what plants can i grow in my clay soil garden

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?

mumoftwins

Kaz2904 wrote: »

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?

Thanks Kaz :rotfl: not sure that Fliss would be that keen but Adam may? Think you are right though that it would be best to mix it all up to give more choice. Just googled lay soil and Asters seem to be the only thing that will grow there. Must admit though it would be nice to find something that I could just put in and leave

Dustykitten

Our front garden it very clayey in belts - what about the common type of hardy geranium - they spead like made, flower and are in leaf nearly all year

mumoftwins

Dustykitten wrote: »

Our front garden it very clayey in belts - what about the common type of hardy geranium - they spead like made, flower and are in leaf nearly all year

They sound good Dusty, I love geraniums so may well give that a go - thank you!

Dustykitten

Pictures of mine to hopefully inspire you:

System

This is a cheats garden. ALL solid clay, so I use pots/tubs etc. I have many other pics .

maytaurus

Hi mumoftwins

have a look here

http://gardening.about.com/od/gardendesign/a/ClayPlants.htm

http://www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/perennialsforclaysoil.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/index.shtml

http://www.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantselector/default.aspx

abbecer

My garden is clay with no drainage. When i did out holes for plants I put in some compost and they seem to be doing fine. I've got pansies, geraniums etc. If you want something a bit bigger my golden hypericum bushes are doing really well and look beautiful when all the flowers come on.

Hope this helps

Rebecca x

mumoftwins

Dustykitten and Islandman - your gardens look beautiful! Gives me hope too and maytaurus and rebecca thank you for ideas - I have loads to work on now which makes me feel good as when I approach the house the look of forest bark is not really very inviting!