Enriching my soil

[PaulJ]

I recently bought a house (woo) but after a battle with a garden full of brushwood and then a lot of landscaping work the soil left is looking pretty sorry for itself! It is a rather high in clay soil so needs some loosening up.

I am not interested in going out and spending a bomb on resources, I would much rather have some fun trying other methods which I am hoping I can get advice on.

Resources I have to hand:
Unlimited supply of wood chippings - now I am not sure if I should mix these in right away or allow them to compost for some time?
Lots of blood and bone meal
Large supply of leaves
An area of abandoned land (behind my garden) to grow green manures
And most exciting of all, a totally naked garden (south facing with no obstructions)!

I put out a lot of grazing rye this october but I don't think its going to survive this snow sadly.
I was thinking of doing this: Mixing in a good amount of wood chippings, planting lots of green manures in march (prune mid season and compost?) then mix all that in with the leafmould and maybe add some blood bone meal?

[Jeanied]

Oh, lord, where to start. If I were you I'd put your leaves to rot down in a pile for leaf mould - should be useable after a year depending on the kind of leaves.
Wood chips - well the really rough stuff is good for allotment / veg patch paths - the finer stuff is ok to add to the compost heap.
If I were you I'd go for some farmyard manure to spread over parts of the garden now, and start to work it in spring after the worms have made life easier for you.
Have a look at the starting a new allotment threads - although you may not be planning an allotment at all, the ideas are good for any kind of patch.

[stella]

I agree with the above. I would look around for a friendly farmer or riding stables anywhere where you can get some muck and start putting it on.

[Two_Sheds]

I've never used horse muck myself, in 15 years of growing my own.

I do use green manures, they are all different. You'll need to read up on them to decide which is best for your site, your soil and your intended use. Rye is hardy but it won't actively grow over winter - it'll be putting out roots and will take off in spring.

Leafmould is fantastic mixed 50/50 with potting compost for starting seeds. Rot the leaves down in black bin bags. If you add leaves to your compost heap they will slow it right down.

[Capsid]

I put wood chips n the compost bin and mixed them with green stuff (grass clippings, kitchen waste, weeds). After a few months I sieved it and dug it in my heavy clay soil. I found that vastly improves the soil structure.

[PaulJ]

Thanks for the ideas all. One question about manure, is it anything more than composted greens?

[rustylady]

Hi Paul, found this link for you on Google regarding green manures Green manure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia By the way, can you let us know where you are? You can edit your profile to include your location - that way it will show up on your posts and will save us having to keep asking you. Knowing a location helps enormously when giving advice.

[zazen999]

I'd use the wood chips for mulch personally, it keeps the slug population down and as it rots, the worms take it straight into the soil.

[Polly Fouracre]

I use veg. waste and horse and poultry manure. I pile it on thickly at this time of year and the worms do the hard work for me.
If you look around you will find a riding school or horse owner who will fall on your neck if you offer to take away manure regularly.