What makes the perfect soil?

Light and fluffy or compact?

Clay or not?

What about stones ?

Nutrients - compost?

 

When your soil is wet pick up a handful of it and squeeze it tight. If it does not hold together it is too light and poor. If it holds together in a ball that cannot be brocken up again it is too heavy and sticky. If it holds but it crumbles again with the pressure of a finger you are on the "right" soil. That said, there is always scope for improvement.

As you say the place is clay and stones, I suspect you will need to add sand or grit to the soil, and especially organic matter, i.e. old manure, leaf mould, garden compost, peat... This helps opening the soil, improving the moisture/drainage balance, it helps maitaining a more even temperature at the roots and it feed the nutrients. Heavy clay is HUNGRY of organic matters, so even after you first prepare the soil with as much good stuff you can put in it it will still benefit from organic mulching on a regular basis. In my old garden where the soil was a heavy clay as heavy as can be I used to trrow in the ground everything I could get my hands on: old manure, garden compost, old potting compost (peat peat peat), dried leaves, cut grass , bark... Everything helps.

As for stones small gravel mixed in will not be a problem but larger stones are better removed. Not only for the sake of the plants but also for the sake of the gardener: nothing more irritating than diggind stony soil.

 

How do you mulch? do you just put the organic stuff on top of the soil?

 

Depends: under shrubs and around perennial plants you can lightly (very lightly) work it in the soil underneath, only superficially, so as not to damage the roots. Some plants like magnolias have very superficial roots that must be left alone, so you only lay the mulch on top.
It is always a good thing to have plenty of earthworms: they will do the job of mixing the ground for you. In a good soil every time you dig a spadeful of ground you meet several worms: if they are not there it is worth finding some (they can be bought, like humus).

If you have areas small or big where you grow annuals you can cultivate the soil as deep as you wish every year before sowing/planting your annuals.

 

Hi there,

I've just dug about 2 tons of clay out for a new soakaway. Obviously this is subsoil, so devoid of any organic matter.

I'm intending to start growing vegetables next year, and am planning to build some raised beds for this.

Is there anyway I can improve the clay enough to turn into good soil for the vegetable beds? I have access to almost unlimited horse manure, plus lots of home made compost, leaves etc.

Or am I better off dumping it?

Thanks

 

The best soil is 6.5 clay loam! which I'm lucky to have. Slightly acid can grow anything and it holds onto nutrients!!

 

Philgee - if you have really dug out pure clay sub soil there is not much you can do with it. My clay subsoil is yellow - pure clay. The darker the soil, the better it is. If yours is just clay top soil, as most of my garden is, then adding unlimited amount of horse manure will make the world of difference.

Clay doesn't drain because the particle size is so small - about one ten thousanth of the size of a grain of sand. You need to raise the average particle size. You can do this with sharp sand and organic matter. Organic matter decomposes and binds clay particles together into larger particles. But its a long job. I would agree with Ivory about adding everything you can get your hands on, whether its fully composted or not. I buried at least a ton of old newspapers in my front garden when I redid it see http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=96319&highlight=clay#post96319

This treatment still won't give you perfect soil - you need to start ith that! But it will help a lot.

 

What I wd do with virgin clay (but is only an opinion) is to add as much manure and compost as I can carry to the place, some lime if the manure is very fresh, and let it settle for a while under a mulch of grass clippings or such (to keep it moist, some watering now and then also good). Add worms as needed. Then I wd sow thickly with a green manure crop (like wild lupins, avoid alfa alfa, the roots are too pervasive), and cut it down before it blooms or sets seed (God forbid). You can either turn everything again and mulch with more grass to go through the winter, or leave the tops as a green mulch. Don't let it "naked", it will lose nitrogen. Next spring you cultivate it thoroughly... and enjoy your veggies.

 

men8ifr

In addition to the "squeeze test" for soil, another test is to see how many worms you've got. Good growing soil has lots of big worms. You should turn some up with every fork/spadeful. My new garden has hardly any but I'm working on it...

 

PeterS,

Thanks for your advice, especially the link to the other thread of your front garden.

The subsoil is yellow clay, so I guess I'm pretty stuck. I might try with a small sample to try and improve it, maybe a wheelbarrow full. I have some sharp sand and 10mm gravel spare as well as the organic material.

I'm just a bit loathe to pay £££'s for a skip to dump it if I can use it myself!

Thanks