What can I add to clay to loosen and add drainage

[Nicola.P]

My soil is quite a heavy clay and is quite sticky and gets waterlogged. Apparently it also bakes rock solid in summer, so I know that over time the use of manure and organic matter will help in the long term but is there anything I can use now that would help to loosen it abit? Unless I get it from a garden centre I can only get hold of fresh poo locally, not well rotted.

[arpoet]

You need to get organised, Nicola.

I have clay soil and have a rolling progam of collecting fresh hos muck, leaving it to rot for a few months and spread it on the soil over winter I cover it with cardboard and spent hops (free from a local brewery) and let the worms do the work.

[KevinM67]

You could consider a quick growing green manure - although, the weather may still be a bit cold to try and grow some this early.

[Valleyman]

I noticed you are in East Sussex. The mother in law lives down there and I notice her local tip sold "soil conditioner" based on the rotted down green waste collections. Might be an East Sussex wide thing. I don't know the price of it but it may be worth investigating. It's got to be a lot cheaper than garden centre stuff right?

Obviously there are risks associated with compost from such sources but it may be worth investigating, and from what I hear a fair few compost makers have deals with councils to take their green waste so the source may not be too different anyway.

[WendyC]

West Sussex sell their composted green waste. You can buy bags at the tip. It's roughly £5 for a 50 litre bag. I've never bought it as I thought that was quite pricey. They do supply it in .75m3 bulk bags for £55, but you'd need to check delivery area. There is a Brighton phone number. Search for Olus.
I think for this year, until you can get composting etc underway, your best bet might be bagged manure from the garden centre. My local Wye---e had it for £2.49 for an 80 litre sack a few weeks ago.

[Valleyman]

Wow, I stand corrected... even at £55 for a builders bag it is quite expensive. When multi purpose is on offer (isn't is always?) you can get 5p per litre in easy to carry bags from the big box stores or garden centers.

I was in a garden centre the other week that had mushroom compost for £2.79 for 50 litres on buy one get one free. The only reason I didn't buy any was because it "smells" and I wasn't allowed it in the new car for the hour long drive home.

[Jay-ell]

If you can get hold of animal muck, check if any weedkillers were used on the grazing fields as some of them survive the digestive tract, compost pile and then get to work on your veg. Pop it into a massive pile and let it rot.

You could make raised beds - not necessarily ones edged with timber, just piles of compost making a raised mound. Worms will gradually mix it into the soil and in the meantime you get to grow.

I've used a fair bit of municipal compost to dig into my clay. It's ok but the stuff I got wasn't quite finished and has lums and big bits in. You can either riddle these out or add some high nitrogen (e.g. bags of chicken poop) so that the lumps don't take all the nitrogen as they finish off.

Have a look on YouTube for no dig, lasagne or lazy beds.

You said you can only get fresh poop, if you collect it yourself try digging at the bottom of the pile where it will be older.


PS my council sells it's compost for £2.50 a bag,£12 per tonne if you pick it up (sturdy trailer or lorry) and ! £27 per tonne for delivery (I think this is discounted to£21 per tonne if you are on an allotment site)

[WendyC]

That's much cheaper. I always thought it was expensive, especially as householders have to pay to have the green waste collected.

[Nicos]

I noticed you are in East Sussex. The mother in law lives down there and I notice her local tip sold "soil conditioner" based on the rotted down green waste collections. Might be an East Sussex wide thing. I don't know the price of it but it may be worth investigating. It's got to be a lot cheaper than garden centre stuff right?

Obviously there are risks associated with compost from such sources but it may be worth investigating, and from what I hear a fair few compost makers have deals with councils to take their green waste so the source may not be too different anyway.

I'd always be wary of clippings in the compost from lawns treated with 'weed n feed ' and similar products...you just never know exactly what you are getting in it.

As you say- worth investigating!

[Nicos]

We had 3 full sized plots years ago which were very heavy clay
we used hops a brewery and mushroom compost , rotted leaves we collected every autumn and it eventually became a reasonable surface soil
One thing you need to be aware of is that there may be a 'pan' a spade's depth below the surface- basically a solid clay layer which causes more water logging and may affect deeper rooted plants.

[SkyChild]

I'm in a similar boat. We built some raised beds so there'd be less to dig over and then double dug the rest with compost, manure and some sand. This helped A LOT in the short term and we'll be adding mulches long term. I was too impatient for lasagne beds, but they do work

Tip - don't dig clay in the rain, even a slight drizzle will turn the whole lot into a horrible slippy sticky bog and then it will bake into a rock-hard crust the minute the sun comes out.