What to do about clay

Being very new to anything other than the most basic gardening, I really do need some advice on setting out a 9m X 4m area which I want to use as a vegetable patch. The major problem I have, is the land is mostly clay. I wonder if anybody out there knows if I have to clear the area to a certain depth and then infill with screened top soil, or is maybe an answer to have raised beds, or is there something else I could do that may be easier and possibly cheaper. Really would appreciate any help on this matter.

 

Hi Kipwad welcome to the forum.
Regarding your problem clay soil all is not lost all you have to do is improve your soil some what with extra matter such as manure, compost or even used horse straw bedding all of which will lighten your soil and make it more workable.

Raised beds might also work out fine for you and in no time at all you will be wondering why you were worried in the first place!

I'm sure others will come along and add more advice to help you with your quest of getting better,workable soil.Good luck and happy digging .Hel.xxx.

 

Raised beds. Definitely.

Dig the soil, incorporate some compost, spent mushroom or hops compost, or manure, and you'll never have to dig it again. Top dress with as much compost / manure as you can get your hands on in the first few years. (but give consideration to what you will be growing in each "zone", some crops won't need any/much manure).

I don't know about perhaps incorporating grit / sharp sand. I've had clay soil in all the places I've lived and I've never done anything especially about it. My Father used to say the soil was "only any use for making bricks!" but how bad is yours? Does anything grow at present?

 

Yellow subsoil clay is no good. But then most subsoil isn't either. Although normal clay topsoil is usually criticised is is not always as bad as you think. Clay holds more moisture and more nutrients than any other type of soil. The main problem is the lack of drainage.

I wrote a thread on this subject here. http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=8892&highlight=clay . I have improved my clay and am extremely pleased with the results.

Raised beds for veg growing are popular because they increase the depth of the topsoil. But remember most of the roots will go down into the ordinary soil below the raised bed, so it will always be important to improve your clay.

 

What can I say!. Thanks you good people for all your advice, makes me wish I'd taken up serious gardening years ago. Kristen, the clay is patchy, some places seem to be solid clay whilst other parts are not so bad. At the moment I have a small border where perennials seem to grow quite happily. once again, cheers!.

 

"some places seem to be solid clay whilst other parts are not so bad"

I am imagining that the sub-soil will be pretty yellow, or blue. If you have got that then you probably need to replace, or top-it-up.

Anything that is fenland-black (fat chance!!), grey, or even a bit light, straw or yellow coloured I reckon is going to grow crops.

Sounds like you haven't got much to worry about, but planning to work some compost / manure etc. in will cheer the plants up no end.

 

Wow PeterS

Just read ytour post-had to do all that double digging and illegitimate child trenching stuff myself and it was hard work on my own. I roughly turned over the clay and left it to freeze through winter aswell, it seemed to help, but still needed a load of egg boxes and paper and compost.

Good Luck Kipwad.

 

After eighteen years of trying to convert clay into useable material I think I am beginning to get the hang of it! You may have already discovered that when it is it wet, it's like digging toffee, and when it's dry it's like digging concrete so you have to hit it at the right time which depends upon the weather. Stainless steel tools shed it better but are more expensive.
As already suggested you need to incorporate plenty of organic material and grit or gravel, not sand, that makes it worse. The idea being that when you manage to break it up the additives stop it sticking together in a lump again. Many plants will grow in it and some even like it. Turning it over and open to frost and winter does help and some say growing potatoes breaks up the soil. If you have the space to start a compost heap, you will use all it produces. There are many sites to advise on composting including this forum. I doubt that you will find many worms in your clay and if you can see they are increasing in your converted soil I would say you have got it right.
Raised beds are a good suggestion, I have just installed two beds made from recycled plastic (linkabord.co.uk) the cost is comparable with buying timber and they will hopefully last longer. Each is approx. 2M x 1M and takes about six or seven barrow loads of soil to fill.
Good luck with your efforts, you will know it was worth the hard work when you see the first seedlings appear.

 

All good advice here. I use everything that comet at hand to dig it into clay. It is a hard job, but I find that it yealds great satisfaction too. When the soil starts to change colour and consistense and it sinks under your feet all spongy soft, it´s a lovely thing to experience.

 

"... and it sinks under your feet all spongy soft, it´s a lovely thing to experience"

Shame on you, walking on your raised beds!!!

 

I have been amazed at the impact of top dressing masses of horse poo, freshly picked off local pasture has had on my clay. Good luck

 

Eh eh, I don´t! I have a wooden plank for walking over my beds withoud compacting the soil. Walking (barefoot) on improved ground is a pleasure reserved to special beds. One is the future exotic corner, which I dig over now and then when incorporating more stuff, the other is the "soil bed" It´s a bed where I just grow... good soil. I use it for pots and for personal enjoinment (walking, digging, playing in the dirt)

 

I know I shouldn`t but I just can`t help it it feels so lovely wet soil, I keep off my (what I laughingly refer to as) my peony bed, and am in the process of making a few makeshift pathways but I enjoy it all the same.

 

Lots of good advice given. My two pennyworth is, that if you haven't got a lot of compost available to add, pop along to your nearest LIDL's and get some bags of their general purpose compost. It's consistency seems to me, to be full of the stuff that's in my own household and garden mix.