This topic contains 8 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by charles 7 years, 2 months ago.
-
Posts
-
Charles, I am working on my new build garden. I have one area of clay which is VERY poor and very compacted and in semi shade. It only digs in slices! Despite having dug an 18 inch deep drainage trench to the side the water does not move from the surface.
I intend to mulch with 4 inches of well rotted horse manure .
Do you think anything will grow in it being so poor?
This sounds challenging and I suspect you may not see huge harvests this year, though the compost mulch will help both plants and soil.
In a soil like you describe it’s probably worth aerating initially with say a broad fork or long garden fork, as you won’t be killing many soil organisms,.Regular mulching should heal the soil, it was my experience with compacted clay at Lower Farm where growth improved every year. But your soil sounds even denser so it will take time.
I’d appreciate any advice anyone has for no-dig gardening on very heavy clay soil.
At my Dutch allotment I have 300 square metres of just about the heaviest clay you can imagine. It was the bed of the Zuyder Zee until 1932, then the bed of the freshwater lake the IJsselmeer until the late sixties when the polder (Oostelijk Flevoland) was drained. It’s several metres below sea level and the old ‘sea clay’ here is often either sticky or rock hard, and sometimes waterlogged. Good news: it contains old seashells, so there’s calcium in there too.
I’ve wanted to go no-dig from the start (my home gardens have been for many years), but I decided to spend the first two years working up to it. Drainage has been improved (perforated plastic pipes a metre underground), 75 wheelbarrows of municipal compost have been added, and I’ve dug the whole plot over twice, partly to remove perennial weeds, mainly bindweed.
I notice that even on well-dug soil the compost does not get incorporated by the worms. Maybe that will happen in future, now that I’ve dug in so much compost already. There’s no shortage of worms, but the experience of local farmers is that they make their way through holes made by roots and don’t go beyond those.
One discovery I’ve made is the importance of paths. I managed to get hold of a lot of old decking (cracked and partly rotten but two planks laid side by side works a treat) and divided the plot into 24 mounded beds. If I need to tread on the beds, I always use a plank or a duckboard. In some places the soil is now crumbly and I’m determined not to dig it in future. Other beds may need one more dig next winter. Digging for certain crops such as potatoes may be allowed on a few beds, but no more than once in three years.
My husband and I have decided that twenty wheelbarrow-loads of municipal compost twice a year is as much as we can manage to add at our age (it has to be wheeled quite a distance from the main gate), but of course we make as much of our own compost as we can.
As I say, I’d love any tips anyone has for this kind of situation. I tend to think that if no-dig vegetable and fruit growing works here, then it’ll work anywhere. (I actually really enjoy digging, but I’m starting to see mycelium and can’t bear to keep breaking it up.)
Hello Seaclay, and I must say your clay sounds highly clay-like, compounded by being so flat and low-lying.
Interesting about the worms.
I do not have experience of worms not traveling into soil, in the way you describe.
This suggests one has to rely on cultivations.
However with the compost you have added and continue to apply, I am sure that plants will grow enough to help soil life in opening channels.
The growth of your plants will tell you how the soil is opening up and I suspect growth will be good, do keep us informed.Thanks, Charles. I’ll let you know how this season goes. And I’ll see if I can find a link to some of the research about worm behaviour on the local farmland. Fascinating website, by the way.
Hello,
We’re setting out on a new adventure in a new town being built just outside Exeter . We’re in the process of setting up a community garden group (incredible edible )and have been offered land to grow on from the local school.
The land there is in poor condition, the developers have used up most of the topsoil , and the remaining soil is heavy clay. We’re thinking of starting of with raised beds and in this way building the vegetable beds on top of the soil. We have been offered free horse manure.
So my question is do we need to do anything to the soil before we put a raised bed on top of it ? And what ratio should we mix the soil for the raised beds ? ie manure/ compost/ topsoil
Many thanks, AndreaAndrea, you have a challenge but a good one.
Yes build on top of the clay, which in time will open up.
Check the horse manure for aminopyralid (herbicide) by sowing some peas & broad beans, on a warm windowsill for 3 weeks, if new leaves are healthy you should be ok.
Six to eight inches (15-20cm) for beds, say 6in of the horse manure then a top layer of green waste/mushroom compost, or compost from stores in sacks (sometimes sold cheap if out of date).
Use any less-decomposed materials for paths, including strawy manure say 2-3in.
Starting out it’s easier to have sided beds to contain the compost, also for community workers to see where to work.
Happy growing.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.