Great big clumps of clay

[Ruthie_Q]

Hi there.
Hope you've all had a lovely day.

We're starting to work our new plot and when we are digging the beds we've got great big clods of clay. The brawn of our team is just digging them out and throwing to the side. So now we are acquiring piles of clay. We've got so much rubbish the previous residents left us 2 wheelie bins of rubbish that we're getting a skip on fri courtesy of council (i think theyre shamed after allowing years of neglect on the plot, which i believe was used as a builders yd for long enough) but I dont want to be spending all my life at the council tip getting rid of the new clay clods. What does everyone suggest to break it down?

Thanks in advance

[veggiechicken]

I have no experience of gardening on clay but what is the rest of the soil like? Is it all clay?

[chillithyme]

My first year on my allotment and I'm on clay, best way to remove the massive lumps will be after rain (or thorough watering)as it's tough to seperate, and dig through when bone dry like rocks. Adding compost, manure, etc over time should help loosen it up, so I've been told. By its nature it is very muddy in the winter, and dries and cracks easily in the summer. Others at my site have changed its composition by adding materials mentioned above over time so that it better retains water in the summer, and drains off better when it rains in the winter and is less clod like.
Apparently adding sand is good too. I'm just doing section by section at a time to improve the structure. On the plus side clay is meant to be good at holding onto nutrients for plants to access.

Also when walked on clay also hardens and compresses easily, so having areas/paths to walk on so that your growing area doesn't have to be trod on helps too

[Jay-ell]

Adding compost will break them up over time. Try no dig gardening - have a look on youtube for Charles Dowding. He has some great vids and No Dig will gradually permeate organic matter down into the clay.

Clay is not bad. It holds water and nutrients and can be extremely fertile (all that fertility and you're taking it to the tip). It just needs organic matter to help break it up and make it more manageable. The guy who used to have the plot opposite to me swore that 6X (or a comparable pelleted chicken manure) worked miracles breaking down the clay on his plot over the years.

My previous plot was mostly clay mixed with boulders - slipppy after rain and concrete in sunny periods. I added loads of council compost on the top and it improved visibly in 1 year.

Currently my second plot (the New Territories) is quite clayey and I'm finding that applying mulches of grass cuttings and shrivelled weeds is improving it.

It isn't instant but it is improving.

[Snoop Puss]

I added huge amounts of hay. Really worked a treat. Am about to do the same thing again. Any areas you won't be using this summer for overwintering crops, lay down as much hay or other organic matter as you can get your hands on, cover with cardboard if you can to stop it from blowing around. Weight the cardboard down to stop that blowing around too. Then, come spring, it will all have rotted down. You might only get a few inches of relatively friable soil on the surface in the first year, but keep using hay or other organic material as a mulch and it will come good with relatively little effort and a lot cheaper than buying in vast amounts of compost or top soil.

Whatever else you do, don't chuck the lumps away. As Jay-ell says, clay contains a lot that plants like. And you'll get brilliant brassicas from it. Bit late for starting sprouts, but you might find garden centres or online suppliers selling plug plants for cabbages, kales and caulis.

Good luck and happy plotting.

[Jay-ell]

The hay/straw/grass mulch also helps conserve moisture stopping the clay baking solid giving plant roots bacteria and soil micro-organisms a chance to work on breaking up the clay.

Also, if you used a green manure that has a tap root then the root will push down through the clay breaking it apart and when the root dies and rots it'll leave its organic matter in there to keep it friable. Suitable green manures can be field beans (a bit like broad beans) which will overwinter and can be chopped down in spring and added as a mulch or fodder radish which will die down over winter leaving it's composted remain to improve the soil.

Rye is supposed to be good for breaking up clay soils but I've heard that is can be a pain to dig in. You may have to compost the top and sheet mulch over the remains early on (feb)

[nickdub]

You could build an out-door kiln and fire your own pots and bricks - maybe the local scout group would be interested in a summer project ?

