Clay Soil

[Mumbles]

Hi all.

I have clay soil in my garden and am wanting to improve it. I have a bag or bark chippings (left over from mulching my fruit trees) and am thinking about digging over the area to be made in to my veg patch and mixing this in, ready for my other half to build me raised beds next year. Will this be worth all the effort it will take to dig over? I also have a bag of play sand (left overs from my daughters). Could I mix this in too? Im sure there are loads of threads about improving clay soil but I cannot for the life of me use the search facility on this site!
Thanks in advance for any help/advice

Stace

[Shadylane]

If you can't use the search facility, try googling with +growfruitandveg added on. Some people on here will tell you not to dig clay soil but put cardboard down and plant through holes. The cardboard will rot down and improve the soil. Not sure about play sand, it's quite fine isn't it? Any organic matter you can add will help open it up, but it's best to see it as a work in progress I think.

[planetologist]

Be grateful. Most plants love clay soil, not least because it retains much more water. Beds are definitely an especially good idea with clay, but only because not walking on them keeps them from compacting, no need to raise them, nor is it necessary to dig anything in. And I agree with shadylane, mulching now will mean you can plant through holes in the mulch in spring. If you use a sheet mulch like cardboard, bear in mind that it will get wet and weaken, so you'll need to keep it well down, otherwise a storm would scatter it all over. Bark chip mulch on top is great too.

[TrialAndError]

Twice over my gardening hobby lifetime I've inherited very clayey soils. Both times I have dug in (not mulched) loads of wood chip. Both times the wood chip was free. It works a treat. It takes about six months for the wood chip to break down but the soil is till useable in the meantime. You end up with a nutrient rich soil which has body to it but at the same time is oepn and drains well.

[Bigmallly]

It is advisable not to dig in wood chips but best used as a mulch as it will deplete the soil of Nitrogen.

Nitrogen deficiency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[alldigging]

Got any muck to throw in with the bark?
If its solid clay then I don't think you lose anything by covering it up with organic matter.

[andy_j]

I wouldn't use woodchip even to mulch ornamental beds....as it rots down, it uses a lot of nitrogen to do so.

With clay soils, add as much organic matter as possible...leaf mould, kitchen waste, mushroom compost, soil improver, spent potting compost and yes, i'd use sand and grit too.

Dig it in and leave the soil as rough as you can for the winter to break down. Continue adding the organic stuff as often as you can.

This really is the only way to get it so it's a good texture to work with.

[alldigging]

It's only in contact with the top of the soil though as a mulch. It can only take nitrogen from the top of the soil unless the nitrogen leaches upwards.

[marcofez]

Hi, lots of ways to improve clay soils. Here's the RHS take on it......
Clay soils / Royal Horticultural Society

[RedThorn]

old neighbour of mine used to dig straw through his clay and over the years it did look great

[sammy_roser]

I was told not to bother digging in sand to my clay soil as it's not big enough to do any good but I've noticed an improvement where I've put organic waste like vegetable peelings and leaf mold on top and let the worms drag it down.

[plotman]

Once the woodchip rots it releases the nitrogen back into soil

[plotman]

In truth theres no quick fix for clay. Clay is full of nutrients but is dificult to work. In severe cases the old method was to burn it over a wood fire, clay actually burns very slowly and you keep adding to it over weeks ahead. End result is a beautiful crumbly soil that still holds its growing qualities. Unfortunately these days people frown on a bonfire, I might suggest through ignorance rather than knowledge

[snakeshack]

Gypsum can help to break up the clods especially if added when doing winter digging but is only effective in the short term. But does make it easier to dig in a truckload of manure in the spring.dig down 9ins on my allotment and you could still make pots with it though,despite putting in 10 cubic yards of compost & manure for the last 6 years.it is very fertile though and retains water well,it just means there's only about 3 weeks a year to dig when its not rock hard or like very sticky soup


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