clay soil

Hiya guys.

Just dug out a new bed (dug up a bit of lawn) and it looks like it's all clay, anyone know what's the best way to get the best out of it, I want to use it for spring bulbs and bedding plants as it's around my rotary airdryer.

Jo

 

Get some peat and compost and rototill (mix) it in with a machine. Or remove most and add top soil and compost and peat and mix in. Some Lime would also be good.

 

Hi sweetpea101,

Looks like it's all clay or is all clay?

Clay soil is actually very fertile because the nutrients do not easily wash away during rainy times. Unfortunately clay is prone to waterlogging, compaction, poor aeration, is slow to heat up, shrinkage and swelling. It sounds a nightmare at first, but properly addressed in can be a good growing medium.

Depending on the size of the bed you may want to invest in a drainage system to help carry some of the water away. Instead of that, or as well as, you can dig in lots of organic matter such as manure, any green plants, seaweed, compost etc. This will help break up the clay particles so aiding aeration and drainage. However, as organic matter is constantly breaking down it needs to be added annually in order to get the most out of it.

Remember that clay soil takes longer to heat up in the spring so you may need to plant your bulbs later than normal so as not to check them.

Hope this is of some help to you.

 

redstar..it's only a small circular bed, about a foot from dryer(centre) to edge so will be working by hand but I'm not afraid of hard work. Thanks.

treesurfer..there's a few stones in it and quite a few worms, I don't think organic matter has ever been put into is as I've always know it to be grassed althought a bit of it was dug up a few years ago to put in the base for the dryer. It already had bulbs in there as I put them in last year and some of them had started shooting but they were late starting in spring. I have taken about an inch out to allow for adding, it's in the center of my lawn.

So alot of compost and even more hard work it is

Jo

 

Well if its small like that, then should be done in a blink. A good heave oh with a shovel and wheel barrel and a few good bags of compost should do the trick. I don't work in small, so my natural thought was a machine.

 

Yeah, same here... I was imagining a good sized bed with a good few tonnes of material in it! It's what working with trees every day does to you - you tend to think big.

 

Take a gander at my gardens Look up Redstar Garden here at this site.

 

As the guys above said, plenty of organic matter will work wonders- if its really heavy and 'claggy' (ie badly drained) you might also want to dig in some fine grit to improve drainage. Plenty of digging will help break it up and let the air in too - good time of year to be working on it now, as if you turn it over roughly the frosts will help break up the lumps a bit further for you!

Anthony

 

thanks guys, will take a pic as it is now and then again when it's done.

Jo