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Posted: Aug/15/2009 6:16 AM PST
There is no catorgory for just soils so I am putting this topic in here...I hope that is okay. I'm been having issues with my front flower beds. They are large built in beds and I have a clay problem. For the past three autumns I have added copious amounts of compost and peat moss to no avail. In some areas you don't hit clay until 6 inches down and in some areas you will hit a hard clay patch (that you can barely dig through)2 inches down. Perennials that I plant obviously take longer to establish and in the case of annuals, forget about it! I will plant them in the spring, they barely grow, and in the fall when I pull them out the whole original root ball comes up because the roots went nowhere. And the mulch doesn't decompose. It gets hard and brittle where it meets the soil. Anyone have any suggestions? The only thing I can think of is to pull out all the plants I currently have in them and "double dig" the entire plots but pretty much throw away the clay soil and add all new compost in its place. I'm kind of at my wit's end here! And all the books and webpages I read really don't go into what to do with existing problematic beds. They seem to be always talking about new beds. I'm at a lost! Please help! Thanks! |
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Posted: Aug/15/2009 6:58 AM PST
Im no expert on clay soil because we have very little of it except for one field. We make sure the area has good drainage and added manure every fall and spring.I know this isn't much help. Good luck |
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Posted: Sep/06/2009 6:56 AM PST
The only way to improve your soil is to add lots of organic matter. I would dig deep and remove some, but not all of the clay. Then mix in lots of good quality compost, manure, and I believe gypsum helps as well. Changing the quality of your soil could take a loong time...but if you remove the clay and place non native soil, you will basically be growing the plants in a pott. Once the plants outgrow their "potts", they will meet the poor clay soil. So, the point is to improve the soil, not remove it. Hope that helps some. |
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Posted: Sep/10/2009 10:35 AM PST
Post Hole Diggers, Dig holes where the plant is going,mix leaves and manure with some good top soil and start plugging as you go, a digging fork may loosen,( I would fork it shallow at first and rock it back en forth to loosen the top 3-4" add some soil mix and keep making passes as needed, (if wet poke holes in the clay and sift soil mix so it can penetrate the existing clay some, adding soil/compost/ manure is your goal, Never put Peat! or your going to have hard cookies and bricks, Later Guilt Trip, * If you can find someone with a tractor tiller, tiller the area until it is completely pulverized, throw 3-4" oak leaves over the area, add horse manure and run that tiller over it again, * 12" raised Beds ? |
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Posted: Oct/28/2009 9:06 PM PST
My two cents... I'd recommend you use a good organic compost such as Gardener and Bloome products to enrich the soil. Website link. http://www.gbsoil.com/site4/products.htm Not necessary to use this brand but I absolutely adore their products.  Any good compost and manure will do. Here's the trick though...for the soil to loose up you have to water the ground throughly (soak up to 8 inches deep into the ground) so that it seeps deep into the clay soil and them roto till the compost while it is damp but not super wet. Otherwise the compost/manure will not properly incorporate into the ground. How much rainfall do you get in Richmond,VA? I live in Seattle (rain and more rain city )and had the same issue with clay and nutrient deficient soil until I roto tiled in the Gardener and Bloome farmyard blend mix into my soil and mulch with the Harvest supreme. It helped like crazy. It loosed up the soil and provided tons of nutrients to the soil due to the manure component. Word of caution...Gardener and Bloome product tend to be expensive Also use good fertilizer such as Dr. Earth products after planting. Ideally leave the flower bed empty of a season and incorporate the compost and manure frequently during all seasons. This many not be feasible I know but it's ideal but not necessary. I'm not a organic gardner per say but for soil improvements try to go with organic and natural products and it really does help more the non-organics (i.e. Miracle gro, etc) products. Hope this helps.. |
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