Bad soil?

lonesometraveller · June 2023

Hi, I have an area in back garden that is very clay with poor drainage. I’ve been improving it with manure, grit and compost. However, I wanted to raise the soil height so I bought a tonne bag of topsoil from a local company. After using some it I realise that topsoil is mainly clay too so I stopped using it.

My dilemma is what do I do with the half tonne bag left of the soil. Can it be improved to use? If so how?

Thanks for any help this as the bag is still sitting on my drive.

Pete.8 · June 2023

Topsoil isn't clay, so if it is I'd be having a word with the supplier.

You can improve clay and the very best way is to add composted bark fines.
I followed the advice given here to improve the orange and grey clay in soil in my front garden and it worked wonders after a few months.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/clay-soils

lonesometraveller · June 2023

Thanks Pete, this is great advice and I have never heard of bark fines so I now I will be ordering some. Unfortunately, I used about half the soil and only realised it was very clay when it stuck together after rain so left too late to complain. But at least I can try to salvage something from it now. Cheers

Pete.8 · June 2023

Just because the soil sticks together after rain doesn't necessarily mean it's clay.
Clay is either grey or orange and very obviously so. It's easily moulded by hand.
When builders dug footings for my extension, they dumped the orange and grey clay where I wanted a border - the bark fines worked really well.

If the soil you have is just a bit sticky, any type of organic matter will help free it up.

I did have some trouble finding composted bark fines.
But CPA Horticulture sell it in bulk.
I bought 40 bags

Bad soil?

Posts