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Clay Soil

curtismc4917984curtismc4917984 Posts: 2
in Tools and techniques
My area in south hampshire has clay soil and my veg garden has a layer of top soil approx. 9 ins (230mm) in depth. So some years ago when I moved here in 2006 and started the veg patch I had to think outside the box. I have now have 3 permanent trenches for broad beans and runner beans. Every year around now I start emptying the trenches, the soil is moved to the top soil mound where it is mixed with re-cycled top soil from other parts of the garden. The trenches are only 1/2 fork deep as you can see from the photo as both broad and runner beans have relatively small root balls. The trenches are then filled with 1/3 soil from previous year, 1/3 compost from my compost bins and 1/3 mixed top soil from the mound. Meanwhile my over-wintering broad beans; aquadulce claudia etc. are protected in my unheated greenhouse started in Nov 2023. 


Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    If you have really bad clay,  and you have local stables or a cow farmer nearby, a thick layer of well rotted stable or farmyard manure will work wonders. I did this on clay, planted potatoes and got a wonderful yield.  If you only have small amounts of top soil and cannot improve your base, then raised beds are probably the way to go.
    Do you not find that digging a trench in clay leads to a sump and water pooling in the bottom?

  • curtismc4917984curtismc4917984 Posts: 2
    I have raised beds for deep rooted crops; carrots, parsnips. I have grow potatoes in the raised beds on a 3 year rotation cycle. I have not dug into the clay but grow on top. Yes pooling does occur but the plus side is water does not drain away quickly, and I find broad and runner beans fairly tolerant of excess water for short periods of time.
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