Allotments 4 All

Ah, the nights are drawing in and its time to start pouring over the new catalogues deciding what to grow next year.....

I know asking for variety recommendations is shaky ground since what grows well somewhere may fail somewhere else but is anyone else stuck with a heavy clay?  If so, what veggies/varieties seem to do well on it?  Hoping to give myself a head start next year.... ;D

The half plot I took on earlier this year was/is heavy clay.

On the advice of a fellow gardener I treated the freshly dug areas with 'Claybreak' (Gypsum) and it made all the difference.

Derek

The best thing for heavy clay is strawry manure. Plenty of homemade compost from your compost heap, and plenty of digging. Clay is an excerlent growing medium but it is a b**ger to dig and cultivate.

The bottom of my lottie is a heavy clay, I'm just chucking everything organic I can into it, the top end is lovely as for 400 years it was a cottage garden.

Quote from: Derek on September 21, 2005, 21:15:11
On the advice of a fellow gardener I treated the freshly dug areas with 'Claybreak' (Gypsum) and it made all the difference.
Derek

What is gypsum comprised of?  Can you use it on an organic plot?

I have cheated on mine, gave up and have built raised beds!  ;D   Potatoes worked well, cos I threw in copious amounts of well rotted manure, grit and any compost I could lay my hands on, then the digging them in and then digging them up helped mix it all in!
Brassicas supposidly like clay, and my Squash and pumpkins wen't into trenches filled with manure.
Your best bet is, this spring get as much sand/grit, manure, compost into the soil to help lighten it up, oh and don't forget drainage, my plot had a moat around it to take away all the water the clay had in it!

This may be of some help!
http://www.veganorganic.net/info3.html

DP

Quote from: Mubgrub on September 21, 2005, 23:18:24

Quote from: Derek on September 21, 2005, 21:15:11
On the advice of a fellow gardener I treated the freshly dug areas with 'Claybreak' (Gypsum) and it made all the difference.
Derek

What is gypsum comprised of?  Can you use it on an organic plot?

Gypsum is CaSO4·2H2O, so it comprises of Calcium, Sulphur, Oxygen and Hydrogen. It is a crystaline mineral dug from the earth, and found all over the world.

It is what plaster is made with. Alabaster is a type of gypsum.

I had a heavy clay soil in the garden and as long as you keep doing what Doris says you'll be ok.  It's when you leave it that it begins to turn sour and plants rot off in it.  I lost loads of perennials though but roses loved it  :)  I had a veg plot on it and the carrots and parsnips did very well as did the herbs

The raised bed idea is great too and you can chuck your kitchen waste in too. You'll need to make lots of your own compost too and leaf mould.  Anything to add bulk to the heavy soil  :)  Clay retains moisture and nutrients very well so that's a plus

i have a clay plot which was difficult to dig, but retains moisture well and none of my veg plants seem to have suffered at all. i raised seedlings and transplanted them in their plugs into as fine an area as i would tilth. huge chunks of clay bricks between them, but has not done any harm at all. the brassicas are doing well, as is celeriac, celery, squashes (planted into manure piles) and beans.
i did a little more prep for my tomatoes, though essentially they also sit on clay. the potatoes were fine i just bedded the seed potatoes on a little compost and covered them also with a handful of compost so that the clay chunks wouldnt damage the shoots. they were very happily growing away

for my parsnips, i used the old trick of dibbing a hole and filling it with fine tilth earth before station sowing. i expected lots of misshapen roots but so far they have been perfectly straight and over a foot long to boot!

havent tried carrots but will also give that special attention before sowing to ensure a finer soil than elsewhere (compost drills, maybe)

i have hardly watered my plot even in the heat of summer. the top inch was well dry but there was moisture underneath. i did start to worry a little though when cracks the size of canyons appeared and veg started to fall through to australia :o (slight exaggeration ;))

i love my clay ;D

Dig in lots of gritty material, manure and compost. Stay off it when the weather is wet. Like others have said, it holds the moisture well, once you've dug in enough organic material it's wonderful to grow on as it holds moisture and nutrients well.

Another one on heavy clay.

I've double dug my beds and removed all the big lumps of clay (lots of that). Then dug in loads of manure and garden compost (too cheap for grit). I do find, though when it dries out, it goes really dry, so I think even more compost is needed. I've also got raised beds. This seems to have overcome most of the problems of clay. And I never ever walk on my beds.

The only things I've had no success with (so far) are carrots and parsnips, but that might also be due to the slugs.

Thanks everyone ;D
I have been using as many soil improvement techniques as I can afford mostly green manures since they dont invove vast amounts of cash/willing transport/lugging giant bags up the hill (I'm right at the top miles away from the road) but I've got two compost heaps cooking away and have put some manure on in places when there were strong men around ;D.

Think I'll try rasing stuff in modules next year then I won't have to exhaust myself trying to get fine tilth again ::)

Thanks for suggestions.

Fine tilth is a bit to expect on heavy clay - you nee'd a hammer then place each clod before hitting it  ;D  I have done that though having said that - only when forced natch  ;D

I have more compost bins than Compost Bin World, having just bought two more yesterday via our council scheme (£5 each delivered)  The more compost you can get into the clay soil the better  :)

Fine tilth would be difficult to achieve on my clay. I grow everything possible in modules first. Things like carrots that you want to sow directly into the ground, either get yourself a garden sieve and sieve the top layer of soil, or create a top layer of imported soil to sow directly onto.

Ok, will do.  Hopefully my compost heaps will have matured by the spring and I'll be chucking the stuff about the place like a loon. ;D

re: carrots and parsnips - do a search on here for 'compost drills' or 'seed drills' - it has been described how to prepare a compost filled drill to aide root veg in heavy soil

My fruit does well on heavy clay. The ones I grow are: Apples, blackberry, raspberry, loganberry, gooseberry, blackcurrant, redcurrant, jostaberry, strawberry, cape gooseberry, plum, damson.
For the veg I have, like others, put composted material on top to build up a layer of topsoil. I also dig trenches and just put grass clippings/garden/kitchen waste in to rot down in the soil.
I did put some sand into one area, which was used for carrots the first couple of years and this helped. Lime helps too. And the ashes from burning wood on the bonfire, but don't put too much in one place, as it stops the plants taking up some nutrients. I've actually found that parsnips aren't too much of a problem in heavy soil. My main problem is wireworm/slugs on potato crops. And I can't leave potatoes/carrots in the soil for too long - the rains come January and the soil gets waterlogged.
Good luck.