Topic: Dig in manure/compost or lay it on top?

[lewic]

I'm digging very heavy clay soil, would people recommend trying to dig compost/manure in, or just leaving it on top to stop the soil drying out so much?

So far I've dug it in, but the soil tends to stay in big lumps with the compost stuck to the outside of the ball. Now the surface has dried out, I've got large lumps of soil everywhere with the consistency of concrete, and they are almost impossible to break down.

Am wondering if it might be better to dig first then put the compost on top, then dig it in properly in the autumn.

[tim_n]

If you dug it whilst wet, it's likely that's the cause of your lumping.  Fork it over so it at least makes a flatter series of lumps, cover over with a sizeable depth of manure and let the worms do the rest.   At the end of the year put a green manure over the ground and lightly dig in during early spring.

[Baccy Man]

Initially the compost/manure would do more good as a mulch to stop the clay drying out. it can be dug in later in the year.

[*pixie*]

I feel your pain!! I have recently bought a property and its soil is horrid, I was told to put a layer of about 6-12" of manure/compost ...general organic matter on top and dig in. I had never thought about drying out being an issue. Im not convinced mine does :-X!! Good luck

[1066]

lewic
I faced exactly the same problem and in fact still do!
last year I dug an area over and then dug the manure in, and didn't really mulch. It did suffer from drying out very quickly. The soil was initially in fairly big clumps (clay). this year that patch is much better, I mainly grew spuds in it to also help break it up. The clumps of clay seem to be getting smaller, so I need to keep adding manure and compost to try and keep the clay from being 1 great big lump!
This year with the areas that I had covered with plastic I've weeded (fairly roughly) then have planted my spuds and will use manure as a mulch / for earthing up. Where the beans and peas are going I'm going to try a couple of ways - 1 to dig some in and 2 to mulch. In other areas I'm covering with a thick layer of manure, then cardboard then plastic and will plant through.
The other problem I have is that the allotment is near the sea and we get very drying winds. So I'm going to try and mulch with grass clippings, straw, shredded paper, you name it! All to try and stop the drying out.
I've also read that lime helps to break the clay down - yet to try this  :D
So ask this question again next year to see what the difference is  ::)
Let us know what you plan and how it goes
1066

[Tee Gee]

I have is that the allotment is near the sea

Can't you get seaweed to mulch with and later dig in?

[lewic]

That sounds like a vote for mulch! Shame my nearest beach is next to a nuclear power station, don't fancy seaweed from there  :P

[Busy Bee]

I have is that the allotment is near the sea

Can't you get seaweed to mulch with and later dig in?


Race you to the beach 1066. We'll see who can dig the most lol. I know wha you mean about the wind. The soil is drying almost as i dig it.

BB

[zigzig]

At the end of the day, it is all down to work.

If you lay it on top, it will always be a layer of manure on top of clay. A few feet of manure will develop into good layer of fine soil in a few years.

Proper gardens or allotments, take time. Take as much manure as you are offered and  can store. Dig it in gradually. Meanwhile,  the manure is slowly rotting down.

There are valuable goodies in clay and those goodies mixed with the goodies in manure will give you the goodiest of soil to be envied. Eventually.

[Eristic]

The sensible thing to do is both. First dig in the manure and cultivate as required then after planting put another mulch on top.

[THE MASTER]

dont worry about the top few inches drying out thats not were you wont your roots .

[hopalong]

I share your pain, lewic. My plot, which I took over (derelict) at the end of 2006 is heavy clay.  Parts of it had solid, claggy yellow stuff very close to the surface when I took it over.  The topsoil is now darker and deeper. It's still far from perfect, but a range of things seem to have helped - above all, incorporating loads of organic matter.  Potatoes, with liberal amounts of manure dug in, have helped to break it down.  Mulching with manure, compost and leaf mould has also helped. I've tried green manures in different areas over the past two years and those - especially winter tares and field beans - seem to have helped too.

I've only used lime where I've planted brassicas and where the pH was a bit low. Lime certainly helps "flocculation" (good crumb structure) in heavy clays but you need to be careful not to use it with manure, or it releases ammonia, or where you plan to plant potatoes, or you may get scab. Gypsum is also supposed to help but is expensive if you use the horticulturally approved stuff sold as "Clay Breaker".

The good thing about clay, I'm told, is that it contains plenty of nutrients.  The trick is to let air and water get through so the plants can  get the benefit.

[Mr Smith]

Putting manure on my lotty last back end was the best days work I ever did for my lotty I left it on the top over winter and rotovated it in at the begging of March which the latest April photos show in my gallery, I now have a good PH content with several old boys commenting on how good my soil looks,  :)

[1066]

Race you to the beach 1066. We'll see who can dig the most lol. I know wha you mean about the wind. The soil is drying almost as i dig it.

BB

Yeah! Trouble is my nearset bits of beach aren't "collecting beaches" - not much seaweed to be seen. I guess around Pevensey and Normans Bay or the other way up to Fairlight would be best?
1066