I would select an area you feel you can cope with, there is quite a bit of hard work involved.If its not wet loosen the soil do not turn it. Add about 20mm of grit over the selected area.Loosen again. Apply rotted farm manure 200mm all over; local farms will often deliver for about £50 per load. Leave it at least three weeks then turn it in to about 200-250mm. I would normally put it on in the autumn and leave it over winter but time is running out.Once done work off planks so you do not compress it too much. It is an ongoing thing every year to make any real structural difference. Saves paying for a gym subscription. Good luck.
Mike, thanks for setting this out. Rotted farm manure - does that mean the stuff you can buy from a stables has to be kept before you can use it? Thanks
I have been doing more or less what Mike has suggested for the last 3yrs in a garden where I had a lot of clay that I dug up when I put in walls and other structures in the garden. I get it as it comes from the farmer and just put in on straight away in the autumn and leave it. Its gone by the spring.
This year I did something different and what a difference its made in a fairly short period of time too. The 3rd application of manure went on last Mid / Late October 2015 then I dug what little was left of the manure in with an application of Lime in mid February 2016. Very quickly noticed a huge improvement in the soil.
As far as I'm aware you should not put Lime and Manure on at the same time as I believe they cancel each other out and I think you then get little or no benefit.
You calculate how much lime you need by doing several PH tests spaced out evenly through the area your concerned with and take an average value. I downloaded a chart from the RHS website that then tells you how much lime you need per square metre to achieve the ideal PH value you want to achieve 6 months or so after application.
Adding the manure and pea gravel the first 2yrs made a big difference but then applying the Lime made an even bigger improvement afterwards, in my case in the 3rd year after the first application of manure and pea gravel.
If I had to do this again I would probably apply Lime a lot earlier, Manure in October then Lime in February each year. I would do a set of PH tests before I applied Lime, the soil may not need it.
Thanks, Mike . I have saved your post and see that I can get pea gravel cheaper than horticultural grit. I will investigate soil testing & lime. Cheers
I also live in Manchester with a heavy clay garden. I have incorporated compost [bought in and home made] and well rotted farmyard manure over the last 8 years and it does work. Avoid walking on your soil when it is wet as it does compact very easily, either put in paths or lay wooden boards to walk on if you need to do some work.
Don't you love it when you go to fill in a hole you dug and you can't because the clay sticks together in one immovable lump and doesn't crumble. Horrible. I do what you do with over wet flour in that instance add compost to it until it breaks down then fill the hole back in.
Well obviously I don't add compost to pastry...but you get my drift
You may not need lime on alkaline soil. Manure can be put straight onto bare soil but otherwise it is better and more pleasing to use the well rotted version. If it looks dark and crumbly and smells of soil it is perfect for application, it looks good and the dog won't roll in it.
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I would select an area you feel you can cope with, there is quite a bit of hard work involved.If its not wet loosen the soil do not turn it. Add about 20mm of grit over the selected area.Loosen again. Apply rotted farm manure 200mm all over; local farms will often deliver for about £50 per load. Leave it at least three weeks then turn it in to about 200-250mm. I would normally put it on in the autumn and leave it over winter but time is running out.Once done work off planks so you do not compress it too much. It is an ongoing thing every year to make any real structural difference. Saves paying for a gym subscription. Good luck.
Mike, thanks for setting this out. Rotted farm manure - does that mean the stuff you can buy from a stables has to be kept before you can use it? Thanks
I have been doing more or less what Mike has suggested for the last 3yrs in a garden where I had a lot of clay that I dug up when I put in walls and other structures in the garden. I get it as it comes from the farmer and just put in on straight away in the autumn and leave it. Its gone by the spring.
This year I did something different and what a difference its made in a fairly short period of time too. The 3rd application of manure went on last Mid / Late October 2015 then I dug what little was left of the manure in with an application of Lime in mid February 2016. Very quickly noticed a huge improvement in the soil.
As far as I'm aware you should not put Lime and Manure on at the same time as I believe they cancel each other out and I think you then get little or no benefit.
You calculate how much lime you need by doing several PH tests spaced out evenly through the area your concerned with and take an average value. I downloaded a chart from the RHS website that then tells you how much lime you need per square metre to achieve the ideal PH value you want to achieve 6 months or so after application.
Adding the manure and pea gravel the first 2yrs made a big difference but then applying the Lime made an even bigger improvement afterwards, in my case in the 3rd year after the first application of manure and pea gravel.
If I had to do this again I would probably apply Lime a lot earlier, Manure in October then Lime in February each year. I would do a set of PH tests before I applied Lime, the soil may not need it.
Thanks, Mike . I have saved your post and see that I can get pea gravel cheaper than horticultural grit. I will investigate soil testing & lime. Cheers
Hi Rubi
I also live in Manchester with a heavy clay garden. I have incorporated compost [bought in and home made] and well rotted farmyard manure over the last 8 years and it does work. Avoid walking on your soil when it is wet as it does compact very easily, either put in paths or lay wooden boards to walk on if you need to do some work.
Don't you love it when you go to fill in a hole you dug and you can't because the clay sticks together in one immovable lump and doesn't crumble. Horrible. I do what you do with over wet flour in that instance add compost to it until it breaks down then fill the hole back in.
Well obviously I don't add compost to pastry...but you get my drift
You may not need lime on alkaline soil. Manure can be put straight onto bare soil but otherwise it is better and more pleasing to use the well rotted version. If it looks dark and crumbly and smells of soil it is perfect for application, it looks good and the dog won't roll in it.