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Cracks in clay
B3
Posts: 27,505
No rain for a while. Heavy clay. I was wondering if it might be beneficial to drop a bit of fertiliser or compost down the cracks. Have plenty of my own compost which I will spread on top later but I was wondering if this would get some nutrients down a bit further
In London. Keen but lazy.
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It would add some organic matter, that would be good. I sometimes worry I might fall down one of those cracks and disappear for ever.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I turned the hose down a crack for an hour once. The surface never even got damp!
There's nothing like an inquisitive mind...
You pair sound like Newton discovering apples!
Compost or a manure mulch is the best thing for clay soil, the more the better.
If he hadn't discovered apples, we'd have to wear lead boots to go to Sainsbury's
You could always take the opportunity to try adding some gypsum
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Ooh, interested... why add gypsum raisingirl?
I had a client who used to pour gravel into cracks in his clay soil. Sorted out the drainage over time too as the cracks were always in different places.
Well it doesn't always work, but for most clay soils, gypsum breaks up the clay. All those 'clay breaker' products are generally basically gypsum. Garden lime sometimes works. It's not a magic cure, but I did find it helped when I had a 'garden' on what was pretty much the stuff they sell in packets for making pots. Maybe use a mix of gypsum, grit and compost? Or perhaps use mushroom compost which I think I read somewhere has quite a high lime content.
If you do that each time it dries out you'll probably end up with a decent loam in a few years
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Don't do that! You'll make it rain on PatE!!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.