Clay soil
Kingsley2
Posts: 3
Hello friends, being a new member could you give me some advice if i am doing things right.
I am trying to reconstruct the shapes of some planting beds as my back garden was all lawn and nothing else, so i have cut borders out for planting and reshaped the lawn.
The problem i have now is after the torrential rain we have had this last week my new beds are pools of wet sticky clay pools of mud, so i am in the process of taking about 12"off the top surface and throwing down a 2" of mushroom compost and then building up to the original level with new top soil, hopefully i will have got rid of a lot of the clay but the remaining clay will break down with the help of the mushroom compost.Your help and comments would be very much appreciated
Thank you
Posts
It can be frustrating and you want to get on with the work, but I think it's better to be patient and wait for the right time to do the work. Even if you are halfway through it. Wait till the soil has dried out more and return to dig/turn. I think it's a shame you had to take off so much of the top layer. If you wait for the soil to dry up a bit, you can work in compost/topsoil with the clay soil. I'm sure there is goodness in that undisturbed soil.
If you have the energy, it might be better to go a little deeper. Maybe nearly 2 feet and then spike the bottom of that area and lay some grit there first. Clay soil will always be there. Every year, you will always need to lay new layers of compost, mulch or manure.
Last edited: 25 October 2017 21:38:20
Applying a load of horticultural grit when mixing in the manure will help breakdown the clay structure. The manure you apply to your boarder will build up humus level to the soil and encourage earth worms to create drainage to the soil as well. The more manure you can apply to the boarder the better
In th long term, it will be good practice to lay a seasonal mulch over the soil. This will suppress weeds, improve moisture levels and will go on to improve your soil structure if done as a seasonal programme. Multch can be manure, garden compost and bark chip. They are all bio degradable and will improve your soil for plants and shrubs
Thanks a lot Borderline I'll take your advice and see if the ground dries out a bit before I do anymore and if It gets more workable I'll break it up and put some grit at the bottom with the soil mixed with the compost. Thanks for your reply
Thank you Greenfingers Steve for your reply I'm going to add grit at the bottom and mix the mushroom compost with the fresh top soil and leave and let nature take its course I will be giving it a layer of manure mulch during the winter hopefully with the depth I've dug I won't get any surface water when I've finished
Thank you
Hi Kingsly,
i hope it works out. As Boarderline has stated there are better times to do this work and early summer when the ground is dryer would be easier to cultivate the soil. Get a good pick axe, if you don't have one or possisbly hire a soil rotavator. As the old saying states "a pound in the ground and a penny on the plant. Get that soil right and your plants will thrive
all the best
Just want to piggy back on this thread - looks like clay about a foot down into my garden (suburban London/Kent) when I was planting grapevine the other week.
Is a foot of good soil enough?
I have an unused rotovator...
One foot down is fine for most perennial plants, but I think you should try to at the very least to go down a little further for your shrubs. Spike the base areas too as good soil usually means that once water drains down to the clay areas, it will sit there for a while and this is not ideal for the finer roots that tends to be further down.
Cheers