This is the place to discuss not just allotments but all general gardening problems and queries which don't fit into the specific categories below.
(formerly allotments and tips, hints and problems)
I have just got my own garden, and very excited I am to. The only thing is, that the ground is beautiful grey clay. I have left it open to the snow to try and break it up, and am now adding compost and turning it over.
Does anyone have any other suggestions? Is there still time to try a green maure?
To late/early for green manure. If the clay is opened up, coarse sharp sand worked in is good, then mulch,mulch, mulch.
Spend time collecting manure, woodchippings, compost anything organic that you can get hold of cheaply, rather than digging and weeding. Pile this on top of the soil.
If your soil is truely that much clay.
that could take years to work into a good Garden soil.
maybe in the mean time, while you are working in as much
organic material into the ground. You may want to
make some raised beds filled with good garden soil
to garden from til your clay has been transformed...Just a thought.
Clay is a fertile soil despite being hard to work - it will grow roses, root vegetables a treat and brassicas too. Don't give up on growing things on it because you haven't yet added much compost and manure to it.
You have to look long term with clay. It will have a bit of a shorter growing season than other soils. But those of us who do have it don't knock it. We learn what grows well in it while we make compost, dig in manure, save up to buy sharp sand to add.
We've got a very clay-y soil in our garden and allotment plot too, and it does grow potatoes very well, which in turn help to break it up, also carrots and swede grow well for us, and things which sit on top of the ground with shallow-ish roots such as courgettes and cucumbers. Also beans have done very well too. We also use a lot of leaf mulch and have also used a cardboard mulch. It's really important with clay soil to make paths and never tread on the growing bit or it really compacts down. Also, hoe it to break it up if we get very hot weather or it bakes into a hard surface.
I've had good results on my allotment (very clay-y) improving the soil on the spots I was actually sowing or planting. I'd plant my stuff in large-ish holes with plenty of compost. But I also had a cart of compost - about 15 not-very-full wheelbarrow loads - delivered twice, which improved the soil enormously. Of course I also made my own compost, but it's difficult to produce enough compost for an entire allotment if you need to cover every square inch with at least 10 cm (4 inch) to get any instant improvement.
Not exactly sure, but isn't lime or calcium supposed to improve soil structure of clay? I never researched that, but I'm positive I saw something of the sort in a gardening book.
I've now moved to the other side of the spectrum; almost pure sand. But the cure is the same: lots of compost and I'm willing (and able) to pay for it to be delivered, or it will take years before I can grow any decent crops. I'm going for raised beds to conserve the good soil.
Good luck with the clay. I've found it hard work, but usually got very good crops!
Don't despair, I have grown loads of things on clay.
Just be careful with the sand - I once added the wrong type of sand to clay (sorry I can't be more helpful but cannot remember whether or not it was sharp or soft sand?) and I ended up with CONCRETE!
Good luck though, I am sure you will be fine. A new plot...how exciting!
"A pretty face is fine, but what a farmer needs is a woman who can carry a pig under each arm"
It's not the spuds that help to break it up you know but the digging over before planting, the adding of compost and manure to make the crop grow, the earthing up as the plants develop, the digging the spuds out and then the final digging over for the next crop that breaks up the soil. The spuds themselves is lazy oiks that just sit there waiting to be looked after.
I'm a lazy gardener, digging a hole big enough to put a spud in (usually with a bulb thingy) was the best I could manage on our old garden, when we first started. The spuds grew in fairly heavy clay - we did add compost on top to earth up periodically. But the soil was much easier to dig getting them up than planting - combination of spuds, compost and worms I guess.
Maggie
Never doubt that you can change history. You already have. Marge Piercy
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Anais Nin
We have raised beds, but one bed isn't and is ground level and it's red clay, we planted potatoes in it and the soil has broken up really well and is much easier to dig this year. Ther is now a load of muck and compost in it to improve the soil.
Mind you that particular crop of spuds didn't do well but had a reasonable crop of garlic & shallots from it. Now the soil has been improve we shall be planting brassicas in it next.
The Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young!
