Soggy clay lovers

[HeyWayne]

One of the benefits of heavy clay soil is retention of nutrients and moisture during the drier months. Now, if we just had some of those drier months...

[SlugLobber]

If I had that kind of soil which I do in part of my garden,the best thing that you can do is use raised beds cause they help dry the soil out a little.

Exactly what I've done. I did try working the bed last year, but it still only produced strange-shaped parsnips and similar, so I've gone for the 'dump fresh on top' approach. It's certainly worked well for the onion sets!

[kenscarecrow]

clay is full of good stuff plenty of muck and double digging will produce some fantastic veg unfortuneatly there is no substitute for hard work. rotovaters pan the soil and cause a lot of weed problems making it a lot worse.GOOD LUCK

[Eyren]

The soil on our allotment was like rock when we got it in July 2006 (the last hot summer we had) - we thought we would need mattocks to break it up! But I started digging it over the following spring, and the bits I've double-dug are just lovely now, and I can grow root veg no problem (provided I keep the slugs off!). Heavy clay will no doubt need more work than that, but time and manure will cure most soil ills

[zazen999]

The thing with clay is...
When it is wet it behaves like a liquid
as it dries out it behaves like a plastic [ideal]
then as it dries out even more it behaves like a solid.

To try and keep it in the middle, you have to add sand and granular to try and drain it when it is too wet, and organic to keep the moisture in when it is too dry.

Using raised beds are a good way round it, as the clay will hold the moisture under the beds all summer long.

Did you know that they use clay to line landfill sites to keep the yukky landfill generated gunk out of the water table?

They also will use lime to stabilise clay when the ground is too wet...the lime will generate heat which basically boils off the excess water, thereby drying the soil out and making it behave more like a solid than a liquid. [lime stabilisation if anyone wants to look it up].

I also believe that gypsum is used in gardening to help make clay more manageable.

I don't think you would get enough crops to make it worthwhile if you just grow crops that like wet clay...you need to take steps to make your clay more useable - in the meantime, if you can't add bulk manure/compost - you can add compost to the holes as you plant things, and use a newspaper/cardboard mulch to plant through. Once the crops are done, the paper/card adds much needed organic to the soil. Also, use home made compost to mulch and earth spuds up - and the bean trench technique could potentially be used on a few other crops than just beans.

This year, year 2 on our clay lottie, I have saved loads of boxes and have started laying them straight onto the soil - opened out. They are held down with bricks and wood. In a few weeks they will be wet enough to tear holes through, and I'll plant both brassicas and potatoes through them and mulch/earth up with home made compost. This worked really well last year using newspapers and I want an organic boost this year.

Also, have a look as to what others are doing to grow successful veg around your way. If there's anything interesting, do let us know.

Clay is the most common soil around, and plenty of us get great crops - so don't let it phase you. It's also a great starting point for good gardening.