What's wrong with my soil?

[Noggy]

Hi, I have just taken over half a plot. All I can find out from the locals is that it has not been worked for at least 3 years. I have started to clear and dig it, however have found no worms. The soil has very red, (almost rust coloured, although I have found no metal fragments), small viens running through it. It dries orange. There was also a "compost bin" full of dead weeds to the height of about 5 foot. When I moved this the bottom 2 - 2 1/2 foot was soil, but again no worms. The soil on the allotment also reminded me of mud flats and in places, about a spades depth, it has a blue/grey look. The soil is clay and prone to water log. It was almost under water 2 weeks ago. Any Ideas?

[taff]

blue/grey is clay, original clay, not earth clay, you can make a nice pizza oven with that stuff
Worms don't particularly like drowning, so they probably went south after the rain. You'd be advised to ask whoever runs the allotment what the plot history is, and to test your soils PH too.
SOunds like you're goingto have to add an awful lot of organic matter to it, and grit or similar, and possuble stump for raised beds if the waterlogging is usual.

[dominic10]

What kind of weeds were on the plot? This could be an indication of the condition of the soil. Took over my half allotment on 7th April this year and loads of nettles. Apparently nettles like fertile acid soil so I'm told. I was concerned about the lack of worms too but seeing more about now. It's back breaking work to start off with but well worth the effort in the end. Up til now I have been sharing part of an allotment and have dug in lots of organic material - loads of worms there. I think I might encourage some to migrate to my new plot. What are your adjoining plots doing?

[snakeshack]

my plot was virtually worm free 3 years ago when I started and like yours has a heavy london clay base,I opted for raised beds made of scaffold boards to improve the drainage and dug in lots of manure (about 7 1/2 cubic yards) every year split between 16 8ft by 4 ft beds,we have a contact locally who will deliver a skipload of rotted cow manure for about £50 .the worm population has climbed rapidlyand fertility levels are up.where exactly are you I'm in harrow

[rustylady]

What are the neighbouring plots like?

[zazen999]

What I would do with that - is to build up the beds so that the planting area is a good few inches higher than the walking area; and pop some sort of land drain on the lowest side [digging out a trench is a start]. Then put cardboard over each area as you plant it, then a couple of weeks later plant it up. If you prepare the area and don't plant it up - then sow with a fast growing green manure such as mustard - and let it grow to a foot, then cut it down and let it keep growing and keeping it cut down. Put the trimmings around the edges. Then in the autumn, dig it all in and resow as many areas as you can for the winter with a different green manure. Then dig in again in the spring. Mulch with whatever you can get; grass mowings, coffee grounds, compost, shredded paper etc. I reckon this time next year you will have a better soil and lots of worms as they will come marching over looking for all that lovely food to digest.

[alldigging]

Photos! Cold be useful as well as satisfying the nosey me :-)

[Noggy]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the feed back so far, some great ideas that I will give a go, however I am a little concerned about the soil itself, especially the red "rust" colour. If it is a sign of contamination I am worried that even raised beds will result in a transfer to any crop I grow. The surrounding plot. although prone to water logging in winter seem fine with plenty of worms. The weeds seem to be mainly broad leaf docks, grass, bind weed and another I don't know. Will try and provide photos in the next few days, but not sure hoe to upload them.

[Two_Sheds]

Devon has very red soil in places. Nowt to worry about (the zebras at Paignton Zoo are actually black n pink)

[Two_Sheds]

Will try and provide photos in the next few days, but not sure hoe to upload them.

- save your photos to computer
- resize if too big (I use resizr.com)
- click on Go Advanced
- click on the paperclip icon

- you can work it out from there ...

[Feral007]

Just wondering if the red veins might be where the previous owner tried to put in some compost that wasn't completely rotted down, or just to compost on the site. If the clay is thick and wet then it would slow it down and keep it contained in the area it was put into.
We have a lot of rock under our soil so we are using no dig style gardening with success at the moment. It's easy to do although you do have to find cheap hay to do it with. All the extra hay might loosen up that clay as the hay breaks down too, but you could plant this season in the hay.

We mowed short, then put down paper or cardboard, and then hay and compost, hay and compost in layers over the top. The good thing is that as it all breaks down over a season or two the ground underneath benefits from the hay breaking down above. It's a good idea to wait for 2 weeks after making the bed in case you get a bit of hot compost heat in the middle of the bed which will do in any seeds that you put in. Also you'll find worms will come into the area as the ground is improving under the no dig garden. Just another idea to look at as well.

[Two_Sheds]

we are using no dig style gardening ... you do have to find cheap hay to do it with.

Straw though, not hay. Straw is just the stalks, whilst hay has the grass seeds in it

[Snadger]

Sounds a bit like a surface gley?

Gley soil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Noggy]

Hi All,

Once again thanks for the help/ideas. Don't think it is surface gley, but that did prompt me to dig a little further, (sorry for the pun), I think it may be something called Redox, (oxidation in the soil?).
Again any ideas or thoughts welcome.