Topic: clay soil

[bridgehouse]

Cananyone tell me if its possible to grow anything in clay soil that does not drain very well, my daughter has just moved into a new house, and her garden is bare she wants to grow shrubs and flowers etc,
 she wold be pleased for any advice.thank you.
    June.

[Unwashed]

Clay soils are difficult, but they tend to be the most fertile and versatile once you've tamed them.

You need to incorporate air and organic matter - so that's digging and dung really, and quite a bit of it.  You'll need to do it by hand with a strong stainless steel fork - nothing but the mightiest rotavator will touch it, and clay doesn't stick quite so badly to stainless.

I've seen books talk about incorporating lime to improve the structure (something about floculation if I remember my o-level biology), and I don't suppose it'll do any harm, but it's air and organic matter it needs most.

I've also heard of people digging in sharp sand and grit (not builder's sand, it's too fine) to improve drainage, and again I don't support it'll harm, but I don't think it's the best approach.

I was taught that the structure of a clay soil is very important so don't walk on it or dig it while it's wet or it'll knock the air out of it, and I'm sure that's good advice, but I have to say the two times I've done battle with heavy unimproved clay I dug it wet in great sticky clods because on balance it was more important to break it up and let the elements get into it.

So after a couple of years of digging and dung you'll have something half reasonable, but don't let it beat you, and I hope to goodness you don't have couch grass.

[Unwashed]

Clay soils are difficult, but they tend to be the most fertile and versatile once you've tamed them.

You need to incorporate air and organic matter - so that's digging and dung really, and quite a bit of it.  You'll need to do it by hand with a strong stainless steel fork - nothing but the mightiest rotavator will touch it, and clay doesn't stick quite so badly to stainless.  And rough-dig it, it'll be a couple of years before you anything resembling a tilth, and knocking it down while you dig it does nothing but gum up your fork and make you cross.

I've seen books talk about incorporating lime to improve the structure (something about floculation if I remember my o-level biology), and I don't suppose it'll do any harm, but it's air and organic matter it needs most.

I've also heard of people digging in sharp sand and grit (not builder's sand, it's too fine) to improve drainage, and again I don't support it'll harm, but I don't think it's the best approach.

I was taught that the structure of a clay soil is very important so don't walk on it or dig it while it's wet or it'll knock the air out of it, and I'm sure that's good advice, but I have to say the two times I've done battle with heavy unimproved clay I dug it wet in great sticky clods because on balance it was more important to break it up and let the elements get into it.

So after a couple of years of digging and dung you'll have something half reasonable, but don't let it beat you, and I hope to goodness you don't have couch grass.

[Ophi]

Over quite a few years of houses with brand new clay gardens I have been successfull with most shrubs and perennials.  I am not strong enough to dig and have found that chopping the area where you are planting whilst incorporating some compost has good results.  Good quality pot grown shrubs do very well and the more vigourus bare rooted took.

More recently I discovered nice bags of soil improver and have used it to top dress around herbs and find that after a year you have a nice few inches depth to work with.  Mulching with compost or bark also helps as does making sure that you plant some ground cover around the shrubs.

One of the biggest problems with new shrubs is the first summer when the clay can dry and form a very hard crust and crack to several inches deep.  Mulching of course helps but you do have to be regular with watering over the dry spell.

[bridgehouse]

Thank you both for the good advice, I will let my daughter read your posts and she can go from there.
    June.