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Hi folks, hoping someone with a whole lot more wisdom than me can help me out.

I live in a fairly newish house - 13 years old and we still have builders rubble under the top surface of soil in our garden.

Under that layer is clay - so bad that if you squeeze it together and leave it in the sun all day, you can almost make yourself a pot maybe a slight exaggeration.

Anyway, one person has kindly suggested raised beds, another suggested lots of muck.

Has anyone else dealt with this problem successfully before? Ideas and suggestions very welcome.

I have no money but lots of time - I am a mature student at Leicester University so off now until October and want to have some of the back garden half way decent to plant in the spring.

Cheers folks,
Tina

Plant stuff that will break up the soil. I had clay soil on my last alltoment and managed to grow a load of stuff, not as thick as yours is by the sound of it though.

I planted a load of mustard and let it grow until it flowered then dug it in. It did break up the soil a bit and works as a green manure too.

Any areas that you wish to cultivate you should try not to walk on too, the soil gets more compacted the more you walk on it so carefully thought out paths should help you out too. Perhaps a system of keyhole beds might be a better idea than rows.

Thanks Andy, I never thought of green manure!

A quick search on Google and according to the BBC website, it recommends the following green manure crops:

Recommended varieties
Mustard, Sinapis alba - sow from September to November.
Crimson clover, Trifolium hybrid - sow from March to August.
Fenugreek, Trigonella foenum-graecum - sow from spring to summer.
Lupin, Lupinus angustifolius - sow from March to June.
Rye, Secale cereale - sow from August to November.
Winter tares, Vicia sativa - sow from March to August or from July to September.
Winter field beans, Vicia faba - sow from September to November.

Do you know if I should plant a variety or will just one do?

Can anyone recommend a good (very cheap) seed supplier?

Cheers
Tina

Usually with clay soil it is advised to add grit or gravel to improve the drainage. Now if you don't have any money, that builder's rubble might come in handy (depending what it is though!). If it is stuff like bricks or stones or hard core you could dig it into the clay - crush the bricks first though.

Otherwise if you can afford a few sacks of gravel to dig in to any beds you create it would be worth it.

The soil down here in Lewisham is also heavy clay. It's gradually improving, though digging in compost to the areas I cultivate for crops and often mulching round the more ornamental bits, but still suffers from some of those clay like tendencies of chucking up solid clods and cracking up in the heat.

If you're short on money but okay on time (and exercise) one possibility might be "sunken beds". Dig out an area to at least a shovel's depth and separate into rubble, clay and half way decent soil (a soil sieve would be handy for this). Use the rubble and clay to create "walls" round the edge of the area, packing it in fairly tight, and then put the good soil back in the middle (with plenty of additional organic material).

The walls will probably be higher than the original pit and the good soil is likely to be lower but you'll now have an area of decent earth, clearly marked out and protected by the waste. You might be able to get something growing the ground for cropping this year, or you may just choose the green manure route, but get something growing. Next spring, turn it over, introduce yet more compost, and you should have a patch of good soil at least almost up to the original level.

Over time, that should become a low raised bed. Especially if you find the side walls breaking down back into the soil, you may want to gradually replace the walls with salvaged timbers or other materials, but it will get you start with nothing more than a spade and some labour.

Wulf

Thanks again folks, I will start a small area in the next few days and see how I get on!

Meeting up with another Leicester selfsufficientish person next week to get some tips and advice!

I will take some piccys of the back garden (before and after) and see what happens and try and find out how to put them on here!

Cheers
Tina