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This may be a really obvious thing, but I'm new to all this growing things stuff and I couldn't see the answer elsewhere ...

I've recently moved to a house with a garden and I'd like to try and grow some of my own fruit and vegetables. I've been clearing the weeds and digging over the beds in preparation and have discovered that most of the soil is acctually clay. Is there anything I can do/add to make this more productive? Should I dig in compost or manure or sand or something?

Also, any suggestions of things that will grow well in this type of soil??

Thanks

the good thing about clay soil is that it is usually full of nutrients.. but the bad thing is it can bake hard like rock....

start making your own compost now and adding - it will take some years but the ground will start to improve. look at getting in some manure too.

my last place had very stoney clay soil - and apart from carrots.. no hope - i grew lots of stuff.. so don't panic

red wrote:the good thing about clay soil is that it is usually full of nutrients.. but the bad thing is it can bake hard like rock....

Yeah, I spotted that - I could have built a small house from some of the lumps that I'd roughly dug last week!!

red wrote:start making your own compost now and adding - it will take some years but the ground will start to improve. look at getting in some manure too.

I've got a composter and I'm putting stuff in it, but it'll be a while before I can use the compost.

red wrote:my last place had very stoney clay soil - and apart from carrots.. no hope - i grew lots of stuff.. so don't panic

Oh, well that's encouraging - thanks! :)

sosia wrote: ...any suggestions of things that will grow well in this type of soil??

Very little in my clay soil except for shrubs and ash trees. However, dig in plenty of compost and you'll have something you can work with.

Gidday

Just cover the soil with as much organic matter as you can and keep adding more still and you can have an excellent garden. You are though, better trying to grow you root crops above the soil in straw bales or raised beds.

I've always gardened on clay. Potatoes seem to cope but I would certainly recommend raised beds. Another tip is to start things off in pots. Larger plants cope better than tiny seeds.

Zoe

Gidday]

I still reckon that is all the compost and other organic matter you can get your hands on is put onto the soil and let it break down there rather than diging it in is far better. Less work, you also get a good layer on the top for starting off plants or seeds, but if you did it in, apart from the sore back you still are planting into clay for years.

As everyone else has said, loads of compost..... but you could build a rasised bed on top, although you will have to try to dig a little organc stuff into the top of the clay first to break it up a little.
But a raised bed would get you going fairly soon.

The quickest and easiest way to break up clay is to change it from a a very small particle sodium clay to a much more open to air and water calcium clay. You do this by applying lime (Calcium carbonate) or dolomite (Calcium and magnesium carbonates). Toss it around onto the clay then dig it through or put your organic matter on top.

Dolomite and lime are both ground rock and so are natural materials.

Nev

Gidday

Why do so many people want to risk stuffing their backs and cjutting poor wormies up by digging when the little wormies will do it for you if left whole.

Sweetcorn grows well!

Squash are ok, beans are ok, asparagus are doing well, and potatoes love it.

That's what i've found this year.

Thanks all.

I did wonder about lime (I think my dad suggested it, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not), and the less digging the better as far as I'm concerned!!

I might try different things in different beds and see what works out best ...

I read potatoes are a way of breaking up soil well- reduce the digging. I have had my clay veggie patch for 3 or 4 years, and dug in shed loads of horse manure plus a bit of sand. Everything has thrived (Sweetcorn enormous, beans really productive, beetroot fantastic) but that does include the snails and slugs who like the wet conditions Thats why I start in pots to give the poor plants a chance.

Peggy Sue wrote:I read potatoes are a way of breaking up soil well- reduce the digging.

They break up the soil because with all the earthing up and digging them out the soil gets moved about a lot... But it's still you who does the digging!

all of the above advice is spot on but here's an extra tip.

I found that 'trenching' was the the most successful way for me. Making compost takes a while so while I was waiting I dug a narrow trench, put in a layer of newspaper then filled with layers of kitchen scraps, covering each layer with a layer of the dug out clay.

It took a wee while (I don't get that many kitchen scraps after the chooks, the guinea pig and the dog have had their treats) but the following spring I had a perfect (very productive) bean bed which in turn conditioned the soil and fixed nitrogen for different crops the following season.