[Ruthie_Q]

Aw thanks everyone for your comments.

Nickdub - you made me giggle.

I think the plan of action is to do what you have said by adding extra 'stuff' to the soil. I also appreciate the comment about watering the clumps & then braking them down. Its so warm in the NWest at the moment that the plot is baked and I guess highlighting how big the clumps are. Luckily i have access to lots of cardboard boxes. The plot needs so much work that by the time we get to work it im hoping that a bit of tlc will help next year. Thanks also for the brassica & green manure tip.

We had clay in our old garden and got there in the end but an allotment full of it has been a bit daunting.

Have a good day everyone
R

[nickdub]

Sounds like a plan - lime will also help break down clay when you do get rain.

If I was in your shoes I'd concentrate most of my efforts on a small part of the plot, and then roll what worked out to the rest gradually - its going to be a marathon, not a sprint.

No charge for the giggles :-)

Happy gardening

[Thelma Sanders]

With clay there is a short window of time in Spring, and usually during much of Autumn when it's neither too wet to walk on nor too dry - then it can be dug, raked and made friable and lump free. It's a joy when you catch it just right

Outside of that window, the best you can do is dig it, thump the lumps and then rake the still lumpy bits to the edge of beds, out of the way, ignoring them for now Sow or plant into the smoother area. I find it easier to start everything in seed trays or modules, because it is easier than sowing direct, especially with the soil as dry as it is at this time of year.

Clay is fertile soil, but you do have to learn how to work with it. Over time, adding lots of compost/manure will make the soil easier to work with as the others have said.
Working with clay advice here...
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=620

[bario1]

I found that adding huge amounts of rotting/rotted leaves when digging is the best way to tackle my clay soil. Our allotment has leaves delivered by the council in Autumn, so I use those.

I'm kind of no-dig too, but this injection of leaves directly into the soil is worth doing at the start. Once I've done it, i add a further 4-6" of leaves on top and leave it till next season.

[ESBkevin]

Welcome. You've received some good advice here already.
You should be aware that there is more nutrient and good compounds in clay than sand by a substantial amount. The trick is to get mother nature to break it up. Now it takes some time, typicaly a year or two but having done it several times I guarantee you it works and you end up with the richest most frieble loom you could want. It sorts the Ph levels and soil that healthy will grow anything once you get it sorted.
Organic material of any and every type is what you need, if you chose to dig it in then you might speed the process a little, but adding it on top is easier and will over time give just as good if not better results.
Remember the soil life lives in layers, those microscopic life forms that like the surface don't survive deep down (and vice versa), which is why digging is frowned upon by the scientists and eco gardeners these days.
So pile the compost/cardboard/straw/hay/spent mushroom compost/council soil improver/farmyard or stable manure/Autumn leaves/grass cuttings on the surface. The sooner you start the sooner you can grow in it.
No did gardening is not easier so much as the effort to gather free compostables is a better use of your efforts. Definately check out 'Charles Dowding' and 'I am organic gardening' on you tube. That sort of education is worth absorbing.

[1Bee]

Chin up! You'll have great soil sooner than you're expecting.

What Snoop said.

We started in a similar position, and the first year we just cultivated about half our half plot. I only thoroughly dug two of three beds, which gave me bumper crops! The third I covered with weed membrane and planted courgettes and pumpkins through it. The next year it was all in production, the next year I took on another strip of the other (unoccupied) half and this year we took over the whole plot.

Water any really hard lumps and work on them, pulling out any scrap or weed roots. I use a three-pronged cultivator tool which I've found really effective.

Other than that, mulch, mulch and mulch again, and cover with cardboard while you're not growing.

Leeks and potatoes are good at breaking up the ground, too. I find the beds are in much better shape after those crops.

Good luck, don't try to do too much at once, and enjoy!

[bikermike]

All the above, but also, I'd recommend planting spuds, as they help break up the soil too

[1Bee]

*cough*

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