit in the bottom of the planting hole. Happy gardening to one and all :beer:

emweaver

last week we had a play area built in our back garden, well play bark put down lol. my dad just mentioned when he last dug over our back garden that too is clay soil. Will this affect the playbark as I heard it needs good drainage?

I would have thought the nursery would have checked it out but all they did was dig out and put membrane down

Jnelhams

Clay Soil is fantastic for Hybrid Tea Roses, and my Apple Trees seem to do well enough in it, as Apples and Roses are of the same family!
Potatoes are an ideal way of helping to break up Clay soils and do very well, Hardy Geraniums seem to love it as do Dandelions! Daffodils do well. Don't let the text books put you off, Clay is very variable from garden to garden, look to see what is growing well in the neighbours. Gypsum is a good way to break up clay without affecting the Soil PH like Lime does.

If you have spots that are underwater all winter long, then try and dig these over during the late spring/early autumn to let the frost help break up the soil, or plant ornamental Willows.

jennybridger

my neighbour asked me if i'd had luck with my cabbages/brassicas last year. he said he couldn't get his to heart up on our soil...... but he said his friends/in-laws had great success on clay soil as they like something solid to get their roots into.

Plum_Pie

I have clay soil in my garden (v common in London!). Things that are growing well in my garden (and aren't on Witsend's list):

Perennials:
Brunera (I think it's a Jack Frost) - has doubled in size since I bought it.

Gooseberry bush
Choisya

Flowers (annuals):
Lavatera
alyssum

Climbers:
evergreen jasmine

Ceanothus, wisteria, bergenia, holly hocks also grow wonderfully in many front gardens near where I live.

mumoftwins

Hi,

I wonder if you can advise me please as to what will grow in clay soil? I have a flat lawned area at the fromt of my house which slopes down (with no grass on it) to the pavement. At the moment it has 2 weed stopping membranes over it and forest bark on top, but I would really love to grow something in it - preferably something which will cover the ground pretty rapidly and come back year after year.

It is a large area to use clay busting stuff on so I really just want the cheats way of 'prettying' it up.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Kaz2904

If you whip out the membrane and dig in the bark chippings it will break up the soil a little for you.
We have quite clay like soil at the front but we ended up moving topsoil from the back of the house to rest on top of it. It's given us a lot more scope because we can grow so much more in it. Are you able to get a bag of builders sand at all and dig that in too? What with that and the bark it would make it much better draining. The twins could help out too if your backs not up to it?